The Internet existed before Twitter, and I did too.
I'm addicted to Twitter, and I have decided to quit.
I won't be deleting my account (I'm preserving history for the humans of the year 3000). But the app is now gone from all my devices; I've logged out and removed my super secure password from Chrome. If I want to return, I'll need to reset the password. I am making it a little bit complicated (as any Habits book would recommend).
I mostly use Twitter to get breaking news and share a random mix of ideas. I'm not famous or good at Twitter. Yet, I check the app like a complete crack addict. I check Twitter more than Gmail or Whatsapp. It is the second app I check after picking up the phone, with a whopping 19 times per day.
Every day I spend an average of 26 minutes on Twitter.
In contrast, I spend just 4 mins on Duolingo. (A distorted stat as I do lots of Duolingo directly on the web via Chrome)
Twitter is an excellent source of information. But do I need to consume information at such a speed? I'm no longer trading on details like in the Covid days, and most of the things I read make me mad, cringy or sad. I'm aware that just by deleting the app, those things won't go away, Russia is still invading Ukraine, and Elon Musk is still running Twitter. But do I need to participate in all that information frenzy? Or can I wait for some voices I trust to curate all that madness for me?
Granted, I could follow fewer people and rely on lists. But the trending topics are there, and although I banned the word "Elon Musk", it seems like I'm always missing something. Even banning a specific word or hashtag doesn't remove the link to the topic entirely; instead of those tweets not appearing, Twitter decided to do this:
This tweet contains words that you have muted.
And that is a horrible feeling. FOMO is terrible for your trading habits. It leads to overtrading and, ultimately, to poor financial results. Therefore I can only assume that informational FOMO is just as bad for your life.
Perhaps I would know less or be a bit less up-to-date, but I'm somebody who always seems to know a little more about various topics, so maybe knowing a bit less is good.
Ciao!
