My new obsession

It's Twitter. I kept hearing about it, and then I noticed that DisciplesWorld and Christian Century and Songbird and other people I like were Twittering. So I signed up, and it's a whole new world! It's like texting to everyone at once, or blogging really short posts. But with the benefit that it doesn't matter if anyone answers my text, or comments on my blog. I know people are reading my stuff, no matter how trivial.

See, the thing about blogging is that I always feel like I have to write something substantial - an article, with some length and some meat to it. Somehow I feel that if I write a blog entry it should be a sermon or a meditation, or at least something spiritual. If I have just a sentence to share, it doesn't feel right to blog about it.

For instance, a few weeks ago while working out with my virtual trainer on wii Fit, keeping track of calories burned on an app in my iPhone, and keeping an eye on the robot vacuuming the bedroom, I realized that I'm really dependent on technology. I wanted to blog about it, but y'know, that's all I had. Seems to me that this kind of reflection is perfect for Twitter, but not so much for a blog. A blog should be a substantial meal, whereas Twitter is a 90 calorie snack pack.

And yes, I'm obsessing on food because I'm watching calories, cholesterol and carbs and because I quit smoking 4 days ago. Twittering is taking the place of the cigarette or the food substitution for the cigarette. It's helping me not smoke, and not eat. Justification of spending so much time checking MacBook and/or iPhone every few minutes? Certainly. Denial that I have a new addiction? Nah. I'm perfectly happy to admit that I'm powerless over Twittering, and that it could make my life unmanageable if I'm not careful. I'll just hope nobody starts a Twitters Anonymous anytime soon.