Tweet and Cover

I take it all back. Everything I said about Twitter, “tweets” or “tweeting” and the “tweeps” that supply said tweets in the “twitterverse.”

Today, I have been infused with some serious Twitter enthusiasm as I watched it work its magic right before my eyes. Single-handedly, Twitter supplied all of Toronto and beyond with USEFUL information in real-time. Yes, I am talking about (as everyone else is today) the earthquake that hit Ontario.

As I sat in the back of my Online Public Relations class -half listening, half watching the clock – we began a mild sway simultaneous with the building. In hindsight, the fact I wasn’t fazed by this unusual motion deters faith from my survival instincts, but that is for me to muse about on my own. Regardless, it wasn’t until a distraught student anxiously asked “are we having an earthquake?” Initially laughing, seconds later I actually started believing it as the movement disappeared. Slowly, I saw my course director coming to similar conclusions that I was. Then collectively, like the bunch of information-hungry, social media gurus that many of us are, we all fled to Twitter. In all fairness to our focus, it’s a freakin’ Online PR class and Barry Waite, the course director, beat me to tweeting while he was running a class, so cut us some slack.

Within literally seconds after the earthquake people were tweeting. Not just the general public but businesses. BlogTO and NOW Toronto were among the first that I saw spreading the word. Minutes after, Keith Buckley (singer from Every Time I Die) tweets about surviving an earthquake in Buffalo, New York at the same time as someone in class tells me their friend from Ottawa tweeted and just felt the quake themselves. As more people tweeted I discovered that the epicenter of the earthquake was just north of Ottawa, it registered at 5.5 and it was felt across southern Ontario and parts of the U.S. I got all of this information and I didn’t even type a word into my computer; holy shit.

As I returned home from my school day I turned on CP24 to see what their coverage has been like and, justifiably so, they were talking about the power of Twitter and how it was key in notifying everyone that what just happened WAS in fact an earthquake and not some G20 scare – or as a friend from Twitter suggested, Rita McNeil on a trampoline. Not only did Twitter supply everyone with the fastest source of information about the quake, but the commentary accompanying it was hilarious. Less than an hour later, someone had already compiled a list of the “7 Funniest #TorontoEarthquake Tweets.” It was clear to see that Twitter was being used as a public service, a social commentary and an online stage for comedic prose. All just seconds after something happened; incredible.

When 9/11 occurred, I was in my first week of high school. The attack happened around nine in the morning and it wasn’t until I got home from school - around 3:30 - that I knew anything even went down, no pun intended. Nowadays, if Justin Beiber tweets about having a granola bar for brunch, his adolescent fan base knows about it before the recess bell. Social media has proven itself to me before, but Twitter scores huge points today.

I hope stories like this allow people outside of the communications world to truly appreciate the power that social media possesses. To get a further look into the ubiquity of social media, here’s an insightful video with some pretty shocking statistics. Enjoy!

Social Media Revolution

My journey back into the womb... kind of

First off, do not take this title too seriously. As I explain myself I hope that my attempt of being alternatively poetic will turn into a justified analogy.

I would like to share with you an experience I had that changed the way I view, well, a lot of things. A moment of complete serenity that I had previously never experienced before and something I feel that everyone should experience at some point in their lives. No, I am not going to promote drugs, as I am just realizing I am beginning to sound like an aging hippy peddling LSD. It is actually quite the opposite, but still provides a sense of euphoria. This is my story about my experience with the isolation tank.

Isolation tanks can be referred to by a laundry list of terms such as: float tank, floater tank, sensory deprivation tank and so forth. For the sake of continuity, I’ll stick with isolation tank as I was introduced to it by this name. What an isolation tank is, in the broadest sense, is an egg-shaped tank (the one shown above is the "classic" model) filled with water and approximately 800 pounds of Epsom salt (yeah, that’s a lot of salt). The water is heated to the exact same temperature as your skin, which is around 93.5 degrees and is sound and light proof. When you add that much Epsom salt to a fairly low amount of water, the water’s density increases, making your body float on the surface – a lot cheaper than flying out to Israel to kick it in the Dead Sea.

So let’s put all of this information into perspective; once you close the lid of the tank, it becomes completely black (no sight). The water is warmed to the temperature of your skin, so you can’t tell where your body ends and the atmosphere begins. On top of that, you’re floating (no touch). While you float, your ears remain under water in an already quiet room (no hearing). And, unless you went to Burrito Boyz an hour before and you’re chewing a piece of gum, the no smell and taste kind of go without saying.

So, here you are, deprived of all your senses and thinking where the hell else can I accomplish that? Well, the womb would be your closest answer, but even in there you can hear and often touch in the later parts of your growth. There is one more sense that I’ve become much more connected with though – the sense of “self”.

I found out about isolation tanks through the help of my brother, Chris, who did some research on tanks after an inquisitive blog posting from Joe Rogan. Rogan, an advocate of the machine, owned one in his house and was giving away his old one so he could upgrade. I was immediately intrigued and thought, I have to do this.

I discovered a place called the Toronto Healing Arts Centre, located just across the street from the Christie Subway Station on Bloor, which happens to be the only place to “float” in Toronto. Once there, I filled out a form and was escorted upstairs. I entered a wooden-bound room that was fairly simple: a shower with all-organic soap and shampoo and a big tank in the middle. After washing up I jumped in and began my two-hour session.

The first half hour or so was spent trying to get my body adjusted. I knew I wanted to be as relaxed as possible, but when your body has never experienced being deprived from all its senses, you do some crazy things. The mind tries to busy your body, involuntarily twitching, scratching and essentially delivering signals to your nerves to keep them aware. After sometime, my body seemed to finally submit to this unusual atmosphere and I became much more relaxed. Disorientation takes over for a bit and questions like “where the hell are my arms right now?” arose often. At times I thought my arms were above my head until a finger would graze my leg and freak me out. Another phenomenon that occurred was my sense of lying on my back. Gradually I would feel as though I was actually standing up in the tank, knowing this was an impossibility but unable to tell the realistic difference at the time. After I became comfortable, yet again, with this new environment, I began what I like to call “emotional laundry.”

This is the closest that I’ve personally ever been to a meditative state. An honest discussion with me and my “self” took place. I started to consider all the things I have to do this week, this month, this year, in the next 5 years and so on. I began to categorize the importance of the objectives I had in my life and in contrast, the things that should not be as important to me. Even relationships came into play, who my real family and friends are, how I treat them or how I could be treating them better. I reflected on a lot of things that affect me and how I affect others and I came to realize that I had never thought about these things critically before.

I guess it was a slow day at the office because the lady who worked there let me stay in for an extra 45 minutes. I had no idea of this because after a while you lose all sense of time. The most bizarre thing was at some point in my session I just decided to sit up and go “whoa, where did all of that come from?” and right as I did that, I got a knock on the door telling me my time was up.

I came to realize that there are so many distractions around us and 99% of those distractions are unimportant to our lives. Turning off those distractions allows you to assess what you want to be distracted with. I know we can’t just turn off our senses for two hours each day, but I think a little “me” time is necessary for everyone. It will keep you in check and I personally think it will make you a better person. Have a little morning meeting with yourself and see if it helps you. Or, if this advocacy blog has inspired you, go to http://www.torontohealingarts.ca/floattank.html ... you probably have some emotional laundry to do anyways.