Keller @ Large: Life Online Is Not Real Life
BOSTON (CBS) - Add another entry to the list of hazards of modern life you want to avoid – Twitter burnout.
The online service that lets you send brief messages into a 232-million-strong chat room to be read, responded to and retweeted by anyone who chooses to follow you is very popular, and is about to make its founders rich by going public.
Listen to Jon's commentary:
Keller at Large Nov 7 2013
But it is apparently not enriching the lives of some of its most prolific users.
According to the Associated Press, celebrities are bailing on Twitter left and right.
"Actress Jennifer Love Hewitt lamented 'all the negativity' she saw on the service when she quit, temporarily, in July. Actress Megan Fox left nearly a million followers dangling when she checked out in January, explaining that 'Facebook is as much as I can handle.' Pop star John Mayer deleted his account in 2011, saying Twitter absorbed so much of his thinking, he couldn't write a song."
Oh, the star-anity!
But seriously, even regular folks are finding Twitter to be addictive, exhausting, and, ultimately, a waste of time.
Some users suffer from FOMO, or "fear of missing out.'' Others ultimately recoil from the open sewer of anger, negativity, sniping and stupidity that Twitter can be at times.
One thoughtful former Twitter user says since she bailed on it, ''I'm living my life. I'm not having a commentary about it.''
And that gets to the core of the problem.
Life online can be interesting, or at least distracting. But it's not real life.
And if you're lucky enough to have a life, you're better off living it, not wasting it on a gimmick with a best, highest use of killing time on the bus.
You can listen to Keller At Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.
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