Linux excitement...fails.

It's @Raspberry_Pi day. And I am locked outside the virtual Raspberry Store doors :( It's like buying take that tickets...

Disconnect: #Givinguptwitterforlent day 4:

One of the issues I notice whenever a new social network launches is that what matters with social networks isn't the technology: It's the people.

An  social network is like a children's playground. It can contain the most cleverly designed play equipment, but it's the fun that children have that matters - in terms of social media that fun requires other people.

Today's dispatch from the land of the Twitter-exiles is a feeling of disconnect from the friends that I use twitter to connect to. The people I can't ask about south african Syndol or tell that Im 99% through to being a student again in March - my reflective essay passed.

Social media allows friends to connect when distance would have previously made this impossible.

Will you remember me? (#GivingUpTwitterForLent day 3)

There aren't many great songs about dementia, but my favourite is BRITISH SEA POWER's "REMEMBER ME". The video takes a slightly different meaning of the title, looking at memorials asking an inattentive public to remember them.

I have heard it said many times that the internet remembers everything. This has led some to consider that users should have a right to be forgotten. I rediscovered my first ever personal website last week, and I'm glad that it's forgotten but mildly disturbed that it's forever available should one know where to look. (You'll never find it, honest.)

I'm musing a bit about twitter, seeing as how I'm seeing what happens when I disengage from it for 40 days (see last few posts). One score it has over other web services is it's ephemeral, throw-away, forgettable nature. It's hard work to get beyond the past few dozen posts someone has put up, so things fade into the hazy distance of the readers' memories. While blog post are normally arranged into searchable date folders, I don't know what I was tweeting about this time last year, nor do I really care.

Not that people haven't suffered for the one time they put things up that could be misinterpreted as threatening airports or the United States of America. But these are the exception to a medium that appears to forget you.

Feel free to tell me I'm wrong in the comments below, of course!

The guilt of absent friends (#givingUpTwitterForLent pt4)

One thing I'm certainly missing from not being frequently on Twitter is the comraderie. In particular there are some people who are going through major changes at the moment, who Im wondering how they're doing.

Am I neglecting my friends by not keeping an eye on their tweet streams? Am I overdramatising my absence and in fact they're relieved that I'm not butting in?

Do any of us know what the impact of us on other people, really?

An alcoholic gives up vodka and muses whilst sipping whiskey

So Im now nearly 24hrs without twitter and my major reflection is summed up in the title. I am clearly plugged into digital networks to a huge degree, and stopping using one of my favourites in isolation is, for want of a better phrase, a bit daft.

So things I'm missing about twitter:
-Being able to hop into an alternative mental reality whenever I want, with some of the greatest people I know
-Having news that Ive tailored to my interests. Yes I want to know the minutiae of that and what she is eating.
-Being able to clown around with people that don't mind it
-Heated debate about random yet vital ideas
-Being able to express myself about anything I want to people who choose to listen.

All of the above won't be much surprise to any one who's used social media for a while of course. . .

And it turns out I'm not alone in considering a non-religious religious rite. . .

The question I'm musing on now is how do I differentiate the connections between my mind and technology which are social media and those which aren't. Today Ive used at least three 1990s web technologies for functions I normally use twitter for. Im still connecting with many people to develop relations. Does the use matter rather than the tools?

Id never go as far as trying to live without the internet these days, any more than Id try to live without leaving my house.

(And I'm deliberately using the spelling for bourbon rather than scotch whisky before *he* moans)

Practicing good behaviour (#GivingUpTwitterForLent pt2)

Giving up something relatively trivial for a period of time is useful as a demonstration to yourself of your motivations and your automatic behaviours.

I've noted before that, for me, the idea of telling people your goals is self-defeating. Apparently for many, the thought of having other people cheering you on is beneficial; whereas I find it intimidating to the point of suffocation. The one exception to this is occasionally I react towards someone's disbelief in the manner of "well, I'll show you!"

Im catching a few automatic behaviours, and have nearly opened up twitter a half dozen times already.  The urge to deliver a bon mot, a sharp remark or a trite comment has arisen a few times too. Alas, these declarations of genius are lost in time; like tears in rain.

And of course, Im using trivial only in terms of Twitter not being an addiction any more than shopping at Morrisons. Im already collecting thoughts on what Im missing on Twitter.  Love you guys ;-)

Giving up twitter for lent

On a whim, Ive decided to give up twitter for lent. So until Maundy Thursday or Easter Sunday (have to check when 40 days is up) that means

1) no checking timeline
2) no responding to mentions (@'s)
3) no posting tweets

I will still get notifications of direct messages and read/reply these though (in case of urgency/importance).

Why? Well to see. It's not like I'm dropping social media - all other channels are fully open (should still be a link from my profile to my about.me page). However, twitter is definitely a habit and one should always explore what habits are doing to you.

And the irony of this blogpost being automatically set up to generate a tweet is a) allowed b) done with full knowledge of it's irony.

Blog post erm deferred

This evening I posted about a series of tweets which occured this afternoon which gave me some thoughts about how the retweet of a twitter message by a professional account changes the context of the message. Whilst I stand by everything that went in that post, rather than take the risk of inflaming that storm-in-a-teacup any further, I've deleted it and in a few weeks I'll repost it.

In case there is any doubt, no disrespect was intended to any party and the post was fully anonymised. I was merely pointing out potential learning points to aid our collective understanding of social media.