I tried to go offline from Twitter all day yesterday.
I failed. Miserably. Wound up posting all kinds of stuff.
I hate that I feel so compelled to constantly “check in” – just in case someone posted something.
I hate that I couldn’t just stop, as I said I would.
It’s not like any critical information came through the pipe. It’s not like I found out anything, except that a few of my friends have similar twittercrack habits.
I just decided to shake the habit outright. Here’s a new stage for Alan’s curve of adoption.
I just modified my /etc/hosts file thusly:
127.0.0.1 twitter.com
127.0.0.1 www.twitter.com
127.0.0.1 m.twitter.com
127.0.0.1 hahlo.comNow it will take a deliberate act of intervention for me to break my twitterfast. I’ll be surprised if I actually miss anything though. If anyone wants to get in touch with me, you either already know how to do it, or don’t need to.
Also, I realize that this post will be broadcast to Twitter as soon as I hit “Publish.” Irony, much?
resulting in this:
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh, you’ll be back. I can feel the gravitational pull already.
yeah. I’ll probably be back – it’s not that Twitter is evil or useless or anything. I’ve kept in touch with my friends through it, and even met some new ones, but I really don’t like the way it’s seeped into my life.
that said, I’m still thinking in 140 character bursts. maybe when I stop doing that, it’ll be safe to come back into the water…
Damn D’Arcy,
I thought our twitter bonding yesterday broke you of your illusions that quitting was somehow the right thing. It isn’t so much about missing something important, it is coming to that strange realization that you have friend-like gremlins in your computer. Weird, right?
hey, jim. I still love you, man!
All of the friend-like gremlins that I actually care about can contact me any time they want, and vice versa, without twittermediation.
I need to think a bit more about presence, connections, etc… and why I feel so uncomfortable with my addiction to twitter. is it some sick ego trip? is it the endorphin rush that accompanies a new message? is it some deep-rooted need to Belong? dunno. I do know that I hate that I couldn’t just leave it for even a day…
D’Arcy – you just missed some great stuff, go check quick! I sympathise a bit. I can leave it for a day or two, but I do find myself twittering in dreams. Also something happens and I immediately translate it into a tweet. That can’t be right, can it?
Martin, I tried to check, but get a connection error (updated the post with screenshot). Couldn’t check even if I wanted to
Did you subscribe to the feeds you want? I love tweetscan for that. Just do a tweetscan for @dnorman and @dnormal and subscribe to the feed. Then you can contact people you want to offline. Or, compile tweetscans. Eduglu them.
@dnormal? is my alter-ego twittering without my knowledge?
I’ve left the twitter account active, so direct messages will still be mailed to me. I’m not subscribing to any twitter feeds though. anything important will percolate up to other media eventually…
and great. now I have to add tweetscan.com to my /etc/hosts file
It’s a river, man…
Thinking in 140 character bursts is surely an achievement – it’s not thinking that’s the problem. Did you have the same problems with RSS feed addiction?
yeah – I went through a phase a couple of years ago where I was pretty hooked on updating my feed reader. I got through that OK
Hi, I went twitterfree for a week, I ended up blogging about twitter on first day or so – at first felt a little itchy but then I did find some other stuff to do, thinking to go more twitterfree more regularly – especially today when someone tweeted their post upside down which looked great, but I realised I could spend quite some time being creative with tweets rather than do any work.
Some kind of voicetwitter would be better for me now, if there is such a thing, am using Snapvine but it doesn’t have a twitterish feel.
Guess what? I stopped Twitter cold turkey exactly two weeks ago: Monday morning, March 31. It was really, really difficult at first. What I didn’t expect is that the longer I’m off, the harder it is for me to think about getting back on. I originally thought I’d just take a break, but now I’m not so sure. I miss the banter, the connections, and most of all, the truly useful ideas, links, and news. But I honestly feel more focused without it. And definitely more productive. Maybe I’ll even find the time to read more of all the blogs I discovered through Twitter. I do see the use for Twitter in classrooms, during meetings/conferences, etc. Just perhaps not, for me, on a day-to-day basis.
Instead of turning off, you might ask yourself some questions – why do I feel compelled to check twitter every few minutes? What am I worried about missing? what would the actual consequence be of missing something? Using twitter, or any other technology, is an act of volition. You may be acting compulsively or unawares, but you can chose to not do so as well by becoming aware of how you are feeling. Turning off is fine, indeed it is also an act of will. But perhaps becoming aware of how you are interacting with a technology, how it makes you feel and how that drives you to act, and then modifying one’s use to fit with how you’d like it to work for you is the more mindful approach?
exactly, scott. but before I can get a better grasp on this particular demon, I need to silence it temporarily. turning off is the best/fastest way to do that. I’ll be back, but need some time away from it for now.
I’m glad you’ve kicked twitter, though, because you respond to blog comments even faster now
Be well D’Arcy. Do whatever you need to do. I do understand very well. It is hard work to be conscious of how we are acting.
Understand. I go pretty totally offline each weekend, and I find that I don’t miss it.
I hear you, I’m becoming some deadbeat loser breaking into a sweat if it’s been a few hours.
I’ve never had any kind of addiction to facebook or email. Or even the blackberry.
You know what it is?
The law of variable positive reinforcement. It’s the same disease that leads to addiction of crackberries and the slot machines. You’re always checking for the next message…just in case you get that great one, or miss out on winning. “Just one more”
check out http://consumerpsychologist.blogspot.com for more
Wow, talk about a twitter addiction!
I’ve seen some people get sucked into Twitter badly (although I’m not sure why, its so overrated) and all they do is post things everyday all day and monitor their e-mails and their account like a hawk for @replies and direct messages (such as you just described). *sigh*
I really like the level of personal intervention and slight/easy hackery you have taken though — how has it been working?