It’s all in the #Santa_hat

Terrified by what he just saw before him Scrooge tweeted Things have to #change!

He closed his money lists, opened a web browser and furiously began typing away.

It was almost sunrise when his battery finally ran out and he managed to fall asleep, with those frightful images still hovering in his head.

The next day a new Scrooge had awoken.

@EbScrooge: New day! #Merry_Christmas everyone! #Joy, #Happiness, #Xmas

Even the tweeting ghosts were surprised by this extraordinary change.

Dressed in a Santa hat and with a bag full of gifts he rushed over to Bob’s house.

Bob was shocked to see him. He didn’t know whether to be happy or scared! Was he expecting him to work today? And why on earth was he wearing a Santa hat?

@BCratchit: #Scrooge here. Why? #confused

“Merry Christmas!” exclaimed Scrooge as he walked in ringing a jingle bell in his hand. The children excitedly ran up to him, as he opened the bag and let them explore the toys and gifts he had brought them.

@MrsCratchit: @BCratchit #Scrooge brought delicious roast turkey!! #thankful #Christmas_miracle

@BCratchit: #Medical_treatment for @Tiny_Tim! & I just got a raise!! Thanks @EbScrooge! #jingle_bells

@Tiny_Tim: There is a #Santa!

 

 

Some other Christmas “ghost” writers can be found here.

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A signal to change

“WTF is going on tonight?” wondered Scrooge as he re-opened his laptop screen.

@GhXmasFuture: @EbScrooge your #future is #bleak. Beware!

“This is just getting ridiculous. What does a man have to do to get some peace and quiet?”

@GhXmasFuture: @EbScrooge you’ll get plenty of peace and quiet soon enough…#death #alone

Scrooge shivered from top to bottom as he read this tweet. This was certainly not something you wanted to read on a late cold night. Especially in a dark house like his.

Determined to stop this “nonsense” he closed the Twitter application. Now the mind-reading ghosts would not bother him again. And he could concentrate on his work.

But as he maximized his financial lists and got to counting again, his entire computer screen blacked-out. Slowly an image began to form.  A poor home in which Bob’s family was still mourning over the loss of their young son.  Then, his own home deserted and abandoned. With a graffiti sign out front stating with red letters “good riddance fat pig”. And finally, a tombstone in a forsaken graveyard with his name clearly marked out: “Eb. Scrooge, lived a miser and died alone” with a hand-written “at last” inserted next to it.

Some other Christmas “ghost” writers can be found here.

Ice inside and out

Scrooge felt a chill running down his back.

The wind was howling outside and suddenly the window flung open. Expecting to see a ghost (perhaps the one that was tweeting him), Scrooge got up trembling to close it.

Returning to his computer – the battery was still at 85% – he scrolled down his money lists. He still had to calculate the month’s earnings.

Bling!

@GhXmasPresent: @EBScrooge, beware of what is to come! #Greed_breeds_fear

@EBScrooge: @GhXmasPresent, you’re too #late, other #ghost already here. #Shoo, #go_away

At the sound of the next bling, announcing yet another tweet, Scrooge began to grumble. He had already lost count five times, and these calculations weren’t easy. And he had to finish before the battery ran out!

@GhXmasPresent: @EBScrooge, #financial_crisis deeply struck #those_in_need. @BCratchit is a #good_man. You are #heartless.

@EBScrooge: @BCratchit you already have the day off. What else do you want? #greedy #never_enough

@GhXmasPresent: @EBScrooge: You are the #greedy one. People are #hungry, #poor and #cold & you don’t care. #No_festive_spirit

Scrooge was getting irritated. What kind of somber prank was this?

@EBScrooge: @GhXmasPresent: Bah #Humbug!

And with that he slammed the screen shut. Perhaps a moment in silence would end this farce.

Bling!

 

Some other Christmas “ghost” writers can be found here.

 

A ghostly visit

Having half-heartedly let Cratchit off for the next day – Christmas they called it – Scrooge returned home. It was so cold (heaters cost money) and dark (so does electricity). He lit his LED-battery-run torch and went upstairs to his bedroom.

On days like this he missed his colleague Jacob Marley who had died a year ago, for he was the only one who truly understood Scrooge’s need to work. Constantly.

He made himself comfortable on the sofa with his laptop on his knees.

With the lighting of the screen he heard a bling…

@GhXmasPast tweeted: @EBScrooge, remember the #times that were.

#Halloween is over!” replied @EBScrooge and minimized the browser.

But the ghostly tweet continued. #Christmas is for #families and #happiness. You #forgot too soon.

Scrooge chose to ignore it, certain that it was some kind of prank.

But then his whole computer screen froze, as if someone had achieved remote access, and all of a sudden an image appeared – an old house and children inside laughing around a Christmas tree, with the warmth of a fire crackling. With presents like choo-choo-trains and dolls laying open on the floor.

@GhXmasPast: #Childhood #innocence lost. #Greed for #money has become your torture.

 

 

Other Christmas “ghost” writers can be found here.

#Scrooge arrives

Bob Cratchit was already at his desk by sunrise. He was furiously typing away at his old-run-down-PC, when Ebenezer Scrooge walked in. Just the sound of the door creaking at his entry – Scrooge never agreed to spend a few dimes to oil it – made Cratchit spring upright in his chair. Scrooge rushed in, his face fixed upon his 5 inch smartphone screen and into his office. Cratchit had stopped wishing him a goodmorning, for it never was, and he never got a reply anyway.

#Scrooge just in. Darn morning again, tweeted @BCratchit stealing a moment from his piled up workload.

Scrooge was always buried in a screen, be it his smartphone, his tablet, or his computer, he barely looked to see where he was going. And for a person so wired up, he was hardly sociable. He disliked anything to do with holidays. For him work was his life.

But it was already Christmas Eve and Bob wanted to go home, to his family and friends and celebrate.

@BCratchit: Stop #Tweeting and #work. Otherwise no leave for #Dec25. Bah #Humbug! replied @EbScrooge, surprising Bob who delved back into his screen without seeing the next tweet:

@JMarley: #Scrooge up for #surprise.

 

Other Christmas “ghost” writers are:
Tom over at Shouts from the Abyss
Steve from Stevil
Dylan of Treatment of Visions
Sarah from Parent Your Business
Dawn blogging at Lingering  Visions
K8edid from k8edid
Dave bringing it at 1pointperspective
Eileen from Not The Sword But The Pen
Lindsey at RewindRevise
Kandy of Kandy Talk
Sandra writing at In Love With Words
Natalie from So I Went Undercover
Jen at Blog It or Lose It
Amelie from In the Barberry
Cee Cee blogging at Cee Cee’s Blog
Ashley from LittleWonder2
BD writing Blogdramedy

To Tweet Or Not to Tweet?

The world evolves and so should we. We should progress and keep up with new technnology, new trends and new social developments. Tweet, Like, Share, Follow, are becoming the new language of the day. With applications such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare, MySpace, Google+ and many more perhaps less “famous”, flooding the market…it is quite logical that the next generation will talk in code. In hashtags (#), @ signs and abbreviations. Don’t understand any of it? Well you’re not alone! Even people utilising social media have difficulty getting acquainted with the savoir faire of it all! After all it is not a coincidence that so many websites, ebooks, and blogs are filled with how to improve your ‘posting’ skills and how to maximise the social media experience to best accommodate your needs. Even worldwide companies and ‘VIPs’ now utilise social media to keep up to speed with progressing times. Social media is now an important tool in advertising, in electoral campaigns, in news briefs, and generally in everyday situations. Fans soar in millions to Like and Retweet what a celebrity posted on his wall or profile, no matter how insignificant or irrelevant it may be. People often even become obsessed with this new nature of technology that even reading an email often prompts them to go searching for a “Like” button!

Erik Qualman had stated that “the power of social media is it forces necessary change”. But sometimes that change leads to overinformation and certainly over-dependence on digital technology. So much that even when you go out to dinner you just have to log in to the place demonstrating to all your followers and friends where you are; post a picture of what you are doing, and even hashtag it so that it will appear in all other relevant posts! Perhaps it is a consequence of what Aristotle had said, that man is by nature a social animal. What is ironic, however, is that all this tweeting, and posting, and retweeting, and liking etc etc results in people fixed in front of a screen (no matter how large or small that may be) and trying to promote an often fantastic social life to other people who they may not even know and who are doing exactly the same! Social media may lead to progression, and it may certainly enhance communication – making it faster and easier. But even though it facilitates our life, it often makes it more empty. Simply because that is what you’re posting, tweeting, sharing, doesn’t mean that this is what your life is like. Social media give people the opportunity to appear as they want to be. To desperately seek for attention and even receive it. And to apparently live in a digital world with more followers and friends than they could ever really meet! Social media has made the web all about “me”. It focuses on self-promotion and relationship building, thus satisfying the human need for acknowledgement of his/her existence.

But then again, in an interconnected world, it is this very social media that has brought people closer together. That has connected people from all over the world and has enabled the exchange of information and ideas. Yet, as the Ancient Greeks said, all should be used in good measure. There is no need to tweet about every chocolate bar you are eating or every news article you read. There is enough information out there already to keep us busy for years on end. Information is not knowledge. Experiencing life is…