Write About Now

Some people experience peer pressure to drink. Others are pressured to take drugs, skip school, or steal. I get pressured to join Twitter.

Twitter, in case you’re not one of the millions worldwide already hooked in, is a cross between blogging and text-messaging. Users post 140-character-or-less updates about their daily life, thoughts, and experiences—some once a day or so, others almost constantly. You can “follow,” or receive the updates of, anyone you choose, and accumulate “followers” of your own who elect to receive your updates. “Real life happens between blog posts and emails,” the site says. “And now there’s a way to share.”

Here are some recent Twitter updates from my friends:
“Resting for a minute after first coat of ‘Dreamy Caramel.’” (complete with “twitpic” of the freshly-painted room)
“Waiting for laundry to finish and enjoying a nice, rainy fall evening.”
“Home from small group where we wished a happy birthday to my apprentice leader.”
“Waiting in our cafe for smart-rockstar-woman-leader jentaylor.”
(Thanks for that one, Kyle.)

I’ve resisted the pressure so far for several reasons. For one thing, and with apologies to my already-Twittering friends, it seems rather egocentric to assume others want the details of my every moment. Then again, I already update my Facebook status once or twice a day, which is arguably just as self-involved, and Twitter can now update both at the same time.

My bigger resistance stems from a growing sense that I’m already too plugged in, already too reliant on and addicted to email, and already wasting too much time surfing around the ‘net. I don’t think I need another site to keep track of and updated, and since I’ve also pushed back against the iPhone bandwagon I would have to log into Twitter each day to “follow” the tweets from friends. (The iPhone now has an app which allows you to send and receive Twitter/Facebook updates.) Apparently I’m okay with naval-gazing, but only if it doesn’t take too much time.

So “everybody’s doing it,” and I’m on the fence. Do you Twitter? Why or why not?