Last week, throughout President Barak Obama’s speech to a joint session of Congress, a handful of legislators were seen sending messages using their BlackBerrys and cell phones via Twitter, a social networking service. Twitterers provided brief (under 140 words) and instant updates, reporting on everything from the arrival of a Supreme Court justice (“I did big woohoo for Ginsberg,” wrote Senator Claire McCaskill, misspelling the Justice’s name) to offering opinions about the content of Obama’s speech (“Sitting at the State of the Union listening to words like responsibility and accountability just days after a reckless spending spree,” typed Congressman Zach Wamp.)

 

I am less than crazy about Twitter and the on-going communication it promotes. Instead of encouraging environments in which one person speaks, another listens and then thoughtfully responds, Twitter emboldens people to stay permanently affixed to an electronic gadget and thumb forth vignettes of initial reactions. Twittering neither requires nor encourages thoughtfulness. Instead, it promotes old-fashioned stimulus (You said X.) and response (I believe Y.)

 

What’s more, so many Twitter postings can only be described as inane. Senator McCaskill has apparently become a master Twitterer. Her postings have included details like the type of soda (Diet Coke) she orders with her popcorn during a movie theater outing. Does anyone care? Don’t you worry just a bit about the person who does care?