Just 3 months ago, an acquaintance, at a business networking function, asked me, “Do you Twitter?”  In true Toastmaster fashion, I replied, “Only when I drink too much caffeine!”

FACT: I didn’t know what she was talking about when she asked me about Twitter. In a true defense mechanism fashion: I delivered my humorous reply. Since this verbal exchange, I learned enough about Twitter to now, reply: “I don’t Twitter and with good reason!”

Unless, one of you will comment about the merits of Twitter and justify why I should become a card-carrying ‘Twitter-er’ I see no reason to invest precious time to become adept at using another useless, interruptive technology. I choose to avoid useless, time-intensive technologies which contribute little or nothing to my work day waking hours.

Abbreviated English ‘Text Messaging’ and ‘Twittering’ share the same appeal to me: None. Too often, I receive barely legible text messages laced with callous misspellings. Callous, because Spell-Checker is a built-in free program which only requires a sender to execute a few extra mouse-clicks.

There is no excuse for not taking a few extra minutes to Spell-Check my message before I transmit the contents. Why bother? Because each time I send an e-mail I am broadcasting how well or poorly I communicate. Like it or not, recipients will form an opinion about my educational credentials.

A speedy reply is no excuse for misspellings or abbreviated wording. Useless, interruptive technologies share the blame for these two alarming electronic communications trends. The second culprit is the decline in reading printed books. A habitual readership discipline enriches one’s vocabulary.

You only have to look at the lack of sentence structure to see we are becoming a society content to communicate in sound bytes rather than whole sentences which convey thoughts and meaning.

Laziness and acceptance are to blame! As long as the majority of readers condone sloppy word use, we are all doomed to mediocre prose. I say, enough, already. It’s time to re-focus and apply our God-given communications skills on what matters most: meaningful communications.

OK, it’s your turn Twitter Fans. Let’s see if you can communicate effectively!