Fordyce Maxwell: Have social networking sites had their day?

DEPARTMENT of learning all the time: I asked a user whether Facebook, Twitter, texting, and so on have passed their peak? He replied QTWTAIN which, I understand, is tweet-ese for a question to which the answer is no.

So there. Or thereabouts, because much as I admire his expertise in other areas, I’m not convinced about the longevity of Facebook, Twitter, or any other means of communication that bypasses the brain in favour of speed of reaction.

I don’t want to be reactionary about “progress”. But I’ve been against Facebook since it began for the very reason that many who have moved from their teens to twenties with it are now discovering how embarrassing, and stupid, an earlier self can seem.

Old family photographs used to be enough to produce a cold sweat in young adults. Now embarrassment can be out there for millions to see, as well as affecting career prospects and relationships.

My objection to Twitter is that instant reaction is frequently wrong.

Among my worst memories are the few times I’ve written a letter in white heat then made the mistake of posting it, or picked up a phone in a temper.

More often I’ve written the letter at full blast, got it off my chest, then binned the draft and either written a more temperate, thoughtful one or forgotten the annoyance.

With Twitter, text, or email that cooling-off process does not seem to happen. How many times do people have to get into trouble for instantaneous rants before that lesson is learned? Looking at court cases past and pending, the steady flow of stories in the media, and the tweeters and bloggers I could follow if I didn’t have a life to live, the answer is probably never.

Quite often, of course, this social networking is much the same sort of banality and inanity we had 30 years ago in the heyday of citizens’ band radio. Remember CB? Ah, those nights working late on a tractor, riveted by conversations between Blue Angel and Sexy Adam:

“Aye, a’m in bed.”

“Aye?”

“Aye. A’m busting for a pee, but I cannae be bothered to get up.”

“Aye – aye – michty, aye…”

There could be hours of that, broken occasionally by four lorries that made trips through the area whose drivers communicated mainly in four letter words.

It seems to me Twitter is much the same, bringing out the worst in too many people too quickly. Let’s get back to hand-written letters and a little forethought and hope the novelty wears off tweeting. Please.