Houston, We have a Problem

I really didn't start out this way, but I have come to realize: I have a problem.

I am becoming addicted to Twitter....but only on the weekends.

First thing on Saturday and Sunday mornings, I catch up on my Twitter.

If I am house cleaning (a usual Saturday chore) I take a break to catch up on Twitter. 

Yesterday, my husband and I were shopping in the mall. He went to a gadget store. I went and sat down and caught up on my Twitter.

I read Tweets.

I compose Tweets.

I favorite Tweets.

I re-tweet Tweets.

I reply to Tweets.

I read blogs linked in Tweets.

I read articles linked in Tweets.

I follow people. I look at and consider the people who follow me and whether I want to follow them.

I have un-followed people.

People have un-followed me.

I look at the people that people I follow follow (huh?)

As of right now, I follow 185. Some are colleagues. Some are organizations. Some are educators I found through various other Twitter friends.

As of right now, 114 follow me. I don't necessarily follow everyone who follows me.  

The addiction part is heightened by the notifications. I look for those notifications. Someone Re-Tweeted my Tweet. Someone favorited my Tweet.  Someone decided to follow me. It's like reinforcement.  Usually, I am “favorited” or “retweeted” by my husband but once in a while, it happens by someone I perceive to be a Twitter celebrity, a well-known Tweeter. Twitterer? (Not sure what you call them).  In those instances, you feel like you have gotten 140 characters of those 15 minutes of fame.

Now, like any good addict, I never do this at work. Well, maybe just once or twice during lunch. And I am really just a weekend and vacation Tweet-aholic. I can pinpoint just when it started too: A weekend that started on Thursday and ended on Tuesday because of the cold conditions that canceled school. I knew I got the call from the Superintendent telling us there was no school, but I still had to check every possible outlet to make sure it was not some reality dream. And of course, there were Tweets from the school and various extracurricular coaches that school and practices were canceled. One of the cool things was the Tweets of various colleagues, reminding their students of the work/learning that should continue while we waited for the temperatures to rise to tolerable levels for our walking community. 

I would not say that Twitter rules my world or interrupts my life to the point that I need an intervention. I constantly tell my husband that when we retire we are going off the grid, like the Amish.

I can say that sometimes, you just have to watch some random Vine video posted on Twitter about a cat smacking a dog until the dog chases him (@FascinatingVids).

Or follow the fandom of local sports teams (@Browns, @Indians and @Mudhens ).

Or get some good life advice from Life Hacks (@life_cheates  and   @CoolestLifeHack).

Or get inspired by teachers (@hiphughes) and principals (Salome Thomas-EL @Principal_EL and Rock Star Principals @RckStrPrincipal) who are sharing their world.

And sometimes, it is the Tweets of inspiring students (@justinbachman3).

And seeing the coolness of my many colleagues as they tweet their classrooms and things their students are doing (too numerous to list here).

And sometimes you just have to let the world know what's going on in your world (@lisamwiegand).