I've Been Stung!

It finally got me.

I've been making a conscious (and generally successful) effort to dodge it for a while now...but I was surrounded. There was a swarm too big for me to escape and before you could say "what are you doing now?" I was already one of them: a living, breathing, yearning, twittering machine. The culprit? My phone. Go figure.

My epiphany happened at the Harry Potter midnight premiere (a magical setting where anything can happen, apparently). In the midst of Wizards and Muggles alike, I realized that the audience shared a common connection. We were all ecstatic about the movie and each of us wanted to share our thoughts about it as much as we wanted to see it. Such an outburst of shared experience could have posed a problem for the innocent, semi-interested guy who merely wanted to see Harry Potter in the middle of the night, but I credit Twitter with saving that experience for him. Aside from the random outburst, frequent chuckle, anticipatory sigh, or frightened gasp, this bystander was literally "saved by the phone." We all seemed to be letting our fingers do the talking...and I was one of them.

It's been difficult for me to latch onto Twitter. I didn't know how I felt about the concept of updating the world on my “status” all the time...I mean, what am I really doing? Most of the time, I would find myself sitting at my computer thinking, "what can I tweet about at this moment?" Tonight, it finally came naturally...and I blame it on convenience. This was not my first time using the Internet on my phone, but it was the first time that I fully immersed myself into this whole new world, defined as it is by quick and easy accessibility. I had resisted using social media on my phone because I viewed it more as a treat- like something to look forward to when you get home. Now that social media is becoming such a significant presence in everyday life, the quick accessibility of it is becoming, dare I say, necessary.

Infamously known for my sideline commentary during movies, I found solace in my Blackberry as my stream of consciousness flowed straight from my brain to my hand to the twittersphere. I tweeted about my excitement about being there, my impatience with the previews and my feelings about the cast, script, and cinematography. Though I was soon too enchanted by the film to type anymore, I found myself making mental notes to tweet about later.

I've finally been stung by the Twitter-bug and I'm yearning to share. Consider this your warning...it's contagious!