

Twitter and Emptiness - tommaxwell
http://tommaxwell.co/post/39371499182/twitter-and-emptiness

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xentronium
Every time I read something like this, one particular article from Pointless
Waste of Time (now Cracked) comes to my mind [1]. In his very cynical and
somewhat angry way, David Wong describes why current iteration of social media
interactions model doesn't work too well.

I am very much advising to read the whole article, but his main points are:

1\. Text is not a good medium

2\. Internet relationships are too sterile (this works both ways, your
'friends' are more sterile and your annoyances are filtered too easily)

3\. In the end we feel worth less

[1] [http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-
century-...](http://www.cracked.com/article_15231_7-reasons-21st-century-
making-you-miserable.html)

------
djt
I noticed this a lot last night at a nightclub. It was 11:30pm and people were
on their smart phones smiling, it was for extended periods of time and they
werent typing so almost definitely wasnt SMS messages. Even in a packed
pub/club people find solitude.

~~~
lucian303
Indeed. Well put.

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benrhughes
A few months ago I quit Twitter after being a fairly heavy user (24k tweets in
~4yrs). I found one of my now-best IRL friends on Twitter, and a lot of other
people I care/d about.

But more and more, it seemed to create an emptiness in me. Or more to the
point, it brought the existing emptiness to the surface. There's a kind of
desperation there, with everyone clamouring to be less lonely.

It also occupied too much of my thought process. I'd find myself
subconsciously rephrasing thoughts into 140 character chunks. It was weird.

I'm still half tempted to go back, and try and to see if I can maintain the
relationships without the downsides. I'm not too confident though.

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CKKim
The article makes me wonder what _would_ make someone want to be around a
social group "all the time, or even on a frequent basis".

When I was a child of course I wanted to hang around with my friends as much
as possible: there were activities which necessitated being in the same place
and they were so fun that there never seemed enough time for them. e.g.
trading Star Wars cards and playing videogames (no XboxLive in those days, we
had to use a 'multi-tap' and splitscreen!). We were all about the "all the
time" and "frequent basis".

In adult life the equivalent seems to be those people who are always getting
me out to play soccer or jam with them. Still activities that necessitate
being in the same place and, for some, still activities that they love so much
that there's virtually no such thing as spending 'too much time' on them.

But I don't think that's it. I think that when you meet up with the same
people a lot, doing things the group broadly enjoys, whether you really like
ALL of them as individuals or not, you build a camaraderie and that's what
makes you come back and hang out "all the time" and "on a frequent basis".

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sebastianavina
It also applies to reddit.

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akaru
Thanks, Doogie Howser.

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lucian303
"More than ever, I just wanted to be alone. Alone with my thoughts, alone with
my computer, alone with my hobbies."

That sounds neither sad nor crazy or anything else people might tell you. It's
quite normal. You maybe an introvert. Which is not what most people think it
is.

This maybe the best article on the subject and most popular Atlantic Monthly
article ever in terms of reader response:
[http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-f...](http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2003/03/caring-
for-your-introvert/302696/)

If that rings true, Welcome! You are far from alone. But we'll leave you
alone, because we're the same way most of the time.

~~~
ComputerGuru
The way I define it these days: there are two types of people, those that
"recharge" when they're with others for when they're alone (extroverts), and
those that recharge when they're alone for when they're with others
(introverts).

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

~~~
lucian303
And some do both. To limited extents. As in, I can take this much recharge
from people and this much from my alone time. It's really a matter of numbers,
although the numbers are variable over time.

~~~
rooshdi
It varies person to person, but I find that some people are more "extroverted"
in certain contexts and subjects which interest them, while others are more
"introverted" in topics which don't hold their interests as much.

~~~
lucian303
That is, IMO, the nature of introversion. It is a myth than introverts cannot
or hate social situations. While everyone is different, I can speak only for
myself. Small talk is the bane of existence. If one has nothing of essence to
say, one should shut up. Otherwise, I will find a way to politely (or not)
move away to something of interest.

I can hold a conversation about software development topic X for probably
hours with plenty of energy, yet another conversation about the weather for
two minutes drains me more than the former.

