Bye Bye Birdie

Today I took one foot out of the social media world.

I quit Twitter.

I had several reasons for leaving it behind, but honestly, it was just adding too much clutter in my life and I started out the year resolving to clean out the clutter. I needed to start walking in that direction.

Twitter was making me insecure about my words. I can’t count the number of times I’ve put something out there, immediately wanted to take it back, even manually deleted my comment. But it was still there. Still available for anyone to see. I’ve had moments where I’ve asked Todd to proofread my tweets. “Does this sound stupid? Is this funny? Should I say this or that?” It was getting old.

A couple of nights ago, I began thinking about what I wanted in my life and what I no longer needed. I realized I don’t need something that makes me constantly question my worth. Am I cool? No. I was semi-cool in high school and it was miserable. I’m too old to be “cool.”

I need to fill my life with things that build me up. No longer do I pack a good book in my bag when I’m running errands. Call my sister while getting my oil changed? Why? I’ll just see what everyone is up to on Twitter. Lame.

One of the reasons I decided to quit is because I realized that the people that found an interest in my life and chose to follow me were constantly getting a one-sided conversation from me that they were obviously not a part of. All of my @so-and-so’s had to be annoying to my co-workers, radio colleagues and family members who had no idea who I was talking to or what I was talking about. Sorry about that.

But, what really got me was the confirmation. Just hours after declaring to Todd that I was indeed quitting Twitter, I read this post from Anne Jackson. It was as if God himself said, “This isn’t just a crazy idea in your head. I want you to quit too. Follow Me.”

For the record, I don’t think Twitter is bad. I have some witty friends who put their humor out there, and I know somebody has had a brighter day when they have read my friends’ tweets. My husband is a pro on Twitter. Free hockey and football tickets? That’s saving us money! My pastor from back home is on Twitter. He says things that inspire and offer hope. It’s not bad. It’s just not for me.

There is so much noise in my life right now and I want to be still. I want to soak in the moments I have with my friends when I’m with them. If I want to know what my neighbor is doing, I want to invite her family over for dinner. Twitter makes us think we really know people. But we don’t. We know what they have edited for the world wide web, but we don’t know them. I want people to know me. The people that really know me will read this blog. Or they will sit across the table from me over coffee.

I’m taking my life back. I’m turning down the noise. I’m going to let God speak truth into my life and not ask Him to yell to get my attention. Will I feel out of the loop and at times left out? Probably. But I'm okay with that.

I quit Twitter. It feels so good.