Confessions of a Twitter Quitter: Why I Pulled the Plug

I mentioned earlier this week that I deleted my Twitter account. Several people have asked me if I would share why, and I thought it would be easier to just answer everyone here.

Please know that these are MY reasons. Lots of people love Twitter and I'm not out to try to change that. I'm just sharing my thoughts and my personal experience with it. If you have no idea what Twitter is then you should probably just skip this post altogether! (smile)

Here goes:

1. I really don't care what everyone is doing every minute of the day. I really, really don't. 
And I have a hard time believing that people care what I'm doing either. I don't care what the temperature where you live is or what kind of coffee you're trying today or what you're eating for lunch or what your agenda for the day is. I really don't.

2. I felt like Twitter had such a needy vibe (see #1). 
Hey, look at what I'm doing! Hey, look at what I've accomplished! Hey, look where I am going and how cool my life is! Hey, look at who I am and what I can do. SEE me. VALIDATE me. Me. Me. Me.

I'm guilty of all of the above. I've done it blatantly and unashamedly. I've done it with absolutely no agenda but also with a need to garner attention. I like attention and have an unhealthy obsession with myself. Guilty as charged. But you know what? It began to get really, really old. I felt like I was spending more time tweeting about my life than actually living it. And that's not what I want to be about. It was a waste of my time and energy and purpose.

I have a good idea of what God has called me to do in this season of my life and I don't need validation from anyone other than Him when I'm doing it. Sure, it's nice when others validate us but Twitter just felt like a place where validation from others was openly solicited and I didn't like how that made me feel.

3. It's "noisy" and addictive.  
It seems like more and more people are losing the ability to just "be". Sometimes being alone with my thoughts is scary and things surface that I don't really want to deal with, so I keep myself busy...every moment...with things like Twitter and Facebook or television or tasks or conversations or some other kind of "noise"--basically anything that allows that which lurks beneath the surface of my heart to stay pushed down. Twitter was a fabulous diversion and a ginormous and addictive time-suck. So many times I'd ask myself if I didn't care what all these people were doing all day long, then WHY in the world did I just spend thirty minutes reading people's tweets?

4. It brought out a side of me that I don't like.
Snarky. Judgmental. Mean. Twitter seemed to bring out the very worst in me. Here's an example or two.

I might read a tweet that said: Long awaited date night with my husband. Woohoo! And then that person would proceed to tweet the details of their date continually throughout the evening. Know what I'd find myself doing? Rolling my eyes and making snarky comments under my breath. It took great restraint not to reply: Yeah, how's your husband enjoying the date night you're sharing with him and all of your Twitter followers??? How's that working for him?

I would also tend to judge people based on their Twitter activity. Wow, that person must really like to hear himself talk or wow, she's really addicted to the computer/smartphone because she's posting on here all the freakin' time. See? Snarky, judgmental, and mean! Those aren't the truest things about me, so why in the world would I ever want to pursue something that caused those things to surface? It just created a very unhealthy pattern of thinking and I don't need or desire that.

The bottom line here? Nothing Twitter has to offer is life-giving for me. So on impulse, I yanked the plug.

It's been exactly one week since I (permanently) deleted my account. Have I missed it? Nope. Not one bit. The surprising result??? My mind feels so uncluttered and free!

Some of you may be wondering if I knew that I didn't have to follow people on Twitter that annoyed me. Yes, I did know that and yes, I did unfollow people but that didn't solve the entire issue of how Twitter affected me.

Others might wonder if Facebook stirs up the same stuff for me. Yes and no. I definitely use the "hide" feature when I feel the snarky stuff start to surface. I'm not as inclined to follow suit and disconnect from Facebook though because it has been such a positive tool in reconnecting with some very old and dear friends.

Soooooooo...that's the long and short  of it. And again, my purpose in writing this isn't to bash Twitter or those of you who use it. There are lots of good folks on there and lots of good things about it, but I've come to realize that it just isn't good for me.