Today I quit Twitter.
Well, at least for now.
I love Twitter: the constant rush of intelligence and insight, the extraordinary links, the amazingly witty and pleasant personas, the speed of debate and critical dissection, the ever-changing and glittering #hashtags...
In many ways, Twitter represents the nicer and more thrilling forces of human nature.
So why quit?
Well, it was becoming addictive.
By a sequence of lucky accidents I had amassed just under 5000 followers.
And I kept on wanting to get a new Twitter "high".
At one stage I tried to get as many twitterers as possible to defame Uri Geller.
At another I promoted the mass re-tweeting of the Betjeman line "come friendly bombs and fall on Slough" as a protest against the Crown Prosecution Service's misconceived approach to section 127 of the Communications Act 2003.
But still I wanted more.
I was even resorting to baiting the fearsome Obnoxio the Clown, just to get that evermore elusive Twitter high.
But soon even Obnoxio failed to amuse.
There was no way to go, but to turn cold turkey.
And so I quit.
More seriously (#irony re the above, for the earnest), I have only so much spare time whilst I write the book of the BCA v Simon Singh case, and I would rather devote that to blogging and Westminster Skeptics.
Should I ever finish the book, I will probably return, not least to promote it.
And if there is some libel or other legal madness before then, I may well revive the account in a hurry just to try and do something about it.
The account after all is only dormant, not deactivated.
So I may be back, one day.
But in the meantime, if really you want someone to blame for me quitting Twitter, please go and blame @obotheclown.
He just wasn't funny enough...
:-)
COMMENTS MODERATION
No purely anonymous comments will be published; always use a name for ease of reference by other commenters.
Monday, 14 June 2010
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
9 comments:
Reminds me of that song by the Eagles . . .
"You thought you would find happiness
Just over that green hill
You thought you would be satisfied
But you never will . . ."
Well, here's hoping your book will be a great success, and that you will tweet us with a return to Twitter soon!
Twitter genuinely won't be the same without you. Keep blogging and hurry up with that book so that I can read it. In the mean time, I'll do my best to provoke @obotheclown on your behalf. Good luck dealing with the withdrawal symptoms!
Thanks for all the great tweets. We'll be awaiting your return.
I will miss seeing that @jackofkent avatar and reading your tweets. It will not seem the same without you.
I do think that it is an excellent idea to concentrate on writing the book.
I cannot help but wonder whether you might be tempted back if some big injustice rears its ugly head...
Meanwhile, I wish you a healthy retreat from Twitterverse, and look forward to your return some day (remember that accounts get re-used after 12 months of lying fallow).
Time to joint the TA (Twitterers Anonymous). Perhaps The Priory will start treating celebrities hopelessly addicted to social networking sites. Perhaps they already have?
You fucking, fucking, FUCKING bastard.
Talk about kicking a clown when he's down. :o(
Well #stephenfry did it and he came back when he'd finished his book. So let's hope you do to. So long, and thanks for all the fish.
Well, I'm sad to see you go, but I'm looking forward to the book.
Just as long as you keep the blog going: it's not only interesting, it's important.
All the very best, whatever you do.
I will miss you on twitter. Did you ever think that your presence on a social networking site would ever directly affect and better the lives of others? It did. If it wasn't for you.... well you know.
Good luck for your book and I hope you'll be back.
I'm sure we'll be in touch frequently anyway over the next few months - sorry about that!
Warmest regards
Sarah x
Post a Comment