John Mayer was
hooked on Twitter
 August 9, 2011 John Mayer
says Twitter makes your brain slow down.
Recently, while
John Mayer was addressing a class of
budding song writers at the Berklee College of Music he stated that there
was a time when he was "addicted" to Twitter. With over 4 million
followers at his tweeting peak,
Mayer says he was tweeting constantly and
couldn't stop. His addiction to Twitter became so intense that he claims
it was affecting his songwriting and work by making his brain smaller!
Rolling Stone Magazine's article "John
Mayer Reveals Why He Quit Twitter - Singer says he was a 'tweetaholic'"
tells more of the story.
"It started to make my mind smaller and smaller and smaller. And I
couldn't write a song," John Mayer says of Twitter.
Mayer had some great advice for the
artists he was coaching at college; great advice for anyone starting a new
venture.
Mayer is quoted in the Rolling Stone
article saying, "This time is a really important time for you guys because
nobody knows who you are, and nobody should." "This is not a time to
promote yourself. It doesn’t matter. This is the time to get your stuff
together. Promotion can be like that. You can have promotion in 30 seconds
if your stuff is good. Good music is its own promotion."
Is social media more of a distraction than a promotional tool for your
venture? Is it keeping you from doing the hard work that needs done in
order to get you where you want to be.
Can Twitter be addictive?
Twitter is much like text messaging. It allows for immediate feedback to
your message. It is that immediate feedback that seems to be the addiction
forming element. Here's why.
CNN recently ran a story about
teen’s increasing use of text messaging, which has reached up to 3,200
texts per month or just over 100 per day. In the article, Dr. Michael
Seyffert, a neuroscientist, theorizes that the reason text messaging has
skyrocketed in use is because the instant validation felt when receiving a
text message creates a biological response in your brain that gives a
sensation of pleasure. In this article you will discover how this same
powerful response is triggered by spending money.
Validation, in the example of
receiving responses to text messages, triggers dopamine (a chemical
similar to adrenaline) to go to work, giving you a euphoric feeling.
According to the ISCID, food, sex, and
other naturally-rewarding experiences release dopamine. Imagine if you
were able to release dopamine 100 times throughout your day; couldn’t that
sense of pleasure become addictive? Again, ask yourself, is
technology helping or hindering your work? |
