All A Twitter

Social interaction between people has seen many changes during man's history. The newest of these is something known by the simple name "twitter." I hardly know anything about this new communication system. Even so, I think that we all have a duty to try to keep as current with new technology as possible and this article will tell you why.

Each generation has found ways to improve the ability to broadcast information from one person or group to another. It is at the very essence of being human to pass information to others.

Early man did not even have the power of speech. He was limited to using crude forms of sign language or by drawing coarse pictures and symbols. We have countless places where these ancient drawings can be found from all over the world.

Speech and language brought man his next greatest advancement in the transfer of ideas. Not only could man now communicate to others, he could also save his material. Many cultures around the world had what were known as verbal historians. They memorized the history and stories of their people and repeated them to others for the future.

Next came the written word. Nothing in all of man's experience up to this point was as important as this innovation. Now, man could permanently record information that could be kept and handed down in a reasonably protected manner. The only time this system did not work was when there was some physical loss of material such as the great fire at the ancient library in Alexandria.

Books, letters, magazines, and many other types of written material remained the stalwart of civilized man's ability to accumulate and store knowledge. That would all change when electricity became a part of our daily lives.

Once the electronic age was here, new inventions followed decade after decade. The first of these must have seemed truly a miracle to people who had only known the hand to hand transfer of information. Suddenly, you could send words and numbers over a wire at the speed of light. The telegraph made information that used to take weeks to transfer happen in seconds.

It was only a few short years later, that someone figured a way to transfer the same type of electrical information without the use of wires. The radio wave now united people who had no wire connection at all.

The main problem for the telegraph and radio was that once they had sent their electronic material, it was gone. A new group of inventors began to figure out ways to save these electronic messages. In short order came the magnetic wire recorder. Next were things like video tape. Today we have progressed to the digital age. Almost everything can now be stored in a digital memory of some type. It is important to understand, that this too shall pass. One day, my DVR on my television will be obsolete -- if it isn't already.

The computer age sort of sneaked up on mankind. It all seemed to happen so fast. I can remember when, in the mid '80s, a personal computer was considered a luxury for schools and businesses. Very few homes now exist without at least one.

The cell phone has become the latest of man's technologic sensations. Try and find someone who does not have a cell phone, and you will find the true minority person in our world of today.

This brief history lesson was to update you historically to where I am today. I can use my computer. I can use my cell phone. I can use my fancy satellite television system complete with the DVR. Guess what? I am already behind.

My cell phone is not set up to text. It would not be difficult for me to get this changed for my phone, but I am resisting.

For one thing, I have to have reading glasses just to look at the numbers on my cell phone. Why would I want to text words I can barely see when I can easily talk to someone?

There are areas, however where I am going to have to learn the new ways, or fall ever further behind. Social Networking is the most important of these. There are currently three major systems available right now which are also known by the term micro-blogging according to Wikipedia.

The first and most used of these are Facebook and MySpace. Twitter is the newest and fastest growing of these SMS (short message service) applications.

I would love to explain to you how this works; but, alas, I am going to have to learn myself first. What I currently understand is this. You can literally be instantly able to send or read other peoples words and information. Unlike e-mail, where you have to send it to an address, you can now have your information ready for everyone immediately. You can read all of theirs as well.

Many of you will just sigh and say, "so what?" Well that is the easy way of becoming obsolete. The information and electronic age is here and growing. It has changed us all and will continue to do so.

Imagine traveling these days without a credit or debit card. Can you remember the days when, you went and got travelers' checks to be safe? The same thing is happening in every phase of our lives.

Checks, cash, bills, shopping, and things we can only imagine are going to change or vanish in the next few years. It is easy to say, "I am going to do it the old way," but that just won't work in the long run.

"Twitter" is just the most recent. We must all learn to keep up or we will surely be left behind!