I’m becoming a compulsive Twitter user – a “Twitterite” (clumsy but preferable if you will to David Cameron‘s proposed nomenclature – “Too many Tweets make a….”).

It’s becoming something of a love affair, albeit late to bloom and against my better judgement. Twitter really (really) works for me. It’s my intellectual, social media shaped, hit of KFC.  And like the Colonel, it’s a cunning beastie – because it appeals to my unabated curiosity and inferiority complexes in equal measure. This is both good and bad.

It’s good in that I feel more exposed and connected to the possibilities of the world courtesy of the genius of many of my fellow inhabitants – which is exhilarating and empowering.  It’s bad in that it’s hard to turn the tap off, to look away for fear of missing ‘the next thing’, to accept that there will always be more. That ‘This is Enough’.

Just now I had a slightly different but equally uneasy realisation about how my relationship with Twitter – like all good love affairs – was filling me with just a little more melancholy than an almost fully grown man should be feeling on a Friday evening.  For it occurred to me that although Social Media (in its many guises) oft gives us a sense of  unfettered access and untempered reach, on occasion it can also cruelly remind us of our all too real limitations (and frailties) in the face of  the sheer scale of our world and all that sails in her – most of which we can never hope to know, see nor understand.

And yet hasn’t this forever been a universal truth? Perhaps; but unlike the generations that have gone before us, whose aspirations for universal enlightenment (and connection) were naturally constrained from the outset by the dull facts of time, space and technological limitation, today the tools at our disposal create – every now and again, however fleetingly – the illusion that connection to all human knowledge and experience is truly within our grasp. That we might in fact one day, “slip the surly bonds of earth” to “touch the face of God“.

The reality of course is somewhat different. And potentially challenging to accept as such.

The epigraph from the wonderful Colum McCann book – Let the Great World Spin – sprang to mind as I pondered this. It’s a quote from Aleksandr Hemon’s The Lazarus Project:

“All the lives we could live, all the people we will never know, never will be, they are everywhere.  That is what the world is”.

At first reading there is a deep sadness in these lines. An inevitability of experiential poverty; of denial and regret.  But in the context of McCann’s book in particular they are presented at the outset (in hindsight) as a challenge to us. A challenge which evokes the central tenet of interdependence (a concept made live for me by my unwitting spiritual curator Rohan Gunatillake) – which lies at the heart of many religious traditions and faiths, not least Buddhism, and is the reality of human existence.

For having opened with these lines McCann then sets about ripping them (and their gloomy sentiment) apart by weaving a set of stories which capture the very real human possibilities and hope which our inherent interdependence make available – and inevitable (when we are truly awake to it) – to each of us. Possibilities in and hope for this life, this person, this moment.

And in doing so McCann in fact offers us a reminder and extends an invitation: to disavow the chase (and regret) for what must necessarily be a constructed reality of what might have been or never will be and instead embrace (and cherish) the sometimes challenging but ultimately organic reality of the lives we are/can live, the people we/will do know, the person we are and can become.

So what’s that got to do with Twitter or “social connectivity” tools? I’ve probably failed to articulate this at all well, but for now what I think I mean to say is: yes, these tools can amplify the sadness that accompanies the recognition that in the finite course of a human life there will be many experiences, ambitions, realisations and relationships we shall never know. However long we remain online. But to regret these many imagined illuminations which Twitter and her social media kin could have/should have/may have bestowed upon me is nothing less than to regret all of the very real illuminations they already have. Illuminations for which I give thanks and which remind me of the need to remain awake and mindful in and of my own incredible reality.

I think this is an important challenge for our age – one I touched on previously here: the ability to remain mindful and conscious of the potential (and related interdependence) of the here and now in the face of almost limitless connectivity and the perceived alternate (and often idealised) realities which that exposes us to.

This is an ability we (and I in particular) must strive to master otherwise these social connectivity tools can – at their worst – become sources of suffering and regret, not liberation. And that would be a terrible tragedy.

When I had my moment of “Twitterite sadness”, an image of the connected “social-sphere” sprang to mind. Anyone with an interest in Neuro-Linguistic Programming would be unsurprised to learn that the subconscious had depicted a vast sphere of connections, with myself represented as a tiny orb, far flung and remote from the “centre” – the perceived heart of things, the place where this idealised view of my universally connected and enlightened self should/would ideally reside. Cognitive Behaviour Therapists or an enlightened mind would of course point out that how we see the world determines how we respond to the world. If I hold that image too long, allow it to become my reality then of course I’ll feel sadness at my perceived  inconsequence in the great scheme of things.

But thankfully I have the words of Marge Piercy to hand to remind me that:

“No one is at the centre, but each is her own centre”

I love that sentiment. It is empowering. And a reminder of the challenges, possibilities (and responsibilities) for each of us in a connected world.

Related articles

• Is Social Media Really Anti-Social? (customerthink.com)

I went on a bit of a “rant” today in response to some worryingly narrow responses to an excellent piece the wonderful Euan Semple had posted on his blog The Obvious, criticising a school (which the son of his friend attends) for withdrawing/banning the use of Facebook in school time.

I’ve copied the relevant exchanges/pieces below. I hope I didn’t upset Helen or Christian but sometimes you have to say what needs to be said. There is little more important than progressive education….we should continue to encourage a progressive discussion.

This seemed somehow apt today as I went along to the local Primary School to hear about the possibilities for becoming a Governor. I’ll be checking they harness social media in the classroom before I sign up to anything!

I’m glad to say that most of the posts that preceded and followed mine agreed with Euan’s original sentiment. So all hope is not lost….I was really touched by his kind words following my post. That, for those of you who don’t know the influence of the man, is praise indeed.

Anyway, here it is (was?) albeit a spell checked version (old habits..) starting with Euan’s original post. You can find the full exchange with all comments at his excellent blog which I’ve linked above.

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• Cleveland Bans Teachers Friending Students on Facebook (globalneighbourhoods.net)
• Imagining the Dream e-Tool for Education and Training (scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org)
• Do we do, or do we don’t? (digital-teacher.co.uk)
• Education Secretary on the realities of learning platforms: Facebook is your competition (edu.blogs.com)

Irrespective of whether this yields much political fruit in the form of new votes, it is undoubtedly clever from a party that actually does seem to be grasping the potential benefits of drawing upon the collective wisdom of the nation – even as an exercise in public consultation. Whether anything useful comes from the analysis or not (the site itself is rather basic – reflecting I guess the need to rush to get something out there) you can be sure that it will garner news headlines, those with an interest will feel engaged and it offers real efficiencies for Conservative HQ and their effort to respond to yesterday’s announcements by The Chancellor.  It’s hard to see how they can lose on this. I see Liam Byrne has suggested that it reflects the fact that the Conservatives “need help” with their response. I think that’s a potentially dangerous line to take on this one but we’ll see…..

Their recent “Cash Gordon” campaign online via Twitter was undoubtedly a disaster – be wary of trying to manipulate the web dwelling public into becoming a conduit for something they haven’t initiated or truly believe in – but on this one (for now) I doff my social(ist) media flat cap.

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• The Tory crowdsourcing budget spectacular. Found anything yet?(guardian.co.uk)
• Budget 2010: David Cameron looks for ‘wisdom of crowds’ in online reaction(guardian.co.uk)
• Tories launch £1m tech competition(v3.co.uk)
• Tories swallow Web 2.0, spit out £1m crowdsource prize(theregister.co.uk)

Fascinated and excited by the recent launch of Ireland’s very own island-wide Crowdsourcing experiment/competition:

http://www.yourcountryyourcall.com/index.html

And apart from  few minor points of confusion on the site itself I think it’s been very well done thus far. Intrigued to see how the organisers move into the next phase of evaluation and ultimately implementation which is where such “Us Now” experiments will live or die.

Just reading some of the early ideas/proposals gives much food for thought and in many instances I felt genuinely inspired.  Will be keeping a close eye on this one.

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• Getting results for “shockingly little money” (smartblogs.com)
• How to Make Crowdsourcing Sustainable and Productive (poynter.org)

I’m probably done in at this hour but couldn’t find anything remotely related.

On a happier note though, in the course of my search, I did rediscover these – one of my favorite images of 2009 and one of my favorite web-resources. They will have to suffice for now. Enjoy what what the great Edward Tufte might well have described as “beautiful evidence”…

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2009/sep/16/public-spending-departments-money-cuts

http://www.wheredoesmymoneygo.org/