Hi, everyone.
This is my entry to #EcoTrain’s Question of the Week. You can see the details here
Source
What are you addicted to?
My addiction is two-fold. On the one hand, I am addicted to #Hive; on the other hand, I started using my Twitter account because of Hive and am now addicted to Twitter too. Does that make me a Twitive or a Hivter?
How does it hinder you?
Hive used to be a distraction from previous commitments I had early this year, but with the pandemic those commitments were canceled and I was able to become a full-time hiver (with the obvious limitations we have over here: electricity, internet, or money to pay for the latter). Then, the Twitter campaign started and it became almost an obligation to be able to share content on Twitter. I understood it as a necessary step to promote Hive to the masses, bring users and investors, and make the platform prosper.
So, my initial use of Twitter was to promote Hive content. Unfortunately, I got also hooked by the barrage of content that we can find on twitter, most of which is crap, but some of which can actually be useful.
Now I have seen my twitter addiction hinder my Hive productivity, which I am working on to minimize. Even though most of my followers and many of the people I follow are related to Hive, I can’t help engaging in some of the pressing issues that affect Venezuela and that have found on Twitter the preferred forum to be discussed on. Sometimes, the acidity or toxicity of the issues and the way most people approach them on Twitter affects me emotionally. It is also distressing to find so much fake news and pointless arguments. I am starting to silence some users to lower the level of anxiety.
Twitter, because of the notoriety it can give to certain posts and the controls that are imposed on it can be very stressful. In the particular case of Venezuela, many people have been put in prison for no crime other that twitting something the maduro tyranny considers offensive. Some have even been killed. Even though there might be hundreds of thousands twitting the same thing, it is like a lottery and some unlucky winner will be chosen to teach a lesson.
That should be enough to keep me away from it or make me use it only on Hive-related topics, but I just can’t help getting involved and opining about issues that are very relevant in our daily life. In any case, it has been stressful and I have to work on that.
How does it help you?
Image from Pixabay. Edited
Hive has had obvious benefits for me and my family. It has become our main income, so, I do not see it now as an addiction per se, except when some weak posts and the persistent low value of Hive give me some anxiety. Similarly, Twitter, despite the obvious negative influence, has also provided me with some forums where I can not only express opinions and contribute to establishing opinion trends, but also generate news by reporting about things that happen around me and that may be ignored by the rest of the country unless they are documented and reported by the average person. The target audience is obviously bigger on Twitter. I have been able to provide photographs and testimonies to deny some official information that is usually fake, biased or distorted.
But, again, the same “benefits” may turn into a problem and I know I have to be careful with what I report or comment on. So, I am planning to stick to Hive and lower the intensity of my twitterings.
Thanks for stopping by. What is your addiction?
