Honest to blog?

I'm twitterpated. I'm confused. I'm overwhelmed. My head is spinning and I'm not sure it is going to stop anytime soon.

The presentation today, about social media and social networking, was both interesting and challenging. Carol Schwalbe, Associate Professor at the Cronkite School, invited us into the realm of social networking and acted as our guide through a whole mess of crazy concepts and terminology.

Schwalbe provided a straight-forward, articulate and simple approach to today's social media networks. As someone who is Facebook-savvy, but apprehensive to branch out beyond that, I found the presentation very informative. Admittedly, there was a lot that I didn't know about the sea of social networking... And I was definitely put in my place.

Oddly enough, I'm a 20-something, tech-knowledgeable, self absorbed, slightly ADD, curious person with friends spread out across the map. Aren't I supposed to be the idea market for these networking sites? And if so, why was Schwalbe, who seems old enough to be my mother, teaching me about it? I must admit, I feel like I've failed my generation a little bit here. My mom can barely figure out how to read a text message. But Schwalbe knows Twitter inside out and backwards... She even speaks its language!

In reflecting on this presentation, I've stumbled across a lot of ironies and contradictions (mostly in my own perceptions and thought processes). I haven't caught on to the blog wagon yet. I've toyed with the idea (I'd call mine "Will Write for Shoes"... which I'm sure is already taken), but never actually committed to it. I majored in journalism because I love to write. I don't think there is anything that is more therapeutic (and free). So you'd think I'd be all over the idea of blogging... But this is where I doubt myself. While I think I have great ideas, I wonder who the hell else cares what I have to say? Do I really write anything that is worth reading? I guess part of me is scared that I'll put a blog up, no one will read it, and I'll feel like a huge loser. It's not like my classroom, where I have a captive audience for eight hours... Where I can hold grades over their heads and make them take notes about my favorite color, hometown and shoe size. Not that I do that...

I also struggle with the idea of Twitter. The one thing that drives me INSANE about Facebook is how people update their status every fifteen minutes. I don't care what my friends are doing every hour of the day. If I really wanted to know, I'd call them and ask. While social networking has done great things to increase our ability to contact those that are far away, I wonder if it is eliminating our need for face to face contact. I like talking to PEOPLE, not COMPUTERS (or birds, or tweeters, or whatever). If we're trying to teach our students how to interview effectively, read people well, etc. why would we encourage them to go online, eliminating the human contact element?

And as someone who is relatively self absorbed, you'd think I'd be enamored with something that would allow me to broadcast my doings and whereabouts to all of my followers. While I like the idea of having "followers," I'm not quite vain enough to really think that people care what I'm making for breakfast or what the person next to me at the gym smells like. I know, too, that I am a fairly busy person, and I don' t have time to 1) update my "tweets" all the time and 2) read other people's. I, frankly, don't care what most people are doing, most of the time. Maybe that makes me a bad person. I think the jury is still out on this one.

Just the name bothers me as well... I play a lot of word association games in my English classes, and could the Twitter folks have come up with a better name? I mean, a twit is someone who is stupid, right? And a bird as a mascot? Aren't they notorious for having freakishly small brains? And if y'all have seen Bambi, being twitterpated isn't really a good thing. The animals get goofy, stupid and head over heels in love. So to me, this twitterpation that we have with Twitter... is just a bit concerning. 

If you are confused about the concept of twitterpated, it is explained quite eloquently above. Obviously, this is from the Disney movie, Bambi.

Additionally, to refer back to the discussion that Alan lead this morning about Sit On your Butt Journalism... If we're trying to encourage our kids to get OFF of their butts and do real, solid reporting, how is Twitter a good thing at all? To me, it seems that in this respect, Twitter is like the bastard child of SOB Journalism. It seems like if they can just throw a "tweet" out into cyberspace, rather than go out and try and find local sources, that is going to be more harmful than helpful. 

I guess, for me, the bottom line is that I don't get it. I don't understand the fascination with it. I can see how it can make media more available, but I feel like that only instills laziness. I wonder who has the time to care what Oprah did this morning? I wonder if anyone really cares about what I would tweet about? I don't understand why we are so in love with technology in general. Sure, it makes our lives easier, but what have we lost in return?

Perhaps, in five years, after the Twitter Revolution has taken over the world, you can all look back at me and laugh. You can tell me "We told you so!" I give you my full permission. 

Jessica Young

Orange Glen High School

Escondido, Calif.