To tweet or not - that is the question

I long felt that I was behind the curveball when it comes to new things.  It took my friend Teri near blackmail to get me to try texting.  After all, why spend so much time pushing buttons over and over on your phone.  Isn't it easier just to pick it up and call somebody?  And what happens to our social skills if we all started texting instead of talking to each other.  That's what's wrong with this generation - nobody talks to each other!


And then there was the whole text language - lol, lmao, etc. Wth does all this mean?!  No, texting is not for me.    Yada Yada.  That soapbox lasted for about a week.  Once I realized that texting someone meant that I could get an important piece of information without having to listen to the recital of Susie's arthritis - well, I was hooked.  And my son gets on me for suing too many texting shortcuts.  I love it!

The next evil to enter my life several years ago was Facebook.  This was a time when My Space was still as popular and Facebook was just starting.  My friend Teri told me that I would enjoy it.  I told her it was a ridiculous way to spend my time.  After all, who wanted to know what I made for dinner that night?  Nothing, of course - I don't cook.  But she convinced me to try it.  And she created a monster.  It didn't take long for me to realize that Facebook was a great way of keeping up with multiples of family and friends and not have to talk to them.  At that point in my life, my job still consisted of dealing with hundreds of people and I truly enjoyed being able to be a little anonymous on FB.  Now, of course, I'm hooked , like 500 million other people around the world.   My day would not be complete without checking out what's going on on FB.  Of course, it truly does have a great purpose.  While my dear friend Fred was trying to recover from cancer, friends and family started a FB page to keep everyone up to date on his struggle.

The last few months, I have truly discovered the useful purposes of FB.  During my last job, I used it as a marketing tool and got more people interested in becoming a part of our world.  Lately, I have used FB in my volunteer position at our local animal shelter.  It's a great way to let people know what pets are available for adoption and also to promote our needs.  And yesterday, after the snow, I needed to get out to town and wasn't sure what the roads were like.  Did I log onto our local news channel?  No way!  Logged onto Facebook and asked my friends.  Not only did I get an accurate picture of our local roads, but also a loving reminder to be careful out there.  My local weatherman doesn't care enough about me to send me out there with love.

When I'm having a bad day, I can just post something and my friends respond and remind me quickly - and in great volumes - that I'm loved and appreciated.  In this age of instant gratification, that's worth more than an hour's therapy.  After all, I don't pay them.

I've entered the new age even more with this blog.  I don't know why I started it or why I ever thought that anyone would be interested in reading anything I have to say - but there you go.  For better or for worse, I've entered the Blogosphere.  If I'm boring you, I apologize.  Not really.

The one thing, though, that I don't get is Twitter.  Why would anyone be interested enough in people to follow them all day long and listen to their 2 lines of wisdom, like where they're having ice cream?  I don't get it.  If someone can explain it to me in terms that I can understand - like an actual use for it - my ears and mind are wide open.  But I haven't figured it out yet.

Anyone?