Jillian C. York » Twi-ddiction?

Twi-ddiction?

I’ll let you in on a little secret: I have a wee bit of an addictive personality. Fortunately, it doesn’t manifest itself in any particularly nefarious ways (anymore, anyway – I quit smoking in March!), but I’m still a bit of an all-or-nothing gal.

That’s why I’ve decided to take a long break from Twitter.

Now, before you accuse me of pulling a Miley for announcing it so publicly, I’m not doing it for the attention. I’m doing it so you’ll hold me accountable.

Why Twitter and nothing else? Well, blogging is a necessity, something I do when I’m feeling inspired. I write all over the place. Facebook is important for keeping up with old friends, and I almost never get engaged in any conversations there. But since last January, I’ve found myself spending a wee bit too much time on Twitter. I knew I’d hit crazy town a few weeks ago when I actually got blocked out of Twitter for a couple of hours for tweeting too much. Yeah.

And before you think I’m some sad sack who sits around in my parents’ basement (well, I’m guessing most of you know I’m not), hear me out: I do spend a lot of time online. For work. For work outside of work. Next to my boyfriend, who is also online most of the day for work. Twitter has become a part of that – the conversations typically don’t distract me from the work I’m doing at any given time, but they do occasionally cause me anxiety (such as a recent argument about social media in Saudi Arabia). WTF, right?

And so I’m taking a break from my primary account, jilliancyork (I’ll still have to tweet from work accounts from time to time of course). Not for any specific period of time, just long enough to wean myself from the addiction. I’ll be back, for sure. After all, I am speaking on the media140 panel at the International Festival of Journalism in April!

17.01.2010Sasa

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

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17.01.2010Jillian
Oh Sasa, we’ll just have to chat elsewhere this week :)
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17.01.2010Paprika Pink

Yeah, it’s a real thing, twiddiction. Something about dopamine or whatchamwhosit. We’ll miss you, look forward to your return. I’m still trying to tweet and not be addicted at the same time. Because it’s the single thing that has most inspired me to actually write, and yet, it’s the single thing that’s sucking up most of my time. :^)

17.01.2010free_programmer

this a sad new for me,I like ur twittes :(
I hope u’ll miss us (twitter ppl) and come back soon :P

17.01.2010Hisham

No, no nooooooooooooo!
When exactly are speaking in the festival anyway? Which date?

17.01.2010tatn

Oh No, I’ll miss your comments. Hope you’ll return, otherwise, I’ll just drop by your blog to say Hi. It was a pleasure to hear you on blogtalk radio discussing Morocco … Be well

17.01.2010Muawiyah Alrawahi

Keep it up. good choice

18.01.2010@scottaugustine

Came across you by accident. Was checking out various profiles in Tweetdeck, and I see you trading jabs with the NT Times Social Media Director. Went back for her name to reference here, gone, disappeared off the page. A testament to how random this was. I understand your wanting to leave Twitter and re-group. I’ve only been onboard myself, for less than a month… 2 am and I’m committed to this one way conversation. Point is, I feel your pain. Here is my diagnosis , what ails you is not ‘Twiddiction’… ready? It’s passion. You’re passionate and Twitter lets you get it out there. If you lived in an apartment, second floor with a balcony, picture people gathered every morning to hear what you have to say, captive audience (kind of… like Twitter)…. you would forget about Twitter completely. Right now Twitter is your balcony and we’re all in your yard. You’re passionate, we’re listening… don’t run away, don’t overwhelm us. Take a breath and give us your best… from what I can see, you’re doing just that. Keep it up Jillian. Good job!

19.01.2010Lasto Adri

You know Jillian, I am thinking of doing the same too..
Twitter is taking alot from my inspiration to write good posts.. really..

So let me think about it, and tell you.. may be we’d start a trend :-)

20.01.2010Ari Herzog

Good for you. If you hadn’t heard (or missed my tweeting and wondered why), I’ve been on a sabbatical since the beginning of the month. See http://ariwriter.com/reflecting-on-my-twitter-sabbatical-1-week-in/ for a similar blog entry about it.