The conversation below regarding Twitter occurred between my wife (Rachelle), me, and our two boys (ages 17 and 21) while at lunch last Sunday.Mom: Guys, talk to me about Twitter? What is it? How do you sign up for it?
17 year old: It's a way to keep stay up with people and know what they are doing. It's a free service and you can get download the Twitter software on your phone, computer or I-Pad.
Mom: But isn't Facebook the way people stay in touch with each other?
21 year old: Facebook is for people thirty and older. Twitter is where it's at for the younger generation.
Dad: I have a Twitter account. I can't stand it.
17 year old: What do you mean?Why?
Dad: Because I don't I care about what people are eating, where people are sitting, or what people are thinking about trivial things. And I have zero interest in telling people trivial things about my day either.
21 year old: But it is so cool to be able to read a Tweet from an OU football player or some pro athlete like Kevin Durant and then respond with a tweet of your own. We learned Kevin Durant was at College Corner in Norman last Friday night by reading his Tweet about it.
Mom: But how do you read Kevin Durant's Tweets? Where do you find them?
17 year old: You have to go sign up to follow him on Twitter? He and ohers have tens of thousands of Twitter followers.
Dad: That's just plain silly. Why would someone waste time reading sound bites of famous people that contribute nothing intellectually or historically to conversation? Tweets are so banal.
17 year old: What's 'banal' mean?
Dad: Banal means trite, obvious, or predictable; when something is banal it is a commonplace thing. Again, I have no interest where people are eating lunch and I'm definitely not interested in telling people where I'm eating lunch.
21 year old: But sometimes you can learn something from someone before anybody else knows about it. A couple of the OU football players Tweeted that they had been cleared from injury to play on Saturday and those who followed them on Twitter knew before even the press knew.
Dad: How? If you are following someone and they Tweet something new, how do you know they Tweeted? I am at work. I'm writing. I'm doing things. How do I know instantaneously that someone I'm following on Twitter has posted?
21 year old: You program Twitter to "Beep" your phone or your computer when someone you are following Tweets something new.
Dad: You've got to be kidding. My phone goes off a million times a day with emails, phone calls and appointment alerts. There's no way under the sun I want it going off to report to me that somebody is drinking coffee at Starbucks.
Mom: If I signed up for Twitter how do I find other people who have Twitter?
17 year old: You do a search and find different people and then ask to "follow them" on Twitter.
Mom: But then do people ask to follow me on Twitter?
17 year old: It depends on whether or not people are interested in following you on Twitter?
Mom: But why would anybody be interested in following me or anyone else on Twitter?
Dad: That's my point.
21 year old: You guys are too old to understand.
My son may have a point. Laughing.
