It's sort of an easy way to go, if you want to be all rogue about it: forgo all this Twitter and Facebook stuff, then utter something about the way computers impede authentic human interaction.
Certainly technology has changed the way we interact, and too often you'll see somebody wandering down the street with nose buried in their phone checking the status of somebody they haven't seen since 3rd grade. And much of the mystery in the world has been taken away; people in my generation probably won't go through the shock of running into their first crush 25 years later and finding out how that person has opted to live their life. Most of that stuff pops up on a "news feed," often hour by hour.
But new technology also brings us together in ways never before possible, and allows for an exchange of thoughts and ideas with a wide range of people. In sports this means that fans can connect with fans from across the world; everything has flattened. That certainly was the case with Steven Smith, a 24-year-old New Jersey resident -- and former Orioles intern -- who died in a car accident and was buried today.
Smith had 506 followers, but had tweeted 23,334 times and built a close community of baseball fans, most of whom supported the New York Yankees. You can see the sort of reaction his life generated among the Twitter community.
The Albany Times Union's Pete Iorizzo saw that this story said something significant not only about how we interact, but about a kid who dreamed big baseball dreams and had found a way to share them with others. It is well done and worth a read, even though it will break your heart.