I tweet, therefore I am.

The three to five words (depending on your language of choice) that Rene Descartes is remembered for, "Cogito ergo sum" or "I think therefore I am", really spoke to me when I first read them in Philosophy class a few years ago. I like the idea of our thoughts confirming our existence, at least to ourselves. Philosopher, I am not, however, so I can't really speak on why this makes sense to me. The words just speak to me, as words are wont to do on occasion.

This got me thinking recently about a phrase that can be made using Descartes' idea: I tweet, therefore I am. Sure, a tweet or a status update can in no way, shape or form replace a thought and justify our human existence. But what about our social existence? Technology has evolved to the point that people are able to share their thoughts, emotions, location, etcetera to the rest of their social circle, or even the rest of the world, from the palm of their hands. It shows followers and friends alike that you are an active, thinking creature; in other words, it shows them that you exist. Think about your friends who aren't on Facebook - I'm going to be completely honest in saying that its much harder in keeping up with friends who don't have a Facebook account or some other kind of online existence. For older generations who grew up in a world without the internet and all its glory, there doesn't seem to be this insecurity about a social presence. "I meet people, I have a good time and no one else needs to know what I did last night." The concept is ridiculously simple, and yet it is slowly slipping away as more and more people become accustomed to the "new" social life. I guess what I'm trying to say is, social media has spread so far that it has given us, its users, a kind of obligation to ourselves to make sure that we maintain our presence on these social media sites to continually confirm our existence to those who remain interested.

Of course I'll continue to keep up my social media existence with tweets, status updates, photos and more. But it's refreshing sometimes to take a break from it all. I live for the moments that are so much fun that cameras, phones and computers go forgotten and memories are shared just with the special few who were there too.