My daily life consists mostly of me and my computer holed up in an office in my small overheated Cape on Boston’s South Shore, with trips out only to walk the dogs, pick up my son from school, and teach two writing workshops a week. I admit it, there are days—too many really—when I don’t find the need to wash my hair or put on something other than the yoga pants I slept in. For a shut-in writer like me, the allure of the Twitterverse is almost too much to stand. I think of it as “my feed,” by which I mean, “my fix,” and I ration myself to two or three sessions per day.
I rationalize that I need Twitter because I have to publicize my own blog and writing. But my posts seem anemic by comparison with those I’m following. I’m not adding a link where you can catch me on YouTube talking to Colbert. And when I sign on, doesn’t my pulse beat a little faster, as I step onto the fast lane?
As is the case with all voyeurism, Twitter gives me the sense that I’m sharing in the immediate experiences of these other people, even though I’m really not. And you feel all those same confused feelings on Twitter that are usually associated with voyeurism: fascination, jealousy, vicarious participation, secret thrill. Because I don’t actually know any of these people in the flesh, they take on the tantalizing glamour of things appreciated from afar. One feels that they are “in the know”—that they understand better what is happening in the world, and that, I guess, is a certain kind of power they hold over us. The kind that in the old days drew people to fashionable salons. We summarize this now by saying we want to be “part of the cultural conversation.” The truth is, we want to be in there with the cool kids. If this were high school, the Head Twitterers would be the in-crowd.
Article comments
1 - Jessica
I think the voyeurism frame is more titillating than the actual experience of Twitter. For one thing, very few people actually share anything truly personal about their lives. The suggestion that everybody on Twitter is posting about their eating habits or when they do their laundry is a frame invented by the media. Jay Rosen called the opposite of this "mind casting" - the sharing of resources, questions or other intelligent commentary not related to one's activities or personal life. It's the type of Twittering I do and it's the type of Twittering 90 per cent of my educator friends engage in. With some exceptions there are some personal tweets (particularly on the weekend). But do I feel I'm peeking into anyone's life - in any intimate way - not really. Do I feel I know these people better than I know my spouse? Thankfully not.
The article I'd like to see somebody in the mainstream media write is about just how LITTLE anybody is sharing of any really personal import. Nobody tweets, "my life is a disaster. I feel like such a failure" or "my financial situation is perilous. I don't know how we're going to pay the bills" or "my brother's life choices really concern me." Nobody talks about their real troubles, worries or fears in these services and yet we're in a recession. I know people in real life who are losing their jobs. And yet, if you check twitter, people are tweeting about their new iphone app or where they flying on vacation (the most personal thing I've seen) or some other material index of success.
If anything, people are using Twitter to project ideal images of themselves and their lives that are consistent with a public image of success. These aren't safe or truly private spaces so why on earth would anybody share anything truly personal and risk losing their job, their friends, their security or create conflict in their relationships. Few people are so stupid. Is that a bad thing? No. We need, more than ever before, a sense of control over our lives. And as much as we may well be "sharing" on these services, much of it is a carefully constructed fiction designed more than anything to help us establish the ideal self that we need others (even ourselves) to believe in. And there are very few exceptions.
2 - Kimberly Davis
Jessica: Thanks for your long and thoughtful comment. Leaving aside exhibitionists like Kevin Smith, I still think people who are asked to update minute to minute often give away far more than they think about their worries and concerns. Hence the voyeuristic element. But I love your argument about the self as a construct. That is so true, isn't it? It's something you often see in "persona" poetry. But these days everyone has an online persona that they are trying to project, and in many cases it borders on fiction. Kimberly Davis (author)
3 - Wayne
Very nice article.
Here's my latest Twitter web comic.
4 - KELLI2L
Has anyone other than me, actually realized or care that the folks behind Twitter are actually tracking YOU.
5 - Jet
It would appear to me as if Twitter is for those who have tons of time on their hands and not really worth bothering with... unless you're really bored with your life.
Or am I missing something?
6 - Sofia Bustamante
Hi Kimberley
Loved this post. I also have days when I don't get out of my nightie :-)and despite my deadlines log into twitter. Can feel like a vortex that pulls me more forcefully the closer I get. I tweeted once that that after a couple of days away from twitter, reading the stream of eclectic tweets :-) is like a brain massage.. i literally feel stimulated in different parts of my brain.
and actually for this reason i do like the presence of non-nerds because the contrast itself provides a more interesting one (massage)
Jessica: I do agree with you in the point you make about sharing the not-so-welcome-self. I am in the middle of writing about my own failures and reflect actually how hard it is. The notion of the safe space.
I have actually just written about Paolo Coelho's post "in search of the perfect leader" which discusses how we don't allow our leaders to make human mistakes.
Seems like it is one big collusion to only show the shiny self.
thanks for thought-provoking writing from both of you.
Sofia
7 - Tan The Man
Now that Oprah's on board, I think Twitter will be less cool -- not less used -- and more trendy...
8 - writerkols
Kim, thanks for such a great article.When you think clearly, Twitter is indeed the new voyeurs' platform and unconsciously, we do reveal things that we may not normally reveal to even family and friends. Moreover, it robs us of our time and in the long run, it almost becomes an addiction.