Hey Armond, Technology Is A Good Thing
Believe it or not, there are some instances where I side with Republicans over Democrats. Obviously, this is one of those times.
There’s been a bit of a dust-up over State Senator Shannon Jones’s (R-Springboro) use of Twitter during Governor Ted Strickland’s State of the State Address. She kept up a running commentary throughout the speech.
This didn’t go over well with Speaker of the House Armond Budish, who has threatened to stop any twittering he sees on the floor.
Now let me make this absolutely clear:
Twitter has become a communication tool as much as email, phones, and letters. While I certainly don’t agree with most of her opinions, I appreciate her taking the time to actually share her thoughts in a two way conversation.
And I’ve got news for you Armond; her tweets, along with those of several other people, were how I followed the speech. A situation arose where I couldn’t be near a computer to watch it, and without Twitter I would have been shut out entirely.
So instead of restricting the use of Twitter on the House floor, why not make it compulsive? Seriously, any representative that hasn’t tweeted from the House or Senate floor should be censured.
Even the Governor’s office seems to find this whole dust-up amusing, with spokeswoman Amanda Wurst giving the following (and maybe all-time greatest) statement about the Governor’s feelings on the subject:
"OMG! He LOLs."
So come on guys, put down the walkmans and pick up the BlackBerry’s. Those who don’t will be openly mocked, photoshopped, and Google Bombed.
The reason why (I assume) the speaker wants to ban Twittering is because there is a ban on legislators making phone calls from the chamber floor. While senators (and rep.'s?) have phones on their desks, they cannot dial out. The idea is that once a lawmaker steps onto the floor, they should not be subject to communications from lobbyists as they make final decisions on how to vote. The members should make their decisions based on their understanding of a bill going into session or be persuaded by their fellow members during a bill's final reading. Twitter counts.
It's not technology that bugs the speaker, it's external influence.
I was in a planning session with a large multi-national company. A senior vice president was speaking about the direction he was taking the company and how we could help him. Prior to his presentation, we were asked to thing about some questions we could ask him and to put away all electronics.
During the two day planning session, we were also asked to NOT have laptops open and check email. The intent was to discourage multi-tasking.
As RMC2000 said, it's just a sign of respect.
I understand asking to turn laptops off and setting phones to silent. But there's a big difference between writing an email and a 140 character twitter status.
I also wouldn't be defending off-topic tweets. But this person was obviously still paying attention, because she was commenting on what was being said.
A corporate meeting also has a much greater need for discretion and less need for public transparency in many aspects.