Link reblogged from Something Changed.
Twitter: A commentary on desultory behavior (Psychology Today) →
…“procrastinators do not need Twitter to get the job done.” Twitter and other social-networking tools do not cause procrastination, but they do create a problem. That problem is desultory behavior.
Desultory - From Latin desultorius - “hasty, casual, superficial”, from desultor - “a circus rider who jumped from one galloping horse to another” - That’s quite an image!
Various dictionary definitions include: going constantly from one subject to another esp. digressively and unmethodically; disconnected, random or occasional; marked by lack of definite plan, regularity, or purpose; not connected with the main subject; disappointing in progress, performance, or quality
To have your behavior, your life, described as desultory is not a compliment. Yet that’s the nature of the lives of so many people who stay connected through text messages, Facebook updates and Twitter. Interruptions to whatever else they’re doing are constant, creating desultory behavior. There is a bit of a circus here, with the social-networker “jumping from one galloping horse to another.”
It’s particularly ironic, I think, that these social-networking tools are meant to keep us connected, yet the very definition of desultory includes the notion of “disconnected.” The desultory behavior throughout the day required to seek or maintain social connections may disconnect us from ourselves and our goals. I think these social-networking tools even disconnect us from the real (not virtual) world around us…
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