My weeklong addiction to Twitter and what I learned from it

I joined Twitter two months ago, thanks to all the media reports about and her twittering.. I did it strictly as a follower, which basically means that you follow people but do not post anything to your status. I watched with horror when about 8 people signed up to follow me, and have forgotten to figure out how to get rid of them. There is no use in following me if I don’t post anything. I am a very private person, and it is really great progress for me to post something to my Facebook account once in a while.
I probably logged into Twitter once a week and for a really short time. But then I made the huge mistake of starting to follow Taylor Swift while I was studying for my third CPA exam. I love country music, and of course like her and her songs, as I like many other country, latin pop, or alternative artists. But when somebody gave me tickets to the Houston Rodeo for a Taylor Swift concert, I was really blown away.

I don’t think I fit in her fan demographics: I am 42, single, Hispanic. And I have really no time to be a follower, I manage a small business, study journalism online and Accounting. I am involved in different activities, which sometimes I am not able to handle at the same time. There were 74,000 people that night in the Reliant Arena, my cousins and I didn’t have good seats, but I looked around me and everyone was ecstatic. There were 8 year olds singing out loud to every one of her songs, and their grandmothers and/or mothers knew the lyrics to them too. There were thousands of screaming teenagers, most of them wearing sundresses and boots. Her positive personality and artistry was so magnetic, it was as if she had control over all of us. I learned that night that she was not only a great singer and songwriter, but an excellent entertainer as well. Also that she was a very special human being.

But back to Twitter. Taylor doesn’t post a whole lot, so that leaves you with the desire of wanting to know more. And I started ‘youtubing’ her and so I have probably e watched most of her interviews, there is something new every time. And she of course has some friends in the business, so I started following her and her friend’s interactions with Selena Gomez, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato and Jordin Sparks. For God’s sake! Most of them are in their teens! They are great girls and role models, but why the heck was I following them? I felt really guilty.

What I learned from this experience...

First of all, I learned that these girls work really hard. I realized that Taylor Swift has concerts almost every day, on top of interviews, recordings, etc, and was overwhelmed to learn that Demi Lovato had to wake up to work the day after she got into Los Angeles, after opening for the Jonas Brothers in Peru, Chile, Argentina and Brasil. They are all young and full of energy, But I just felt really tired only realizing how much, and how hard they have to work.

Second thing I learned was that I can’t go on judging other people. Like trying to understand, for example, why my 30 something sister in law keeps following Britney. Or the time when I criticized my 30 something brother for following around the now dissolved Mexican pop group RBD. He once even checked himself and his wife to the same hotel they were staying, and of course made friends with them, attended their photo shoots and took the boys out to play soccer.

Third, that as with any addiction you have to try to control yourself, and set limits. I already had an addiction to the Huffington Post and the Drudge Report. I finally found some balance when I discovered the elegantly designed The Daily Beast, because you get to read clever and more intellectual articles from intelligent people. Also because although I am not a native speaker, and have my limits when writing it, I love to read good English.

I am trying to set those limits and end my addiction, because I think that if you go on spending so much time following other people’s lives, you lose energy and specially time for the real world relationships. Or for important things like concentrating in your upcoming CPA exam. I don’t have anything against Twitter, it’s really fun, but you have to find a balance. I will try to find it, but probably won’t make much progress until someone starts Twitter-Anonymous or Youtube-Anonymous. I won’t try to quit for now my HP, DR or Daily Beast addiction… that would be too much to ask.
Read more!