THE Twitter and Facebook Question

I’ve been really thinking a lot lately about whether the whole social networking space defined by tools like Twitter and Facebook are really worth engaging in.

Recently, just due to a very full-on schedule and lots of late meetings, etc., I found I went a few days without really engaging much with either Facebook or Twitter, and after an initial (and fleeting) sense of missing out, I got over that pretty quickly and realised that I could actually walk away from them without much loss.

There would, without question, be some loss, but the vast majority of input coming into my life through these tools is generally banal and fairly egocentric. It does not add value to my life knowing what yummy thing someone is having for dinner, or that they’ve just seen such-and-such movie, etc. I just find my thinking and mind cluttered by an endless stream of trivialities, and this level of distraction cannot possibly help one to think deeper and more reflectively about life and purpose. I want to be deep and purposeful, but I don’t think that’s really possible if your attention of dispersed in hundreds of shallow directions.

I used to journal a lot, and I used to post on this blog a lot. Both of these activities called me to think and think deeply. At least that was my goal, and I think it did help me to articulate important stuff going on in my head. And, I think I can pin-point the demise of those two disciplines to the period in which Twitter and Facebook became more prominent in my daily activities, and I don’t think I like the impact that’s had on me.

I know that a bunch of folks will accuse me of being flip-floppy on this, having been a big proponent of social technology and the benefits of “ambient awareness”, but I’m really starting to have second thoughts about it all. After having experimented and participated over a couple of years, I’m really starting to doubt. There are some positives, and I’ve enjoyed staying loosely connected with long-lost friends, and folks from all around the world. But, it’s been a trade-off, and all those loose connections have cost me something as well.

The biggest question for me in all of this is: Is it possible to be a purposeful and highly productive person, having a meaningful and significant impact in this world, while also spending a large chunk of time and attention on what is largely trivial and banal?