Tuesday, July 19, 2011

World Cup helps Twitter set record with 7,196 tweets per second. Shockingly not all tweets came from a Kardashian.





Proving that not all technological advances actually improve society, this week’s Women’s World Cup football soccer finale set an all time record for tweets per second. According to this story during the match between Japan and the United States 7,196 tweets per second were being sent. That’s around 40 million messages for a regulation game. Were there really 40 million astute comments that needed to be expressed while watching a sport most Americans only pay any attention to every 4 years?

So what makes people feel the need to broadcast their most mundane thoughts on subjects they have very little knowledge of to the entire world? According to some psychologists it may be a lack of identity, insecurity, or just plain narcissism:

"Twittering stems from a lack of identity," one writes. "It’s a constant update of who you are, what you are, where you are. Nobody would Twitter if they had a strong sense of identity.”

"We are the most narcissistic age ever," agrees Dr David Lewis, a cognitive neuropsychologist and director of research based at the University of Sussex. "Using Twitter suggests a level of insecurity whereby, unless people recognize you, you cease to exist. It may stave off insecurity in the short term, but it won't cure it."

Is Twitter just an extension of the “everybody’s a winner” modern society that over-doting parents have left us with? Just because you play little league baseball doesn’t mean you deserve a trophy, not every picture you draw is a work of art, and not everything you say is deep and meaningful and must be shared with the world. At some point it became unnecessary to learn, to listen, to strive to be better. We are all perfect the way we are, right?