Twitter isn’t just an activity or an outlet. It’s a way of life. In the same way that camera phones now block sightlines at shows, Twitter mediates my daily existence. Did I say something witty? Might as well throw it up there. Am I watching a basketball game or an awards show? Live-tweet or die, brah.
During the Oscars, a friend accused me of being more present on Twitter than I was IRL. It made me a little sad until I realized that I wanted it that way. I would be utterly ashamed of my relationship with Twitter if there weren’t so many others with the same problem. And at least my vices are limited to Twitter, Facebook for a change of pace and Instagram on the rare occasions that my brain switches from the verbal to visual.
I know that’s only the tip of the social media iceberg now that Snapchat, Tinder and other next gen platforms make some people even more preoccupied with their web lives. Or, to make it slightly more terrifying, have let the Internet shape and control their IRL. I’m old and less advanced. By hanging onto a scrap of humanity, I’m holding back our species.
All of this is scary, but it’s also progress. Things are a lot less weird than they used to be. A decade ago, the Internet was a far-off place. It was where you played and pretended. It was fantastic and over the top. It was where we spilled our guts or entertained dreams of, say, making music or writing.
