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Now more than ever, I truly wish I possessed the willpower to kick cold turkey, an unhealthy addiction that's rotting both my mind and my soul. 

I'm referring to my addiction to Twitter. 

And yes, I am addicted; it seems like I can't go even fifteen minutes without reaching for my phone to get my latest Twitter fix. 

Sometimes I go on to see what smart people are saying, sometimes I go on to see what stupid people are saying, sometimes I go on just to watch the smart people fight the stupid people. 

I do this even though I know it's bad for me mentally as well as psychologically. 

Why do I say this? 

Well, let's first consider the mental damage that results from my Twitter addiction. 

You see, every time I visit this social media site my brain ends up getting slightly more addled because it's bombarded with a never-ending stream of "hot takes", "bad takes", "misinformed takes", "contradictory takes" and just plain "crazy takes." 

It's information chaos! 

And when there's a terrible crisis afflicting society such as a rampaging killer virus or race riots in the streets — the threat Twitter poses to my mental stability becomes even more greatly magnified. 

During recent Twitter visits, for instance, I saw some saying wearing masks is a good idea, other saying it's bad one; some say the economic lockdown is saving our civilization, others say it's destroying it, some say Prime Minister Justin Trudeau handled things right, others say he handled it wrong, and, by the way, everyone can cite a graph or an "expert" to back up their opinion. 

Plus, to confuse things even more, many of the same voices who eagerly went on Twitter to castigate anyone who had the audacity to visit a park with friends during a sunny weekend as selfish Typhoid Marys, are also cheering the thousands who cram themselves into downtown urban cores to protest.  

With all this in mind, can you see why I might want to "social distance" from Twitter? 

And please don't tell me I should just do my own research to discover the truth, because if I actually had the energy to analyze issues in a balanced and in-depth manner, I wouldn't be on Twitter in the first place, would I? 

At any rate, the mental anguish one can endure on Twitter is nothing compared to the psychological suffering which can result from immersing yourself too deeply in its murky waters. 

I say that because Twitter is not an arena where intellectual discourse based on a rational and reasoned analysis is the norm; rather it's like a nightmarish Thunderdome, a nasty place where combatants, fueled by raw emotion, duke it out in a continuous war. 

Twitter is a dimension where our darkest emotions — anger, rage and hatred are the currency of debate. 

Even smart and educated people on Twitter, it seems, can't resist the urge to hold their opponents with open contempt, nor can they resist making their points without large dollops of snark, sarcasm and rancor. 

And that's the way things are when people are more or less content. 

But when stress levels are high, as they are now, the sense of self-righteous moral outrage on Twitter goes into hyperdrive, meaning the social media universe is inundated with tweets drenched in bitterness and acrimony.  (Just so you know, I always try to treat everyone on Twitter with respect — even the stupid people)

Spend too much time on Twitter during those conditions and you'll come away believing the world is an ugly place full of self-satisfied smugness, dogmatic pettiness and intellectual complacency; you'll believe the world, in short, is a place where everyone hates everyone.  

Surely, that's a good way to fall into a deep state of depression. 

Hence, my desire to break the chains connecting me to Twitter. 

I need to remind myself that Twitter is not an accurate reflection of the real world, the people who go on Twitter to hate and to fight are actually just a subset of humanity. 

Most people live in the real world, most people are reasonable, most people just want to get on with their lives. 

So, my advice is spend less time on Twitter and more time with people in the real world or, if you can't do that, try reading a history book, just to get more perspective and context about our place in the grand scheme of things. 

Believe me, your brain and your soul will thank you. 

Oh, but before you abandon Twitter, could you please do me just one little favor: tweet this column. 

Photo Credit: BBC News

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