Bye Twitter (Bye Addiction to Stimulus)
I deleted my Twitter account a month or so ago. I had nearly 10,000 followers.
No, I did not do it for any political reason, nor its new leadership. I got rid of the blue bird, and all social media, for a more important set of reasons.
Let’s face it, we’re addicted to constant stimulus. The whole pulling out your phone all of the time to get a little hit, one after the other, is unhealthy. It is like endlessly snacking on sweets and never actually having a nutritious meal.
Using Twitter left me distracted and mentally stuffed all the time. So when the hearty nutritious things in life like relationships, family, quality thoughts and the like came around, I often didn’t have enough mental room left to savor them. Like spending time with my daughter, for instance. I have always tried to spend many hours with her. But quantity of time doesn’t always equal quality of time. I haven’t always been fully present in the moment with her. Sometimes I opted for that sweet dopamine distraction Twitter provided versus some of the more difficult tasks of parenting. In other words, I took the short-term gain at the cost of the long-term pain.
I had to be honest. Most the stuff on Twitter is useless noise, empty calories. It is wasted time. Do I really care about what some random person tweeted 1 year later? No. Do many of the discussions on Twitter matter even a month later? Nope.
The other twisted side of Twitter is the game. I found myself getting sucked into the eternal search for status as measured by likes, shares and followers. If a tweet didn’t immediately get traction, I deleted it. I then mentally questioned the validity of the thought. Then, I’d post something mindless and get 100s of likes and shares.
During my active days on Twitter I was measuring my worth in the number of followers and the rate at which my followership grew. I spent precious time scheming and trying to find content to feed the beast, time that could have been better spent on the nutritional things in life.
I started to believe that I actually knew anything about investing, which I don’t. I mean I thought EXPI was a generational buy at $35 in 2021. I was as clueless as the next that 30-yr mortgage interest rates would be +7% this September. Sorry if you bought into my naiveté.
What has life been like without Twitter?
I have lost nothing and gained everything by deleting Twitter. I thought I’d miss tweeting, miss my followers, miss the discussions but I don’t. I feel freed from the cacophony of drivel.
Instead, I’ve relished in spending more time with old and new friends, actually building meaningful relationships, not superficially glossing over them.
I imagine it feels the same as going from an all candy diet to a healthier balanced diet. The change is night and day. I accept a lower rate of stimulus. Thoughts are clearer as I have more time wade through them. I have an appetite for the most important relationships in my life. I’m awake and alert with my surroundings allowing me to react efficiently and optimally.
Most important of all, I allow myself to savor each moment.
Want to “jam out” on this or any other big ideas?
Feel free to email me at siddings@gmail.com
No strings attached