Addicted to Twitter

From Salon Magazine

How I learned that I was powerless over micro-blogging and my life had become unmanageable

By Laurel Snyder

Aug. 15, 2009 | Last Thursday morning, I sat down at my computer with my cup of sludgy coffee, just like any other day. I checked my e-mail and glanced at the New York Times Web site. But when I opened up Twitter, expecting the usual hodgepodge of scattered thoughts and hectic questions, I found there was nothing there. Nothing at all.

It was the day of the Great Twitter Outage. But I didn't know that yet. I only knew that something was terribly wrong.

Actually, it was funny, in a kind of pathetic, soul-crushing way: I stared at the blank screen, hitting refresh over and over. Waiting for everyone to come back. For my online life to resume. Finally, I accepted the truth. Twitter, my favorite unreliable news source and constant companion, was gone.