Over the past couple of weeks, I've been conducting a survey on Twitter use. I've also been talking and discussing Twitter use on the LinkedIn group devoted to Twitter use for educators. I've started to notice a common theme, Twitter addiction. People are having a hard time handling the massive flow of information that is coming at them through Twitter.

This is the first of a series of articles I'll be writing about how to keep your Twitter use under control and make the most of Twitter. In this first article we will go over some symptoms of Twitter addiction and how the overuse of Twitter can be a major time killer.

The Symptoms of Twitter Addiction

Twitter addiction can come in many forms. It's hard to know for sure if you are addicted or not. The following is a very rough set of guidelines. Be aware that multiple exceptions exist and I'd love to hear feedback about these in the comments.

You MIGHT be addicted to Twitter if:

1. you feel the need to check Twitter whenever you have anything that resembles free time.
2. you multi-task with Twitter often. (i.e. have Tweetdeck or Seesmic Desktop open in the background while writing blog posts or reports)
3. you tweet while on vacation.
4. you try to read every single tweet in your Twitter stream, even though you have 1000+ followers.
5. you spend well over an hour every day on Twitter and are not getting directly paid for it.

The Long Term Effects of Twitter Addiction and Solutions

You may think that Twitter addiction is a harmless joke that people toss around, but if you are really addicted to Twitter it can lead to serious problems for your productivity and relationships. Twitter is meant to be something that makes you more productive and closer with friends not less so.

Effects of Multitasking

Multitasking has been proven to be bad for your mental health in various studies. People who do heavy multi-tasking are unable to focus on things. By multitasking you are rewarding yourself for receiving multiple inputs at once. Over time, the mind becomes conditioned to focusing on multiple inputs regardless of whether those inputs are useful to the mind or not. This results in you becoming slower at accomplishing a task when more distractions are added.

Imagine if you are working in an office. There are plenty of distractions already. You have people chatting, phones ringing, people typing and people making announcements over the speakers. In this type of environment, heavy multitasking people have a harder time concentrating and completing their tasks.

What is the solution? Do the opposite. The opposite of multitasking is, of course, single-tasking. When using Twitter, only use Twitter. Don't put Tweetdeck up in the background and attempt to track it while writing that important report or next semester's syllabus.

Another good idea is to schedule specific time periods to 'be active' on Twitter. When I say 'to be active' I mean close everything down and concentrate only on Twitter. These can be about 10~20 minute blocks of time where you skim through all of your tweets and respond to your @replies. I would recommend doing this AFTER you read through your blog posts in Google reader or something similar. Then, if you post a link to an interesting blog post, you can respond to any comments.

When is the best time to 'be active'? Look for when your peers are on the most and try to be on at that time. I've found that it's best to be on Twitter around 10am~noon JST and at about 11:00pm~1:00am JST. These seemed to be the two times I get the most responses, but it may differ for you and your following. Experiment with different times and see when people are active. You can also go to tweetstats.com to see when the major players in your field are active.

Now, the initial reaction to this I'm sure is: I'm worried about missing something great on Twitter. And I'll tell you right now that yes you will miss some things. You won't be able to read every single tweet. You might miss a few links, but in reality you don't need all of this information to begin with.

Think of Twitter as a giant all-you-can eat buffet full of tasty tweets. You can be greedy and pile your plate full of tweets and go back to your table with everything. You probably won't be able to finish it at all, and will have to eventually throw some of those tweets away. It will be more like an eating contest than an enjoyable meal. You'll be trying to shove those tweets down your gullet as fast as you can so you can hobble up to the buffet for another round.

Now imagine that same buffet but you walk up and leisurely pick out a few choice pieces and then go back to your table and enjoy a relaxing meal. It's delicious and nutritious and you will actually be able to enjoy the tools and tips you found.

Which do you think is the better solution? I would guess the later. Before you go looking for more resources, advice or tips from Twitter, look over what you already have. Have you implemented these new ideas? Have they worked for you?

If you are interested in getting the most out of Twitter, I invite you to check out our Twitter Tutorial Kit.

What do you think of all this? Are you addicted to Twitter? I'm interested to hear your feedback. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll see you on Twitter @nealchambers