The proliferation of portable devices with social networking capabilities has changed the way we watch television. According to the Nielsen Company, 13.3 percent of Academy Awards show watchers browsed the Internet during last year’s show, up from 8.7 percent the previous year. The Wall Street Journal reported last week that 30 percent of posts on Twitter during last month’s Super Bowl were related to the game.  Entertainment news sites now feature real time live blog posts reacting to the event. No doubt, Facebook and Twitter have become popular hubs for anyone to become a critic.  But judging from some of the commentary, it seems that Twitter has turned the silent observers into a community of snide pundits.

As I write this article, post-ceremony, topics “trending” on Twitter include Kirk Douglas, Anne Hathaway, Tom Hanks, Sandra Bullock and The King’s Speech.  But what are the Tweeters actually saying about them? The commentary ranges from sadistic to sarcastic.

Comedian Norm MacDonald wrote, “By the time the dead guy montage starts, kirk douglas will be in it.”

The satirical news website The Onion tweeted, “How rude, not a single character for Toy Story 3 bothered to show up.”

New York magazine’s culture and entertainment blog, Vulture, maintained its usual witty charm.  During the in memoriam montage, while I commented that it was nice that the audience refrained from the usual applause only reserved for the popular actors, the magazine’s film critic David Edelstein tweeted, “The obits should include a mention of this show.”

Comedian Bill Maher ‘78 probably insulted everyone with a speech impediment when he wrote this about The King’s Speech, “Great movie, but of all the problems in the world stuttering is about millionth on my list.”

The worst of it came from the general public. After the fifth graders from a Staten Island elementary school chorus closed the show out with an inspiring rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” one Tweeter wrote, “Why were all of those PS22 kids in-harmoniously swaying around on stage like they ingested mescaline?”

We’ve become a generation of live-tweeters so quickly. We are fast to publish the first thought that comes to mind, so the 140-character-limitation forces us to be concise and thus more truthful in the process. The Twitter platform is an art form in that it rebuffs phoniness: It’s turned everyone’s private, offensive musings into a snarky web community.

Has it made us meaner, though?  Probably not; These commenters were already thinking these thoughts.  There is no harm either, since the comments get lost in the overwhelmingly large pool of Tweets.  It’s not as if the PS22 kids are reading every tactless tweet sent their way. But, it has ultimately created a new generation of commenters devoid of tact. Somehow, I’m sure a tweeter who remarked that the PS22 kids were going to “get laid” probably didn’t have the courage to say that in front of his family over dinner, but when given the harmless, anonymous platform of the Internet, everyone becomes a little more brave.

Twitter is really just a publication for one’s stream of consciousness, and it’s made us snarkier and more courageous in an anonymous setting.  It only becomes problematic when Tweeters forget to drop the act when they engage in personal interactions. It’s a slippery slope towards an alienated, fractured society.

Some of the tweets were funny, though, and should be verbalized. Personal conversations would be much funnier had someone repeated this tweet: “Gwyneth Paltrow singing country tunes is on par with the Queen of England rapping.” #greatduetpair