Uhh... Do I Hafta?

Keen psychological insight here... brace yourselves... successful blogging requires the blogger to actually externalize internal experiences. And guess what? Those folks who are (as they say) introverted are not pre-disposed to do this.

While blogging as a class assignment to discuss the wonderful world of technology is an interesting experiment in assignment tracking and technology usage, my primary gleanings (so far, at least) revolve around the human-technology interface... let alone the human-technology-human interface!

So many of my classmates are futzing around with nifty things like Twitter and Ning. Facebook, MySpace, and these other social networking sites abound. Side note: my grandfather tried to "friend" my younger sister and she just about lost her mind. Called me up and wanted to know who the hell had taught our 87 year old grandfather to use Facebook. (As if I'd know. Apparently being in an MS grad program qualifies me as expert on any number of computer-related issues, up to and including training delivery?)

Anyway, as an introvert, its hard enough to connect in person... trying to interpret all the nuances of human communication through at least 2 layers of technology, plus the ever-evolving short-hand that ensues... well, it sucks and frankly - Who needs it?

Opps! Luddite alert! No, no. Calm down. IT is great. Its interesting. It helps make life easier. But don't I, as the user, have the right to decide what technologies improve my life? Can I admit that Twitter and blogs do not make my life easier?

Sigh. What is really fun, though, is watching the theme on my iGoogle page change throughout the day! I have a cute little fox that does laundry and feeds the ducks.