May 25, 2010

twitAre you addicted to twitter? You are not alone. Anything which is done in extreme can be addictive. With people spending their whole day in tweeting wouldn’t be an exaggeration. But what if online social-networking starts taking a toll on your actual
social life?

There has been an increase in complaints by parents about childs’ obsession with social networking especially on Twitter. One of the parents came during their daughter’s board exams saying that she wasted an hour every day Twitter and Facebook," says Dr Aarti Anand, consulting clinical psychologist, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital.

"The need for people to be connected with others and the high that one gets with knowing that so many people are reading what I tweet has people hooked on to Twitter. The celebrity presence adds to the damage. And the easy access through mobiles and through applications (like tweet deck) on the iPhone and Blackberry makes matters worse," says Dr Amitabha Saha, senior consultant, psychiatry, Brainex.
Check for addiction Constantly feels the need to check Twitter and it hampers your day-to-day activities and productivity.

Keep refreshing the twitter page or checking your cell phone every now and then for new tweets. Have more Twitter followers than friends in real life. Avoid addiction Make some real friends. Schedule a specific time to be active on Twitter.
Avoid addiction Make some real friends.