It's Saturday morning. You wake up out of the fog. You manage to open one eye and reach for the iPhone. You push the little round button so you can say good morning to your friends. Since the rest of the family is still asleep you think “hmmm… I'll just go into my office and send a few tweets, see what's circlin' on Google+ and upload the photos from the seminarthis week to Facebook.”
Well, that was at 7:00 am. It's now 11:00 and you are still in your jammies with messy hair. Your significant other has made breakfast. The kids are watching cartoons & fighting and the house is a mess. The big plans of mowing the lawn, cleaning the garage and hittin' the gym all before noon are history. You would much prefer to stay in the safety and quiet of your little tweet heaven just for one more hour.
You have experienced this situation before. You have friends who do the same thing. You have wondered if you might have a slight addiction problem to the twitter bird and all his friends. Below are a few (50 of them) signs that you might want to seek professional help.
Disclaimer: I am a marketing nut and by no means should you take the advice written in this post to determine if you need professional help. Only you can figure out if you have the will power to put your tweet weapon of choice away this weekend!
I wrote a similar post “60 Signs You're Addicted to Social Media & Twitter” earlier this year. Figured it was time for an update. I'm pretty certain there are no duplicates.
50 Signs of Social Media & Twitter Addiction & Need for Professional Help
1. You have a tweet station installed next to your toilet inclusive of a few mags, extra toilet paper & a special iPhone charger extension cord.
2. Your kids were jealous, so with a little Jerry riggin' the toilet tweet station now doubles as a Nintendo potty station.
3. Your cute little twitter bird dreams have unfortunately turned into nightmares of entire bird families.
4. The grocery store clerks are all trained on twitter & know your Twitter handle by heart. Too bad they don't tweet.
5. If you had to choose between one whole day without eating or one day without tweeting you would toss the eats & keep the tweets.
6. Granny officially knows what twitter is. By the time I write my next list granny will probably be tweeting.
7. If necessary you could type a tweet on your iPhone or Android with eyes closed.
8. You knew Google+ wouldn't kill Twitter no matter what they say.
9. Even the most unsocial savvy guy at most unsocial savvy client now tweets and love it.
10. Your kids can better explain social media than most of your clients.
11. Your kids have twitter handles of their nick names.
12. Your kids tell other kids their parents should really learn how to tweet.
13. Your dog has a twitter account and barks in 140.
14. You know the Klout score of your dogs twitter account.
15. According to Klout your dog has influence on YOU.
16. 140 x 1000 = number of days since you had a life.
17. Thanks to Foursquare you now know all of the other social media addicts in the area.
18. You have at least one social media stalker.
19. You have been proposed to at least 5 times on Twitter.
20. You at one time were mayor of your church.
21. When you go out to eat your 5 yr old always says “mom don't forget to check in.”
22. Your kids try to sell you on going to Chili's as they know they can get free chips and salsa for checking in
23. Your kids don't understand why you haven't put any of your own deals on Foursquare
24. Your kids are a top source for leads.
25. Kids at school know you by videos their parents have watched on YouTube.
26. You are no longer bothered by bullies & trolls. You laugh and also feel sorry for them.
27. Even if you don't frequent Empire Avenue often you still know your stock price within a few bucks.
28. You have a Google+ account but don't consider yourself addicted yet.
29. You know who @TwitJailWarden @TwitChiefJudge are.
30. You have been or know someone who has been in twitter jail.
31. You know the secret ninja api's & tools to avoid Twitter jail.
32. You already have the words in your head for almost every 80's tune that would be perfect for a viral video
33. You are glad not all of your neighbors and family are on Twitter or Google+
34. You can write an entire blog post on your iPhone while on the elliptical at the gym.
35. Your family has given up trying to understand what you do for work.
36. At least 80% of your family has de-friended you on Facebook.
37. You want to pull a big chunk of hair out of your head when you see people begging for Facebook likes.
38. You could place bets (and win) on the local small businesses in your area who will be out of business within 2 yrs who still think Internet is a fad.
39. You have fired a client (or 2) for refusing to acknowledge social media is about the people.
40. You wish you could quit your day job.
41. You may not have a day job if you don't get this social media addiction thing figured out.
42. You are thinking how you could implement #1 on this list to save time & keep your day job.
43. You can already think of at least 5 people to share this list with who are worse than you.
44. You are now questioning if you are more addicted or if your friends are.
45. You are now thankful you thought of at least one friend who is more addicted than you.
46. You are wondering if you are the only one of your friends who is seriously thinking about doing #1 on this list.
47. You read this entire post on a smart phone.
48. You will retweet this post via a smart phone.
49. You just now realized what an addiction you have. You wasted 2 min reading something that confirmed what you already know.
50. You are mad about #49 and know you better get back to work (your day job).
51. You read all the way to the bottom of this list. Need I say more?
Bonus: you are wondering why there are 51 signs and not 50. Don't recount them. Get a life!
p.s. I have not yet built a tweet station as referenced in #1.
What You Say?
How many of these are true for you? If at least 5 of them, might be time to put the mobile phone down for at least a couple hours. There is more to life than tweeting, Google+, Facebook & LinkedIn, right?? ;)
this is a great article pam
I’m pretty sure my MUCH better half would say I was addicted :)
Thanks Faizal Karim! Steve O – Sorry but I have to agree w/her! ;)
You can agree but you’re not saying that’s a bad thing, right? LOL… ok, maybe a little…
@JessicaNorthey @PamMktgNut Im pretty sure Im aware of my addiction!
@JessicaNorthey @pammktgnut 51 I’ve just read the 50
@JessicaNorthey @PamMktgNut Not additicate but, I think I have a case for Social Media, big time!
RT @bryanmeredith Biggest sign->You’re reading about the signs MT @jessicanorthey 50 Signs UR Addicted to SM http://t.co/FNKV4njm <-SO True!
You might want to add, you forget you have to pick up the kids from school and have to leave in a mad dash with just a few minutes to get there, (just did this after reading the post, luckily the school is only 10 min away.
#20 made my literally laugh out loud.
BTW: What’s with livefyre? All my favorite bloggers seem to be switching, and as a user, the dashboard is useless, and the email notification options are horrible. Would love to understand the appeal for when I finally break away from a wordpress.com subdomain and actually have to choose from options…
LOL Pam you made my day i need to add two more:
52. when you are telling your friends that waterprof cover for your iphone or smartphone is the latest trend – coz you can tweet while showering :)
53. when you best friends tweeting you while delivering a baby and and name him Twitco junior :)
xox
Have you been spying on me?
Nope… it’s a good think I don’t have any of those signs though, right! ;) Muahahahah
@RailComm_Paola @iannarino @PamMktgNut any recemblance to reality! is simple! coincidence! @ARamosFFCC tu como la ves compadre?
@JosafathMontero @iannarino @pammktgnut @aramosffcc ya se! :S
@Biebert @pammktgnut Denial. Denial. Denial!
@dougricehdtmyb @pammktgnut LOL! Me too! :-)
@1AwesomeMama @PamMktgNut Yes, some people need 50 since they’re in denial. :-)
@Biebert @PamMktgNut Hahaha I guess so.
@rbakercnn Thanks for the RT! Hope you’re having a good Monday!
Pam, I think I need rehab. However, rehab is for quitters and I’m not going to quit. :-)
Thanks for taking time for sharing this article; it was excellent and very informative. It’s my first time that I visit your website. I found a lot of informative stuff in your post. Keep it up. get website traffic
@PamMktgNut 1 sign is I’m on now! RT 50 Signs You’re Addicted to Social Media & Twitter #twitter #sm # socialmedia http://t.co/uhgatC6t
@hashtracking That’s the truth! I’m rebuilding a laptop today & gutting the office! FRESH start tomorrow. Yay!
@pammktgnut great stuff! Just relaxing doing hmwrk with the kids and enjoying the OC.
@hashtracking Yay good for you. Our rugrats are at each other like cats & dogs today. Wish I had a field to send them to pick something ;)
@PamMktgNut pu them on bikes and run them around the neighborhood.
Thanks for the laughs this morning Pam. Although I am scared to admit that more than a few of these describe me :)
@PamMktgNut …Sign 1: You Have Become “One” With Your Computer Chair. Sign 2: Your Fingers Now Look Like Toes Due To Callouses…..LOL.
@TheLProphetKurt that is me! I need a new chair, seriously! I think it could win an award for chair with least padding! ha
@PamMktgNut ROFL!
@SeeJaneSell It’s okay, you’re in good company. Or at least the fellow nuts & addicts think so! ;)
@pammktgnut thanks I needed that!
@PamMktgNut Sign #1: You can think of 50 signs that you’re addicted to social media & Twitter. :)
@respres Oh my that is sooo true. The worst part is my kids could to! It’s a family affair! ;)
@respres My rugrats are seriously considering the potty charging station for their nintendo’s & iPhones! LOL
@PamMktgNut It’s taking me a long time to read this because I keep clicking back to Twitter.
@PamMktgNut the fact you and I are tweeting is sure signs lol
@flansburgd that is a guarantee! ha ;)
@PamMktgNut wonder if they have a 12 step program for us?
There’s 50? I learned I was addicted w/ 1: spending inordinate amount of time on it ;) @SavvyBabii @lorimcneeartist @pammktgnut @gupshupblog
@PamMktgNut how about tweeting on a Sunday night :)
@hungryminds007 yes! That should be added. Guilty as charged! Ha ;)
@PamMktgNut Obsessed w/ getting your Klout scores higher than your friends bc you Tweet way more than they do!! {so it should be higher}
@PamMktgNut Ditto
@htdesigns yes, its true you have issues!!!!
Only 50 signs? I’ve got like 100! :) RT @PamMktgNut 50 Signs You’re Addicted to Social Media & Twitter http://t.co/aiRFvrhU
@CliffHouseHotel That 50 signs thing? I’m going to pretend like you never RTd it… (say hi to Anke for me)
@the_WineStore ;) will do
@claudiabia Thanks for the RT!
@LuxeTiffany You are welcome Tiffany. Have a great weekend!
[…] 50 Signs You’re Addicted to Social Media & Twitter […]
@FawnKey @pammktgnut should we start a 12 step program for tweetaholics?
@FawnKey thanks for the tweetaholics share Marty!!
@PamMktgNut you are welcome. Good content is easy to share :-)
@FawnKey Awww thanks! Glad you like it!