Ruhi's Tumblelog

Twitter: A commentary on desultory behavior (Psychology Today)

pinkeezy:

psychotherapy:

…However, I don’t want to write about procrastination. Pamela is right, “procrastinators do not need Twitter to get the job done.” Twitter and other social-networking tools do not cause procrastination, but they do create a problem. That problem is desultory behavior.

Desultory - From Latin desultorius - “hasty, casual, superficial”, from desultor - “a circus rider who jumped from one galloping horse to another” - That’s quite an image!

Various dictionary definitions include: going constantly from one subject to another esp. digressively and unmethodically; disconnected, random or occasional; marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose; not connected with the main subject; disappointing in progress, performance, or quality

To have your behavior, your life, described as desultory is not a compliment. Yet that’s the nature of the lives of so many people who stay connected through text messages, Facebook updates and Twitter. Interruptions to whatever else they’re doing are constant, creating desultory behavior. There is a bit of a circus here, with the social-networker “jumping from one galloping horse to another.”

It’s particularly ironic, I think, that these social-networking tools are meant to keep us connected, yet the very definition of desultory includes the notion of “disconnected.” The desultory behavior throughout the day required to seek or maintain social connections may disconnect us from ourselves and our goals. I think these social-networking tools even disconnect us from the real (not virtual) world around us…

Kind of agree what is being said here- lots of people feel the constant need to update every single “significant” thing that’s going on in their lives…be it eating an apple or buying a pack of cigarettes. I’ve also noticed people waking up in the middle of the night just to see what’s going on at Twitter. I’m sure this is a big compliment for Biz Stone and other founders of Twitter- they’ve gotten people addicted to such an extent. Humans are social beings and Twitter/Facebook are the perfect tools that let them bring out their real selves. I would describe myself as a moderate user of Twitter and Facebook. By moderate, I mean that I don’t feel the constant need to interrupt my main “work” and post updates. I usually spend about 15-30 mins per day on Twitter and Facebook. Not more than that. For me, Twitter is a tool for “saving” snippets of my life. I don’t know if I’ll be able to hold on to them forever. When we had video cassettes, we thought that they were forever. What if Twitter becomes extinct? What if the format in which I store these updates become extinct? Haha. Maybe I should print stuff on a monthly basis? Like an online backup plan.