Twitter

Speaking of drugs: And then there is Twitter.

I think this might be the start of my second year tweeting. I tell you, it's entirely possible to spend way too much of your time involved with that form of social media. In these times of #OWS, the #99%, Anonymous, WikiLeaks, and the obvious slanting of the news by most of mainstream media, it's very hard to keep myself from falling nose-first into Twitter and the independent reporting and witnessing going on there. Since I'm practically house-bound these days, I've been addicted to re-tweeting posts with links to good reporting, thoughtful essays, and on-the-ground witnessing. Of course, there are the tweets with the potential of becoming a powerful meme. Love to RT those, too.

As exciting and informative as Twitter can be, you know you might have a problem when you wake up in the middle of the night (for what ever reason) and end up staying up an extra hour or three staring at your mobile device while in bed. My bad. Sometimes I wonder if Twitter is more suited to people who are either single or with a partner equally into it.

Just the same, it was very exciting to follow the role the Anonymous collective had with the Occupy BART protests against the killing of an unarmed man by BART police--and then to the Occupy Wall Street movement. I'm impressed by the way Anonymous utilized social media to mobilize public sentiment to public statement. As a member of a society struggling to become a more perfect democracy, I find this to be a good thing.

And it makes it that much harder for me to stay away. Oh well...