Whenever an idea hits me, or I just want to ‘say’ something to the internet I press the little blue box with the bird on it. That is just what I’ve always done, well for the last 12 years anyway, and that habit is proving almost impossible to break. If thoughts arise, they are flung onto the internet in the quickest possible time!

This isn’t restricted to the mobile app either. In fact, I haven’t had it installed for weeks, but I can open Safari, and be browsing through Twitter before I even register what is going on. Every spare moment when I could be bored, my hand instinctively reaches for my phone. I don’t even think it has anything to do with the service, it is simply a behavioral habit that is almost impossible for me to break. The muscle memory of years of usage is so powerful that I can’t switch it off without expending a lot of energy.

There are two options really, I could start jumping up and down, blaming Twitter and cursing designers. Without a doubt that does play a part, but as I have talked about before I don’t blame the internet for my issues, I lay them at my feet. My other option, the path I am choosing, is to recognize these traits and slowly break them without giving myself a bad time. Where I would usually feel down, buy a smaller phone or some other radical move, I do something else or write a blog post just like this one!

I do want my attention back from these types of actions, I don’t want behaviors like this to be so ingrained I can’t help it. However, the muscle memory runs so deep I may never be able to fix it completely. There is nothing wrong with dead time if used correctly and being busy helps quite a bit. As I have learned, there is no one more hash on me than myself, but things like this drive me more than a little mad.