Friday, 13 November 2009

Balancing Act

A few people recently have asked me why I don't Twitter. And very occasionally, I wonder myself, especially since when another blogger who does is kind enough to tweet one of my posts, hits on The Potty Diaries go up by around 50% for the next day or so. Which is, of course, nice, and extremely flattering.

But then I think of all the things I should already be doing whilst I tap away on the keyboard. That's not to say I feel guilty about blogging - much - just that it does tend to eat into your time. You sit down to check comments, click through to a couple of new posts on your blog-roll and bang! All of sudden, 3 hours, gone. Whilst in the background, every-day life continues without you, and other things pile up. House-hold stuff. Personal admin. Getting organised for The Big Move. And most importantly, spending quality time with my husband and sons.

Then I think of how my competitive and slightly addictive personality (what? You haven't seen any of the many posts referencing my chocolate habit?) would handle yet another stream of information coming into my life. I see my over-loaded, slightly-steaming, most-definitely-not-as-young-as-it-used-to-be grey matter reaching overload level. I imagine myself tweeting in the playground when I should be enjoying sitting on the wings of an airplane flown by Captain Boy #2 on my way to Australia / Siberia / Somerset. I see myself sneakily checking my Blackberry or i-phone (not that I have either but I just know that would be the next step if I made the leap into Twitter), when my sons are telling me about their day as we have a post-school afternoon snack, nodding absently as they share their triumphs and disappointments away from home with me, but actually hearing nothing.

Now, I'm not for one moment suggesting that this is what happens to other bloggers who tweet. I think that most probably the majority of people have a better ability to pair the word 'moderation' with the internet than I do. But I know my limitiations, and I feel that already my beloved Boys see far too much of the back of my shoulders as I sit turned away from them in the office, relating to a world they're not directly a part of.

So whilst I can see that Twitter is really the next logical step for a blogger, and that it adds a great deal to many people's lives, I think it would simply detract from mine.

Shame, really. I'ld love a cast iron reason to buy a swanky new i-phone...

12 comments:

  1. I'm with you in the non-Tweeting corner. Too much communication.

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  2. Another non tweeter here. I think I'd go into overload, I honestly don't think I could cope. I feel guilty for not spending enough time with my boys as it is. I lack the self discipline to set clear boundaries and stick to them, I know that I would ALWAYS be sneaking off to check stuff, just one more message.

    Bit of a pain as I think I would love it, but like strong drugs, I just dare not let myself actually try it for worry of where it would lead.

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  3. Hiya... I do tweet but so infrequently that I may as well not do. I am a terrible tweeterer. I also decided not to dedicate so much time to blogging and it shows... Is soooo difficult to give up though, very addictive it's true.

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  4. Didn't we have this conversation?!?

    Am with you on the Tweet-ing, if for no other reason that it would be yet another version of technology to learn/familiarise myself with/swear at.

    As it is, I am still in my PJs sitting at the computer after just intending to "have a quick look" at something (which I am yet to look up) and Blossom is due at ballet lesson in... sh*t... half an hour.

    Gotta fly! (Maybe twitter does have a purpose after all?)

    LCM x

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  5. I tweet occasionally and also find it hard to juggle tweeting, blogging, emailing, researching, tidying the house, looking after my 8 month old son and general day-to-day living. And I'm supposed to go out for healthy walks too?!?

    Why are there only 24 hours in a day? I do wish there were more sometimes.

    I write about it all in my blog at: www.katecollings.blogspot.com
    Swing by and take a look

    xx

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  6. I went on Twitter about a month ago as an experiment, and I have to say, I'm not that enamoured with it. I actually prefer Facebook to communicate with friends, and anything I might 'tweet' about blogwise I'll probably put in my blog anyway. As you say, it is information overload and I feel like there's lots of pressure to say something interesting. I think I may be giving up on the Twitter experiment very soon....

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  7. Iota - or maybe we're just past it?

    Brit, you hit the nail on the head.

    Sparx, it's that feedback. So nice to have something other than 'I don't like this food'...

    LCM, we certainly did! And yes, sometimes I know it would be better to be more mobile whilst on-line, but I just know that all that would happen would be I would end up tweeting / blogging ALL the time instead of only most of it...

    Kate, it's that 'do it all' pressure. Too much for me, I'm afraid.

    NVG, I'll be very interested to hear what conclusion you reach...

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  8. feeling quite ashamed as that is EXACTLY what I do with my iPhone at the playground as it is the most f*ck boring place on earth. I hate playgrounds. I do a reasonable amount of playing but then I sit back and let them run around and do whatever they're going to do and I play with my phone and tweet or look at blogs or read the news (or kindle books) and voila, the interminable interlude is gone. But I don't tweet while I'm playing at home with them, I just use it to eat up my writing time so that I don't actually have to finish book chapters which is much more sensible. Kind of like virtual chatting over the garden fence.
    I'm not really making it sound any better, am I?
    I'll get my coat..

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  9. Laughing at Mothership's honesty! I haven't even looked at Twitter because I'll just get sucked in and I don't have the time.

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  10. I've pretty much abandoned Twitter now - frankly I haven't got the time to blog or read other people's posts, let alone tweet about it.

    I popped by to give you a virtual hug and thank you for your lovely words over at my birthday post. It was a pretty horrible evening - I was on my own as DH was at work - and I just couldn't stop crying. Seeing everyone's lovely words of support was hugely helpful xx

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  11. I totally agree. I think Twitter is a kind of ultimate return to the horrid playground politics of my early teens. Everyone else knows stuff you don't, before you do, and they're going to look cooler by sharing it first. Who can do it most, who can be the funniest, who can fit it into 140 letters... maybe I'm missing the point too!

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  12. Mothership - of course, what I DIDN'T mention in that post is that whilst I might not twitter in the playground, it is one of my favourite places to send texts from. (I live in a basement flat so my excuse - to myself, and it doesn't really hold water - is that I can't always get a signal at home...)

    EPM, you and me both. I can resist anything but temptation.

    MoreThan - you're welcome.

    Nicola - let's be the uncool kids together. Although actually, I personally think we SO uncool we're actually cool. (See how sad I am?)

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