The scorched-birdfeeder response to information overload

October 8, 2008 8:57 AM

"I'll argue for the sake of arguing that we as human beings have a finite supply of attention for ambient awareness of things around the world.... And the fact that I know just a little bit too much about popular television due to twitter has to be responsible for some other deficit in my life..." Twitter zero: One man's experiment in staying connected to the public-soundbite world without becoming overwhelmed by it.
posted by ardgedee (10 comments total)

Twitter is great for ambience awareness of things around the world, perfect actually.

Maybe perfect for the ipod deafened.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 9:29 AM on October 8, 2008

....I'm at a Twitter Zero point too, but I did it in the far simpler way of not ever getting involved with the damned thing in the first place.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:21 AM on October 8, 2008 [3 favorites]

6041 characters to say "unfollow?"

No wonder he's quitting Twitter.
posted by designbot at 11:07 AM on October 8, 2008 [1 favorite]

Turn off Twitter, don't let it interrupt you any more. But still listen.

If you're looking at a screen with the word "twitter" on it somewhere, it's still interrupting you.
posted by jason's_planet at 11:32 AM on October 8, 2008

I think I'm developing a dangerous Twitter addiction (me!) but I have thoroughly enjoyed making snarky @reply comments to web celebrities and so-called serious journalists and occasionally getting re-replied back. Hi Lore!
posted by wendell at 11:38 AM on October 8, 2008

oh, is this where we pimp out our twitter acounts? *cough*

and to get back on track, who says you have to keep up? that's really the problem. you gotta be able to let go of this notion that you have to read every last little thing on the internet. (oh, i know it's hard... trust me.)
posted by sxtxixtxcxh at 2:15 PM on October 8, 2008

I occasionally type things into Twitter (it's good for practicing concision) but I don't read anything on Twitter. Why would I even want to?
posted by Sys Rq at 3:11 PM on October 8, 2008

you gotta be able to let go of this notion that you have to read every last little thing on the internet.

Bears repeating. I have a Twitter client running in the background while I work (*cough*) and tab over to it during off moments, scan a little bit, respond if I have something to say... It's good fun, but I don't feel a need to read every little tweet.

It may also help that I don't ever read it via SMS. That shit would drive me crazy.
posted by brundlefly at 6:15 PM on October 8, 2008

I love (mefi's own) Ed. He actually sent me a proto-tweet way back in December of 2006 and I replied, having no clue what the heck the idea was all about, and didn't really get into twitter until last spring. But now I really love it, and I found its clear mission and limited featureset to be the only social network that I find worthwhile. Ed's tweets are great, both hyperlocal and global, and I hope he follows me again someday.

However, I'm interested by his characterization of twitter as an interruption. I don't have any tweets forwarded to my phone except for family, close friends and staff; I am hardly ever interrupted by twitter unless someone sends me a DM, which I would generally want to be interrupted by. I suspect his twitter overload was related to looking at the entire twitterverse as something that should be able to push its way into your pocket. I also don't read my twitterfeed much deeper than 3 or 4 pages; that's enough ambient awareness. However, Ed is a nexus of our community and I'm sure his twitterfeed was a maelstrom.

Also, I've found that in the twitter-obsessed corner of my industry, it's always nice to follow back. and then I unfollow as soon as they say something dull. It's kept it manageable.

What's next, Ed, LinkedIn zero? But you're winning!
posted by ulotrichous at 6:16 PM on October 8, 2008

There is only one Twitter feed worth following, and that is fireland.
posted by letitrain at 12:44 PM on October 15, 2008