Twitter is quite an interesting concept. Like Steven Johnson said, the average person never used to sit around wishing he could update the world on the mostly mundane reality of his life. I agree with many of Johnson’s statements; as he begins, Twitter is not impressive at first glance. In fact, when I first started, I found the media rather frustrating. I did not like the idea that my thoughts had to be condensed to 140 characters. I didn’t understand the purpose of #hashtags. I’m now an avid tweeter, but whether you embrace the social media platform or not, there is no denying that it has changed the way we live.

I now find myself doing exactly what Peggy Orenstein describes; I’ll find myself having (what I think is) an incredible life experience and one of my first thoughts is that I need to share it with everyone. It’s almost a compulsion. It definitely blurs (or completely erases) the line between one’s public and private life. Therefore, it is imaginable that this could be potentially hurtful in some aspects of life. Employers can easily see your personal Twitter and Facebook. Last weekend when you thought it was a good idea to post a twitpic of you and your friends at the club? That’s now public domain for everyone and their mother (literally) to see.

Through social media websites, such as Twitter, you can be anything. You can follow anyone. Suddenly, the average person becomes a celebrity — Twitter is the regular person’s tabloid magazine.

It will be interesting to see, in a few years, how Twitter and other forms of social networking cites effect our generation. Until then, I’ll continue to tell my 82 followers how yummy my asparagus was. #delicious.

-Elizabeth Finley