I'm too old fashioned for Twitter

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Sunday, September 20, 2009

Maybe I’m just old fashioned. I know, it seems odd for a 26-year-old man to say he’s old fashioned but it must be true.

I don’t know when it first started getting annoying. At first, it was just something I didn’t understand. Then, when I got to know it a little better, I tried to embrace it.

But now I’m just ready to throw up my hands and say enough.

Twitter is taking over the world, and it’s time to put it to a stop.

For those of you who don’t know, Twitter is a social networking Web site where you can give what’s called status updates to your friends, or people who choose to follow you.

So if I were going to the store to buy milk and wanted everyone to know about it, I would post “Going to the store to get milk. I love milk!”

Pro athletes and other celebrities have embraced this technology to let fans get somewhat inside their world. They’ll post what they did that day or their opinions on life.

That is all well and good. The only person I followed when I got on Twitter a couple of months ago was PGA golfer and 2009 British Open champion Stewart Cink, who hails from my hometown of Florence, Ala.

Thanks to Twitter and Stewart, I learned that the vending machines in the clubhouse at Turnberry, where the British Open was played, sells condoms. Interesting stuff.

So that part of Twitter is fine. I don’t mind getting inside the head of a celebrity, even if it is through a 40-word “tweet.”

But when this technology is put into the hands of everyday people is when it becomes too much to bear.

Getting status updates from people you barely know letting you know what mundane thing they are doing is bad enough, but now entire television shows are being created specifically for the technology.

ESPN has a show called SportsNation, where the two hosts give their opinions on a topic and then people Twitter in their votes and they read what the opinions of the fans are. That’s it. Thrilling stuff.

Another show that has been created for the Twitter lover is called SEC Gridiron Live on Fox Sports South. The show has the normal three hosts who debate games and topics in the SEC, but they also have someone who basically mans the computer and takes tweets from fans.

“I want to hear from you, the fan,” she says in every single commercial and show.

So you have Volfan332 saying something like “The Vols are gonna roll his year y’all!!! Kiffin to the top!!!” Or maybe RollTide 12 says “Saban mania is taking over! ROLL TIDE!!!!”

Really enthralling. I mean, does anyone care what Volman or RollTide has to say about their teams? When I want the opinions of people I don’t know, I’ll walk down the street and ask them.

Perhaps it’s the new generation of people that I just don’t understand. Everyone is so tech savvy and Twitter crazy. I just don’t get it. Call me old fashioned or say I live in a cave, but that’s OK with me. The only thing I want to hear tweet is the birds.

Jeff Edwards is the sports editor for The Democrat. He can be reached at sports@natchezdemocrat.com.