The Twittersphere
April 13, 2014 Assumptions 10 comments bdion14
The Twittersphere
Social media consumes many people’s lives. The combination of speedy communication, and quick access to virtual information is what tempts so many people to practically start living their life on the internet. Once people are diagnosed with the case of the “posts”, there is no going back. There is only a one way ticket available for the destination of the social aspect of cyberspace. The latest leader in this social scam is an organization called Twitter.
In case you have not heard of Twitter, (which is practically impossible) I will gladly explain it’s counter-productive dynamics. Twitter is a website, but it is also an app that can be used on a smartphone. It is a place where people can post almost anything that their heart desires, and anyone who is “following” them can see it on there twitter feed. People can rack up the followers and make their social network increasingly broad. This addicting internet service assists people in sharing their personal information, pictures, and nonsense opinions to their fellow tweeters.
A tweet is simply 160 characters of nonessential information.
Even though most people know that this program is useless, they cannot separate themselves from it. Once you enter the Twittersphere, there is no going back.
People from all ages are signed up and utilizing Twitter’s resources each and every day. In fact, according to “Statistic Brain” the average number of total tweets per day is 58 million! Those 58 million tweets are coming from 645,750,000 current registered users of Twitter. To put that into perspective, the United States only contains 313.9 million people. The Twittersphere is technically almost twice the population size of the United States. Our amazing country took years to build, but this futile network only took months to revolutionize into an virtual world super power. It is not done growing either! There are roughly 135,000 people signing up to use Twitter each day (Statistic Brain)! This simple program is using the technological world to literally take over the real world.
The biggest concern with the popularization of this specific website and app is the addictiveness of it. It is understandable for people to want to share certain information and pictures with their friends conveniently over the internet. That is not happening with Twitter though. People are tweeting almost every step they take in their life. Ridiculously unimportant statements like “I’m hungry” and “I’m tired” are flooding people’s twitter feed 24/7. What does that accomplish? Obviously no one truly cares what others are feeling every second of every day. Yet, many people still continue to post these forms of pointless expressions.
Now don’t get me wrong, there is a slight upside to the elements provided by Twitter. It can help people who have lost touch finally reunite. Also, keeping up to date with current events and world news is easy. The idea that Twitter was created on was the access to quick communication. It can be used as an instant messenger. It is just as fast as text messaging. Actually, 43% of people who use Twitter mainly from use it from their phones (Statistic Brain). The only downside of using it on your phone as a form of messaging is that if you don’t send the person a direct message, the rest of your followers can read your conversation. That is when the invasions of privacy come into play. Privacy is a major issue when employing Twitter. People can type any name in and find any existing profile within seconds. There are some privacy settings, but they are not as detailed or as reliable as the well-known program called Facebook. If you do not turn on some of your privacy settings, than people all over the world can read your tweets. They can click on a tab called “Discover” and peruse through anyone and everyone’s tweets. Twitter should really look into making that element of their service more protected.
Almost everyone now accepts that social media plays a major role in most people’s lives, and that it is not going away anytime soon. Most people even embrace it. Sometimes the easy access of information can be useful, but many other times it can damage our actual social experience in life. Twitter has gotten many people’s attention. Due to this spike in curiousity, people really need to realize the possible negative effects it can have on their life, and the seemingly useless features it possesses. The Twittersphere is dangerously addictive; be careful.
10 Comments
Awesome article, it really makes you think about where we’d be without all of our social media. Would we be twice as productive? And you’re right…once you get sucked in, there’s really no way out.
This was a really good article to read. It does make me think of how much time we as teenagers alone spend on these social media sites. It is crazy the facts you found. I always thought twitter was ridiculous because I had seen some people’s tweets. I didn’t get twitter for the longest time, then one day I got it and I can’t stay off it. It is weird how much B.S is put on to a stupid app that really, no one cares to read about at times. Nice job overall Brady.
Great article! I’ve never understood why social media is so addicting. I enjoy it because it’s one of the ways I can stay in touch with people I might not see often. However I don’t understand why some kids post the silliest things like – “going to eat dinner” or “going to bed”.. why do people on the website need to know little information like that? It’s shocking some of the things I see people post about; they really need to understand that anyone can see what they post.
Awesome piece! When you take the time to think about how much social media affects our lives, it makes you wonder where we would all be without it. Personally, I don’t rely on social media, I enjoy it for it’s ability to quickly connect with others, but what I don’t understand is how people can be so addicted. I love the way you introduce this topic, I would not change anything about this article. The mild humor throughout this piece, keeps it interesting and audience friendly.
I agree social media will be the downfall of the world. As amazing as it can be and useful as it is to connect with people you would never know through any other way it is useless to me. The problem with kids today is that their parents are so wrapped up in the social media nonsense no one tells the kids to get off the technology and go outside. As I grew up I always was outside, rain, snow, shine, you could find me trespassing, building a fort, climbing trees, and playing war. As I have grown older the earlier years of high school i got wrapped up in the social media then one summer when I had realized It was over and I barely got outside I started deleting stuff and 2 years later I have yet to regret it! Social media has turned from something that connects people and makes friends into a device that destroys relationships, creates drama and takes over lives. GET OUTSIDE AND LEAVE THE PHONE IN.
Social media is amazing, and so is this post! It’s incredible to actually read about someone’s perspective of a popular site such as Twitter because it brings me to this realization that people essentially have two lives when connected through social media. But those statistics absolutely blew my mind, that many people talking about their ever-so-exciting lives publicly on the internet? What has this world come to?! And more importantly, what’s next? This piece astonishes me, and scares simultaneously. But that means it’s good! Fantastic job.
I really like this article. It is amazing that there are almost twice as many twitter accounts as there are people. People have become so accustomed to twitter that it has taken over their lives. People try to create an image of themselves on twitter that is nowhere near who they really are. I like your point about how twitter isn’t very protected. Everyone in the world can see your tweets if you don’t turn on the proper privacy settings.
What a great piece! Social media will be the downfall for all of us. As awesome and useful as it is to connect with people you would never know through any other way, or get information it is dangerous. So many people are out there on all these cites. We all need to remember to turn on the proper privacy settings. Great article!
This is so true it’t not even funny! Social media causes drama, bullying, addiction, but year everyone uses it. Its crazy to think how addicted kids are getting to these cites at younger and younger ages. What would happen if Twitter shut down and we all were forced to let it go? I totally agree once you’re in you’re in, I am totally guilty of being addicted and possibly posting to much information sometimes!
Well done, This article hits home and for the most part is true. Social media does happen to suck people in and cause trouble for others, but there are those rare cases of people actually teaching lessons or giving advice or even just spreading a story. Social media can be used for good, if people are willing to use it properly.