Why I Don’t Tweet…
…not that there’s anything wrong with it.
Nov 12th, 2009 | By Skye Jethani | Category: Culture, Features, FormationLast month I sat down for breakfast with Ed Stetzer while we were both in Phoenix for a conference. Afterwards Ed “tweeted” about our meal together and commented that for some inexplicable reason “Skye isn’t on Twitter.” He gave me some playful grief about it on our drive to the conference, and others have asked why I don’t Tweet as well. So I decided it was time to finally show my cards.
First of all, I don’t believe Twitter is evil, wrong, or in any way immoral. And I’m not condemning my many friends who love to Tweet. But it’s not for me. Here are the top 10 reasons why I don’t use Twitter (not that there’s anything wrong with it).
ONE
My life really isn’t that interesting (and in most cases, neither is yours). Unless you are “The Most Interesting Man in the World” from the Dos Equis commercials, I really don’t care what you’re doing at any particular moment. Let’s be honest, most of life is mundane, ordinary, and routine. I’d rather keep the veil of mystery over my life so that outsiders can construct a far more fascinating picture of my existence with their imaginations.
TWO
I don’t like the taste of my own foot. Twitter enables otherwise intelligent people to communicate really foolish things to far too many people much too rapidly. In other words, it’s very easy to Tweet and regret. The first thought that comes to my mind is rarely the thought I want others to see. What can I say? I’m still a Christian under construction.
THREE
You cannot delete a Tweet. Earlier this week, ABC News anchor Terry Moran posted this Tweet: “Pres. Obama just called Kanye West a ‘jackass’ for his outburst at VMAs when Taylor Swift won. Now THAT’S presidential.” Moran deleted the Tweet almost immediately when we discovered the President’s comment was intended to be off-the-record. It was too late. Thousands of people had already copied the post. ABC News has issued apologies and statements about the mishap. Twittering can take a moment, but the regret can last a lifetime.
FOUR
I don’t want to become a phantom. Lee Siegel in his book Against the Machine, discusses how we hide behind false, “phantom” identities on the internet. It’s a medium we think fosters immediacy and authenticity, but in truth it breeds shallowness. I already feel that with my time on Facebook with my so called “friends.” Twitter takes it to a degree I can’t stomach.
FIVE
I respect the written word too much to mutilate it. In the church we talk a lot about “gifting”-how we feel God has enabled us to bless others. I believe my gifts are centered around communication-speaking, teaching, writing, editing. It seems that our culture has lost respect for the written word and is continuing to lose its capacity to engage in meaningful communication. Twitter is to thoughtful communication what Skittles are to fine cuisine. Each has its place, but I’ll save my appetite for the filet mignon, thank you.
SIX
I don’t need another commitment in my life. To quote Bilbo Baggins, I fee like “too little butter spread over too much bread.” I already check email, Facebook, SkyeBox, Out of Ur, voicemail, snail mail, and a number of other websites with obsessive regularity. Frankly, I don’t want another one filling my mind or time.
SEVEN
I’m tired of obeying marketers. No offense to those in the marketing profession, but I’d like to know when we collectively decided to make marketers the high priests of our culture? We listen to them like prophets and obey their instructions like slaves. Every marketer seems to be singing the praises of Twitter and social media. I’m sure they have a legitimate point, but if I did everything a marketer told me…well, it would be a sad existence.
EIGHT
Ahston Kutcher. Any community in which he is the most popular person probably isn’t for me. Nuff said.
NINE
I suffer from “Terminal Uniqueness.” That’s what my mother calls it. Terminal Uniqueness (T.U.) is a condition that requires one to be immediately skeptical of any popular trend and always find a way to differentiate one’s self from whatever crowd is present at any moment. It is usually fatal.
TEN
I already have a witness. I know I’ll get grief for this, but in the 2004 film Shall We Dance, one character had a really insightful bit of dialogue:
We need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet… I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things… all of it, all of the time, every day. You’re saying ‘Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness’.”
We all want our lives to matter, and we believe they only matter if they are noticed by someone. I wonder if this desire for a witness isn’t what fuels a lot of blogs, Facebook, and especially Twitter. We want someone, anyone, to take notice…to care about us…to watch us and by their attention communicate, “You matter. Your life counts.”
If this is one of the hidden motivations behind Twittering, and I think it is, we’re really talking about a spiritual hunger-one that I don’t believe can be satisfied online. Perhaps the most significant reason I don’t Twitter is because I already have a witness for my life-in fact, I have two.
First is my wife, Amanda. As the quote above points out, our spouse is the person who commits to notice us-the good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things. Amanda has certainly been that for me. She even knows the stuff I would never, ever consider Tweeting about. Any amount of time I might spend on Twitter, as tiny as it may be, would be better spent fostering this connection with my only “witness” who has committed to the whole enchilada.
Second is, of course, God. Psalm 139 says it best:
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
I believe in God’s economy there is not a single thought, feeling, or moment that is lost. There is nothing that is unseen or unrecorded. As a writer, part of my temptation is to record everything that I believe matters in a journal. We believe that things become real when they are external…on paper, published or posted. It’s actually been a discipline for me to not journal, but to instead trust that God is indeed with me and witnessing every thought and reflection. My ideas are not lost, and my life really does matter-not because someone read it, heard it, saw it, or Tweeted it, but because God is my witness.
Popularity: 45% [?]
Hi Skye. I’ve given up on it too. It really takes more attention than I have, and I suddenly realised i was getting swamped with stuff I didn’t want to know about. So, goodbye Twitter. Thanks for your insightful posts – I enjoy them. I found your book useful, too.
Col from Australia
Skye,
I agree with everything you said. The only way I would want you to use it is to give me a thought or insight once every couple of days. (That is how I use it of course!) In that sense, it is “micro-blogging.” It would be fun to see a tweet about something you read that you recommend or a quote you can’t get out of your mind or a recommendation on a book. That is basically how these folks use it: and I enjoy their once-every-few-days tweets: Andy Crouch @ahc @AndyStanley @JimBelcher @MattChandler74 @cameronstrang @DanKimball @markgalli @dneff @ivpress @tedolsen
I would enjoy yours as well (as you can see I read your blog!)
Hope all is well.
Andy
http://twitter.com/AndyRowell
Inspirational. Thank you.
“Terminal Uniqueness.” I love it…though I do think it can be fatal.
A lot of my friends suffer from TU. It keeps them from reading Harry Potter or seeing Slumdog Millionaire or starting a blog or posting on Facebook. Suggested treatment? Swallowing pride. Possible side effects? A sense of solidarity and connectedness with one’s friends and neighbors…and occasionally a genuinely good read or movie-going experience.
That being said, I think your reasons for giving up Twitter are good ones….though I must admit that I’m reading more and more blogs about people giving up social media for moral/spiritual reasons. What will happen when twittering becomes…dare I say…unique?
You’ve given me a lot to think about today regarding Twitter. I admit to being a heavy user at times but I often regret it. It feels similar to when I’ve eaten too much. I like Andy’s comments. That’s where I am leaning toward with Twitter. Less what I am doing and more as a micro-blogging. Here’s the irony for me, I found this post via way of Andy Rowell’s Tweet this AM. I just stumbled on Andy’s blog a week or so ago, and now Skyebox all thanks to Twitter.
Great stuff.
Although you do kindly preface your comments with “it’s not for me” I think your reasons do point to bigger issues that we would all do well to attend to. It’s frightening how easily Christians buy wholesale into new ways of doing things, following the piper’s call of the marketeer, without stopping to ponder the implications personal, communal and relational implications. It’s also frustrating that just saying that makes me feel like I will be dismissed out of hand as a technophobe, when in fact I’m no (web designer, worked int the computer industry, etc.). Eugene Peterson has a great example of this in one of his books where a church purchases a folding machine to facilitate bulletin preparation, thus destroying the weekly “folding party” that several ladies in the church had. We need to be more savvy about how technology impacts our human patterns.
You said it. Thanks for always speaking the truth in love. I am blessed to know you.
Thanks Sky ~ always insightful and making me think. Not sure I will give up Twitter yet but #4 and #10 have me thinking a lot. Not to mention the Ahston Kutcher thing too…
Nice post Skye – it reminds me of an essay of Wendell Berry’s were he talks about using a tractor to farm (somthing he doesn’t do). He makes the point that using a tractor is not wrong but one must understand that as soon as you use one your worldview changes. I think your reflection brings to the forefront the need for mindfulness in the activities of our day – if we are going to use twitter, or not, let us at least be thoughtful about it and guided by a clear vision that can answer the “why” behind what we do (let us hope our answer to that is not simply because it is what everyone else is doing).
[...] It worked. The car has been trounced. Reports indicate Honda is reeling. (Yet another reason to be skeptical of using Twitter.)They should have tested the design with social media fans long before building this [...]
I thought it would be interesting to place Leonard Sweet’s full-throated endorsement of Twitter next to your critique of its excesses.
Twitter Theology: 5 Ways Twitter Has Changed My Life and helped me be a better Disciple of Jesus
http://leonardsweet.com/article_details.php?id=55
http://twitter.com/LenSweet
Interesting and well presented. But couldn’t all the same things be said about blogs, blogging, and bloggers?
[...] … My mother told me too many times to quit talking so much about myself . Skye Jethani wrote this excellent post on why he doesn’t tweet and now I am at [...]
[...] … My mother told me too many times to quit talking so much about myself . Skye Jethani wrote this excellent post on why he doesn’t tweet and now I am at [...]
Bravo!
Very good post. I am one of the freaky Twitter lovers and yes, I realize it is mostly about needing attention and affirmation. I am 42 years old and have yet to grow out of that need. God has done much in my heart and life, I feel that check but more then not I feel the need to talk before thinking. I even had “the fool known for her many words” as my bio line on twitter. BUT over time, I have scaled back and grown. I now use twitter more responsibly. I advocate for Orphans, against Human Trafficking and other social issues (yes, I am so trendy aren’t I) Twitter has changed into that more for me then anything else..a voice, hopefully being heard, for some who aren’t heard right now. I have gotten coats and socks given to our homeless outreach, Money raised for Orphanages in Ethiopia and Care Points in Swaziland and when hurricane Gustav was kicking our butts here, the only thing working was twitter by phone so I was the Geraldo (some truth all the time. I never intentionally gave wrong information..I just twittered to quickly, before verifying) of Baton Rouge twitter friends. I think twitter can be used for good, yet another thing we have to balance. But I totally get your point about why you don’t and everything you said convicted my heart so thank you. Oh by the way, I tweeted a link to this post
Hi Skye,
I was at your workshop at STORY – loved what you had to say! Loved your distinction between what (and how) things should be taught in a large group setting (Sunday mornings) versus in small groups. We all need a reason and/or big vision to do what we are doing and just getting people to do or not do certain behaviors doesn’t make them followers of Jesus – getting them to see the sweetness of the story is what will inspire them to ‘walk the walk’.
I understand not needing ‘one more thing’ or ‘not wanting to obey marketers’ along with most of your other points … but I wonder if you are missing something with Twitter – not that you have to tweet, but just that maybe it’s an opportunity you are missing.
You say, “I respect the written word too much to mutilate it.” What if the early scribes of scripture said that about the oral stories they had heard about God and/or Jesus? (something like … “Look what so and so is writing, these stories handed down for generations are too important to be written down”) I assume soon after writing began happening some creep began writing lousy stuff. Just because it can be misused, doesn’t mean it can’t also be used for good.
I grew up very traditional Mennonite (think almost Amish) I’ve chosen to leave that lifestyle, but all my family is still there. They used to view the internet as BAD because they heard of the bad stuff on it – and they are right, it has plenty of bad stuff. But when I was in a coma from life-threatening injuries received in a vehicle accident 3,000 miles from my family’s home area – they got updates from their friends and/or neighbors from a website my friend set up with daily reports of my condition, they came to a new understanding of the good that the internet can have.
And personally (though I don’t understand how prayer really works) I think all the prayers said around the country on my behalf from that website probably have something to do with the fact that I survived injuries that medically speaking should have killed me.
I now think of the instant prayers that could have been said on my behalf through twitter – even more ‘real time’ than the once or twice updates on the website.
just some thoughts …
Janet
btw … Skye – what a cool name!
Hardly anything of substance can be communicated in 140 characters (the limit for Twitter) so it’s basically a breeding ground for pithy sayings and short infomercials about the latest and greatest goings-on in a person’s life.
While sitting at my 8-5 job in the cubicle farm, I sometimes venture out on twitter.com to see if I can figure out why all the hype has found its way to “tweeting.” Reading the redundant shallowness of twittering pastors makes me want to throw up … and then write to the people in question stating that the irrelevant self-propaganda you’re broadcasting is meaningless for people in the real world.
Case in point:
November 5, 2009 around 4pm, news was breaking about a mass shooting at FT Hood, TX. As details came out, the alleged gunman was an Islamic man who apparently saw himself as a “Soldier of Allah.” And what did our “most popular, trend-setting, culturally relevant” Christian religious leaders tweet about it? NOTHING. Not even a word about the fact that not all muslims are inclined to violence … or even an acknowledgment of prayer and sympathy for grieving families who lost loved ones!
So I’m with Skye on this one – and he certainly made the case better than I just did! Twitter isn’t bad or evil…it’s just devolved into pointless banter.
Thanks for your very insightful post. I don’t Tweet or use Facebook and constantly get asked why. Your post has solidified my thoughts.
I hope you won’t mind that I’ve re-posted some of them on my blog as well.
[...] Twitter? Check out this link to an interesting article on why someone doesn’t Twitter. (http://www.skyejethani.com/why-i-don%E2%80%99t-tweet%E2%80%A6/420/) [...]
Greetings from Nicaragua!
I analyze all this new “stuff”, after having lived and worked a total of 17 years amongst the poor of Latin America, Currently I live and work in Nicaragua, one of the poorest Countries on the hemisphere.
In an attempt to understand social media and re-connect with my family I got on Facebook and now at least have the way to say a few words of greetings and remember peoples birthdays.
About 9 months ago I tried Twitter just to try to understand social media and quickly came to the conclusion that I am already neurotic enough without some thing like creating a “new compulsion”of having to say something to the world every time I get out of the bathroom.
Each week I pass by the homes of the Nicaraguans and I am always impressed by a number of things. One of them is these folks are poor, but they have not forgotten how to just sit and be with each other. How to be present, how be there, how to be who we are before the eye of the the other.
Hey Skye, I don’t even remember how I stumbled upon your reflections…… ahhh….. Advent Conspiracy YES!
Maybe we can start an alternative Social Media Conspiracy and a give voice to poor. We can call it TPSpitter , for THE POOR SPEAK. We can send messages to the entire world from all the human beings who suffer, send interviews from all corners of the world and the under-world where Jesus walks, where Jesus sits, where Jesus listens and where Jesus is present to his beloved poor and little ones.
But, first we would have to walk away from our laptops and go there. Now that would be news for the world, not to mention Gospel like.
We are in this world but we do not need to be a part it’s foolishness! Let’s use all these tools to build God’s Kingdom in there here and now. Face time, my friends!
Conclusion> No laptops permitted on my Pilgrimages – Mission Trips!
Makes no sense, and I really like Skye.
1) He posted it in his blog – what’s the difference? I use Twitter to push more visitors to my blog. They’re both social media, so by his reasoning he shouldn’t have a blog either.
2) God’s economy? God is indeed with me and witnessing every thought and reflection. Twitter isn’t for God to read. Don’t understand those comments at all
3) Twitter is a business tool and a personal tool. So Christians shouldn’t use it because we want someone to notice us and that’s bad, somehow?
4) Expectations; if the Skye is using an IBM Selectric and the world wants digital records, does he stay in the dark ages because it’s easy and comfortable? Paul’s big premise on Mars Hill was communicating in the “language” of his audience. You can’t ignore the value of meeting expectations of your audience as a writer – especially for the younger generation.
5) Saying this tool doesn’t satisfy spiritual hunger is irrelevant. The logic here implies use of Twitter somehow equates to filling that need. Or people substitute time Tweeting to sate spiritual desires. It’s not meant to. But you’d better use all the tools you can to reach everyone out there, because you never know when your writing is watering – for someone else to later guide the reader to satisfy that hunger through a confession of faith.
Interesting concept on why not Twitter, poorly thought out. Actually this comment is only the 10th of his list.
reading through some other reasons…
You cannot delete a Tweet. (then don’t say stupid things)
I respect the written word too much to mutilate it. (then don’t)
I’m tired of obeying marketers. (you don’t have a choice)
Ahston Kutcher. Any community in which he is the most popular person probably isn’t for me. Nuff said. (you can disqualify readers who need the gospel based on this?)
[...] an excerpt of Skye Jethani’s comments, though it’s worth reading all his reasons… I know I’ll get grief for this, but in the 2004 film Shall We Dance, one character had a [...]
Skye, Very interesting and well-written. In response to point one, that’s not how most people use Twitter–jus to say, ‘Now I’m on SJ’s site typing.” Most now use it in an attempt to share useful information with helpful links. Think of it as micro-blogging. In response to # 10–some powerful analysis. Yet, since you blog, etc., the same logic or theo-logic could be used to say, “So I won’t blog, write articles, write books, preach, teach, etc., or do anything in public.” So I’m not clear on why this should apply to tweets anymore than it should to any other form of communication. Still, loved point 10 in general as a reminder of living for an audience of ONE–Christ.
[...] November I wrote a blog post titled “Why I Don’t Tweet…Not That There’s Anything Wrong With It.” The spark for the post came from a brief interaction with Ed Stetzer about Twitter. A prolific [...]
Great post!
I appreciate where you’re coming from, and also that you’re trying twitter anyways to see if you can keep it reigned in.
Just wanted to share one worthwhile correction: Although it USED TO be true that you cannot delete a tweet, this is no longer the case. The web interface (using twitter.com as opposed to a client like tweet deck or hootsuite) allows you to delete tweets by simply clicking ‘delete’.
The one catch is that if your tweet had made it to someone’s phone before you deleted it, then it will hang around for a period of time after you delete it, depending on the client they use.
Anyways, for what it’s worth…
[...] the sake of others.” In response to my first post, as well as critique of my original piece “Why I Don’t Tweet…Not That There’s Anything Wrong With It,” I had a number of folks argue that Twitter is really no different than blogging. Therefore, why am [...]
I dont tweet nor do i text. Im 55 old school. we had more fun in the 70′s and 80′s without it we had to meet somewhere to know if we would see someone rather than calling and texting. All this technology has made people loners, selfish fat and and lazy. Kids yell at parents, have no social skills and cry if they dont have their 400 dollar iphone at 10…….at 10 i was lucky to get a new “hula hoop”….all this have to have is sad. ALL this stuff is not a necessity and it costs money to own all this technology and then you have to have expensive cellular plan. When you lose your job or you cant pay your electric bill is when you realize the respect for time and money.