I hate to admit it. Another Internet obsession is tempting me with its never ending updates and constant reminders of friendly interactions. It seems as though practically daily I hear a mention of the infamous Twitter, the free social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read other users’ updates known as tweets.
Unlike its online counterparts such as MySpace or Facebook, Twitter limits the character count of each post to 140 characters. The restriction on tweet size is in attempts to keep the “SMS” or “texty” feel of the website. Similar to Twitter, a general cell phone text message allows for 160 characters to be sent between phones.
Although still following behind Facebook and MySpace, Twitter’s usage has increased exponentially. In March 2009, a Nielsen blog ranked Twitter as the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009. Twitter had a growth of 1382 percent.
The Twitter sensation has been an easy target for comedians like Jon Stewart who joked on his show about congressman Twittering during one of President Barack Obama’s addresses. Laughable or not, the idea of easy access information is one to be invested in because studies are starting to prove that quick information access is preferable to a growing majority of Internet users.
In a 2009 study from a neuroscience group led by Antonio Damasio, director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, discovered that rapid-fire news updates and instant social interaction are too fast for the ‘moral compass’ of the brain to process. The study showed it takes longer to activate processing of social emotions such as admiration and compassion, which are critical for developing a sense of morality. Although Twitter was not explicitly singled out in the study, Twitter was primarily targeted by media reports.
My roommates and friends can be seen here joined in the online action all in a row on their computers sophomore year. There were six of us living in this apartment at one point and many times most of us would find ourselves glued to our computer screens, chatting away on various social networking sites. I vow to continue my battle against the urge to register for the online temptation known as Twitter.
