Subscribe for Email Updates
RSS Feed
Technorati
Delicious bookmark
Bloglines
Twitter: An Irreconcilable Difference?
You’ve heard the old expression, “Couples that pray together stay together.” Kinda meaningless to an agnostic like me, but I agree with it’s core tenent: couples who have shared interests have better relationships. That’s not to say you can’t do things outside of a relationship and maintain your individuality — so simmer down if that’s what you thought I was saying. I have just seen way too many relationships deteriorate because of unshared interests. Think golf widow.
So, what about the Twitter widow? I can’t help but wonder how “significant others” who don’t twitter, feel about his or her spouse who twitters all day long. Twitter is impossible to explain verbally with any real level of understanding. You might as well be trying to explain the Big Bang Theory to a bunch of five year olds…or to me for that matter. Usually the big “WTF are you talking about?” balloon inflates over a person’s head as you try to explain it. You can really only “get” twitter once you actually try twitter. The non-twittering spouse must get so annoyed by the spouse who is genetically attached to his or her PDA twittering throughout the day and laughing as he or she posts a funny tweet and/or reads something funny by someone he or she is following. I can’t imagine the non-twittering spouse is standing there saying, “It makes him so happy and I am here to support him by giving him his space to do whatever he wants.” Think Stepford wife. What I visualize is more like, “What the f**k are you doing? If you don’t stop flittering or pittering or whatever, I am so oughtta here!” Think VH1’s reality show star New York. I’m sure we are not too far away from the first divorce filing where Twitter is cited as an irreconcilable difference. Remember, you heard it here first.
My significant other, Ginny Pitcher, and I tweet together all day long. It is such a huge part of our daily routine. We often have “tweet offs,” by trying to tweet something before the other does. We tweet something funny about each other without telling the other and wait for each other’s reaction once she or I sees the tweet. We verbally share out loud a funny tweet to make sure the other has seen it. Our four kids think we’re freaks, but it’s a great shared interest and we love it. When BusinessWeek cited me in an article of CEO’s Who Twitter, Ginny was thrilled unlike the non-twittering spouse who would have viewed the recognition as something dysfuntional and vile like “CEOs Who Use Crack.” Our daily lives are very intertwined anyhoot. We started Kel & Partners together seven years ago and run the company together. Twitter has given us another medium to communicate and share what goes on in our world — and almost always by using humor. As I type this I can see the big “WTF?” balloon inflating over the heads of readers of my blog who don’t twitter.
What about you? What does your spouse think of twitter? Feel free to let it all hang out. If they’re not twittering they are probably not reading a blog. This may be a great therapy platform for you.
September 21st, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Bravo Kel,
Another spot-on blog. This probably seems like heresy coming from me - especially since I’m such a new convert. But, I can already relate to dating a non-twitterer….or should I just call him a “twit”?
Before you call me harsh, you should hear what he calls me when he sees me, head down, with PDA in hand.
September 21st, 2008 at 12:47 pm
julie — i can just hear your midwest maven accent calling some guy a twit! too funny!
September 21st, 2008 at 4:36 pm
I am a perfect example of a husband whose wife does not get Twitter. She (and her friends who do not use Twitter) do not understand why my FB “updates” don’t start with the word “is”. It should say “Andrew is…..” they say. That is not how it works. I don’t need to be “is”-ing anything, just randomly spewing stuff. That is what makes Twitter so fun…
September 21st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
andrew, i hear that a lot. does your wife get irritated when you twitter in front of her? some people i know sneak tweets behind their spouse’s back.
September 21st, 2008 at 9:34 pm
My fiance doesn’t twitter and doesn’t get it at all. She does wonder why I am on my blackberry so often.
The only thing she likes it is updates my Facebook status so she can find out what I am doing!
September 22nd, 2008 at 6:28 am
warren, that’s funny! it’s a good sign that she is still your fiance in spite of twitter. she’s a keeper. haha!
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:18 am
Twittering is one of those techie things I don’t even try to explain to friends and family. I limit most of my oversharing to my “professional” life as most of my World 1.0 friends get glassy eyed when I try to explain Twitter to them.
September 22nd, 2008 at 9:39 am
[…] It is interesting to see Kel Kelly asking about partners and spouses who Twitter together. Personally, I spare my friends and family […]
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:35 pm
fm, i love the use of the term oversharing here…it is so appropriate. you are one of my favorite people to follow on twitter. i always wonder what your wife is thinking as you tweet. haha!
September 22nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
If I even tried to explain twitter to my husband he would look very similair to the white space after ‘What are you doing?’
September 22nd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
tara, that’s very clever! i will admit i had to read your post twice to get it. sometimes i’m a bit slow at the end of the day.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:19 am
My girlfriend cannot understand for the life of her why I Tweet. I work in Web 2.0, she’s a teacher. Big gap, I suppose.
Great post!
September 23rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
jr, thanks for taking the time to post. the good news is you are probably not alone! it’s only a matter of time until teachers leverage web 2.0 as much as the rest of us.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Kel,
This blog hit SO close to home, that I actually read it out loud to my wife. That is, I read it out loud to my wife who is clicking away on her Macbook doing the one thing I can never understand…compulsively Craigslisting. Now sure - I love me some Craigslist - don’t get me wrong…but she could spend DAYS searching for that perfect vintage table, or antique armoire, or whatever she thinks is hidden 20 pages deep in the black-hole that is Craigslist. I don’t foresee Twitter or Craigslist dividing our otherwise happy home…but if I don’t start putting down my iPhone every once in while, that may be another story. Anyway, off to play some more Super Monkey Ball on my iPhone.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
michael, i read your post out loud to ginny. too funny! honestly, i think humor is what will allow relationships to overcome all web 2.0 addictions. without humor i think anger & frustration will prevail. tell your wife i am looking for a 1960s vintage pokeno game. if she finds one in mint condition on craigslist, have her give me a shout…or tweet!
September 30th, 2008 at 8:39 am
Laughed out loud in the coffee shop this morning - love your post - soooo close to home. My boyfriend utters ‘are you doing that twit thing again!?’ when I have the crackberry out. But he doesn’t complain when I share the real-time news tweets, critiques of the debates, great witticisms from those I follow, or especially - the latest on his sports teams.
September 30th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
jess, it sounds like he is a closet tweet lurker. you know, doesn’t want to actually do it but deep down he enjoys being on the fringe of it al. lol!