I once heard a news story about some sports star who was caught doing crack cocaine. He told reporters he became addicted the very first time he did the drug. I remember thinking, “Wow! That’s powerful stuff.”
And now that same thing has happened to me. Except not with crack cocaine, but with something much more powerful. I’m addicted to Twitter. And I was from the very first time I used it.
I’ve been on Twitter for 5 days. And when I say I’ve been on it for 5 days, I mean I’ve been on it non-stop for 5 days! I’ve posted 66 tweets, followed over 200 people (people whose tweets I read), and about 60 of them have followed me back. I’ve ignored stuff I really needed to be doing so that I could devote as much as my time as possible to Twitter.
I know one of the key steps in facing your addiction is to take responsibility, but really it’s not my fault. Scientific studies done at the Washington State University and the University of Michigan back me up. A recent article on these and similar studies on slate.com called Seeking, How the Brain Hard-wires Us to Love Google, Twitter, and Texting explains…
…in some addictions the brain becomes sensitized to the wanting cycle of a particular reward. So addicts become obsessively driven to seek the reward, even as the reward itself becomes progressively less rewarding once obtained.
The article goes on to state:
…all our electronic communication devices—e-mail, Facebook feeds, texts, Twitter—are feeding the same drive as our searches. Since we’re restless, easily bored creatures, our gadgets give us in abundance qualities the seeking/wanting system finds particularly exciting.
If you’re a Twitter addict (or blogging or other computer addict), click the link above to read the article. As for me, I’m headed over to twitter.com.
(P.S. I found the link to the above-mentioned article on Twitter.) 😉
A Bunch of Wordz 