I’ve decided to give up (reading) Twitter for Lent this year. I had originally couched this in terms of social media, but actually I can’t give up e-mail at work, and I hardly ever go on Facebook, so Twitter it is. That said, I’m not going to start browsing Facebook just because I’m off Twitter!!!
For me, the purpose of giving up something for Lent is like an extended fast, and I’ve written about the point/benefits of fasting before.
In summary, it’s a combinaton of self-denial, as a means of growth in discipline and self-control, sacrifice to indicate that I’m serious about being a follower of Jesus, an identification – however poorly – with His time in the wilderness, and having a constant low-level reminder that I’m not of this world.
Of course, I’m not equating a few weeks without tweeting to Jesus spending 40 days in the desert without food! Never-the-less, I interact with Twitter probably 10 or 15 times a day, it’s clearly a luxury item, but something I will definitely miss.
I will continue to keep an eye on my @HGWeather robot – but as this hardly ever falls over, and I get notified if it does, so I don’t expect this to have any problems. I will also read mentions and direct messages, and respond to the latter if there is no other communication channel and a response is required. These get notified to me by e-mail though, so don’t involve me going on Twitter.
Oh yes, and if I do a blog post (and I suspect I might), it gets automatically tweeted.
Reason for posting this? Well, accountability I suppose, but also I wouldn’t want anything to think I was being rude.