Too Much Twitter

So...I lasted on Twitter about a total of 3 weeks.

Stats: 54 tweets; 35 following; 15 followers

Today I deactivated my account.

Let's start with why I joined: Friends have been getting on to me to join for the past year telling me how great it is and how much you can get out of it. I always thought it just seemed overwhelming with all of the @ and hashtags. Then a friend explained to me that rather than read the newspaper or watch the news - they used Twitter as their newsfeed. So I gave it a try...and to be frank, I loved it! I found myself "tweeting" all the time - tweeting pictures, tweeting at people, getting tweeted at, etc. #iloveusingrandomhashtagcomments

Why I decided to deactivate: I just tweeted this morning! And 5 hours later I no longer have a Twitter account. Typical of my extreme/passionate personality some might say. haha! I decided to leave the tweet-arena for a few reasons...

1. Humble Bragging - Not sure if this is a word my circle of friends made up, or if everyone uses it...but I think it is something to always keep in the back of your mind. Social media, especially sites like Facebook and Twitter where you are updating a status is an optimal forum for "humble bragging." And I am not saying that there is anything wrong with that - but it sure does allow a person to constantly be talking about themselves (which I did) even if they don't want to (which I don't). So I started to feel uncomfortable with my need to "tweet" all the time about all the "cool" stuff I thought I was doing. This leads to the bigger issue of social media that is "Facebook Depression" where people think everyone else's life is so great except theirs. Not true! Now, you might be thinking - well isn't there an element of humble bragging on your blog. The answer is probably yes - but to me, at least a blog is a website that you have to choose to go to if you want to read the info - not something that is being "pushed" to you. #humblebraggingaword?

2. Lack of Control over Followers: I have a very hard line in the sand for keeping personal and professional private. I don't accept Facebook requests from work colleagues - even if we are friends. I have never been comfortable with blurring those two lines. Now granted, there are a few who have slipped through the radar, but those would be "special situations" - i.e. friends first, colleagues second. I am a pretty private person at work, so I think the fun, personal things I do outside of work should get to stay private - and if I want to tell people at work about what I did at night or on the weekend I can, and if I don't, I don't! Well on Twitter I started noticing all kinds of work friends following me. And I was NOT using Twitter for my work life. I was posting about silly things, like getting to drive a Dodge Ram as a rental car, or hanging out with my family. So I felt uncomfortable that anyone that wanted to could read my tweets. I didn't like the lack of privacy. So I could have either changed the tone of my tweets...boring...just stopped tweeting period....hard to do if I know the ability is there...or get off all together...done! #noprivacy

3. Addiction to Technology: I am on my phone all the time. I think people are on their phones all the time. We are losing social interaction. So with Facebook, Pinterest, Gmail, People.com, Blogger, etc all so easily available on my fancy little iPhone...the last thing I need is another addicting website. In fact, to be discussed later is my thought around getting rid of my iPhone period. #justabb

Back to the Basics. So I still want to get the news - my original reason for joining Twitter - so as of last Saturday Matt and I now receive the newspaper daily. I woke up early today so I could sit with Matt, drink my latte and catch up on world events. And you know what...at lunch today...I referenced TWO of the articles I read. #Success

Important to Note: I still think Twitter is awesome - and my points above are not at all negative against those who really like using stuff like Twitter and frequent FB status updates. It is a personal choice that is different for everyone - and everyone has a right to, and should, do what they want regarding this topic. For me, I think I'll stick to blogging and reading the newspaper. But who knows...one day you might just see me pop back up on Twitter! #typical

Does anyone else feel this way?