Nine Ways to Defeat your Twitter Addiction

If you have found that Twitter has become less of an occasional way to connect with others, and more of a compulsion or dependence, you may be addicted to Twitter. Here are Nine Steps to beat your Twitter addiction:

1. Decide whether you are addicted. If you've got one or more of the common warning signs of being addicted to Twitter, you may be in need of a Twitter reality check. These warning signs include:

• Feeling like you're "nothing" without your tweets, and you must tweet no matter what, even if you don't want to. 
• Insignificant things MUST be tweeted. i.e.- "this morning I woke up".
• People without Twitter are losers and not deserving of your time, Twitter is your day, the rest of what could have been your day is arranged around it.
• You MUST find someone else to tweet for you when you are unable.
• When Twitter is down, you are down, and the worst part is you can't even Tweet about it!!
• You have a lot of unfinished projects, yet you are still compelled to Tweet away your time.
• You find yourself unable to stop, even though you (and your peers) know Tweeting is becoming a problem.
• Your relationship with Twitter is growing stronger than the ones in real life

2. Own up to your Twitter addiction. Yes, it's a cliche that half the battle is admitting the problem but not acknowledging it means you won't change the behavior. And before you rush to tweet that you have a Twitter addiction, by all means admit it to yourself but remember that there's no need to tell the world.

• Tweeting about your Twitter addiction is an invitation for others to comment, and make light of the situation. You will get responses like "haha. I'm an addict to", or "We can be addicts together," which will minimize the importance of your realization, and could be a detriment to recovery.

3. Plan your Twitter time. Allow yourself to set an amount of time every day, reserved for Twitter. (i.e.- 15 minutes every three hours, or one single hour every day when you are done with everything else). Set precise Tweeting times (i.e.- 12:00 every day) and stick to the allotted times.

4. Plan for "Pure Twitter Time". Avoid using Twitter while multitasking. When tweeting while multitasking, Twitter becomes a distraction, and a reason to not fully focus on whatever else you are doing. Also, when multitasking, we tend to downplay how much time we are wasting on each task. You could be spending much more time doing nothing productive, but if you have a book open, you are "studying".

5. Fire your Twitter Supporting Cast. Anything you have aquired that makes Twitter easier to access, get rid of it! These include: Tweetie, TwitterBerry, TweetDeck, TwitterFon, PocketTweets, & ceTwit. These applications make it easy to access Twitter from literally anywhere. Get rid of them and you will thrive.

6. Turn Twitter Into a Hobby Not a Habit. Make Twitter your weekend indulgence. You will make more time to get things done during the week and look forward to your weekend only Tweets. This will make you more productive during the week, and help create more creative and interesting Tweet topics for your weekend post. 

7. Spend Time Away from TMI (too much information.) Constantly being bombarded with messages from others can create anxiety, hyperawareness, and worry. You need a little information free time to take the edge off. Spend some quite alone time sitting under a tree, or in a quite place WITHOUT your phone. Gaaaasp!

8. Realize that You are Not Alone. More people are suffering from a Twitter addiction than you think. Be kind to yourself in realizing that others have been here already; the evolution of social networking means that many people continue to keep revising how to balance Twitter in their busy lives. Keep your perspective about Twitter's place in your life at the forefront of your mind and ask yourself...

• What have you given up for Twitter? Was it an inane pursuit like watching too much TV, or something that mattered, like writing, exercise, reflecting, or spending time with people? The answer to this question may help you to find the necessary motivation to take the time and energy to make adjustments.

9. Quit Twitter. If you've tried everything else and Twitter is still coming before the mowed lawn, the descaling of the shower, and the ironing of work clothes, then you might have to switch it off permanently. If you don't know how to leave, here's how:

• Log in to Twitter
• Click "Settings"
• Click "Deactivate my Account" at the bottom of the page
• Enter your password when prompted. (Without the correct account password, you will not be able to deactivate an account.)
• Verify that you really want to do it. If you've come this far, then you do. 
• Have your life back! 

Sources and photo credits (wikihow.com)

Ashley Rulick 11/4/12