Tweets, little snippets of written conversation stripped of grammar or punctuation, would have been unthinkable for adults ten years ago — and certainly would not have earned a passing grade in school. But who remembers that far back? And who besides college students these days takes the time to focus on a whole paragraph?
It is true that a segment of our society is actually suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)… and cannot focus on more than a Tweet’s worth of information. Some reports say 11% of the population has ADD or ADHD (includes attention problems and hyperactivity), doubled from 5% decade ago…but the real numbers may be even higher. It seems that everyone is highly stressed and low on concentration compared to the years when we were growing up (if we ever did, that is).
Is Twitter merely fun–a powerful tool to convey information in a concise and clever, brief format–to stimulate further communication? Or is it a product of our ADD-prone culture and inability to communicate in complete thoughts for an extended period of time? Is it good for us?
Common symptoms of ADD are inability to concentrate, being disorganized, forgetful, late all the time, always in a rush…and there is evidence that our impersonal, fast-paced work environment promotes ADD. Instead of solving the problem through patience, education and training, our culture has catered to the level on which many people function, reducing the amount of information people take in or provide at one time. According to a March 31, 2013 NY Times article, ADHD (essentially ADD with hyperactivity and inability to focus) has increased 41% in the last decade (some sources say the increase is as great as 66%); sales of drugs to treat the condition doubled in 2012 to a record $9 billion.
Does continually using sites like Twitter–or beginning to think in Tweets–help people focus and concentrate? Does it give them the patience to become good writers? What is the effect of a daily diet of Tweets?
Tweets are thought-provoking, short, quickly written statements that convey a main idea. The push to communicate briefly to so many people in so little time may harm our ability to communicate well for longer periods of time–and to a very few people. Unless they are aphorisms written by masters of the English language (Emerson, Thoreau, Atwood), Tweets are easily forgotten…and will they save the world? What does our addiction to Twitter say about our ability to communicate and our interest in forging real adult relationships?
Maybe Twitter should create a site called Sing it to Me Slowly…for those who want to take more time and have more to say?
Tweets:
(1) Some people tweet about business, life, or love. But, I tweet about Twitter
(2) Tweets, little snippets of written conversation stripped of grammar or punctuation, would have been unthinkable for adults ten years ago
(3)
Tweets are thought-provoking, short, quickly written statements that convey a main idea.
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