• Mark Maraia, a professional development author and Bitcoin researcher, has been studying Bitcoin since 2020 and has noticed the vibrant community on Twitter.
• He has had a Twitter account since 2009 but has never used it, seeing it as a huge time and productivity drain and one of the worst addictions of our age.
• On a recent podcast, the host and guest both admitted to having Twitter addictions and discussed the challenges of managing one’s time on the platform.
Mark Maraia has been a professional development author and Bitcoin researcher since 2020, and since then he has noticed a strong, vibrant community on Twitter. Dubbed “Bitcoin Twitter,” this online “country” has its own language, culture, and customs that make it stand out from the rest of the social media world. While Maraia has had a Twitter account since 2009, he has never used it to actually tweet.
This is because he sees social media as a huge time and productivity drain and, for many Boomers like himself, one of the worst addictions of our age. He is not alone in this sentiment as was made obvious in a recent “TFTC” podcast episode. Host Marty Bent and guest Ryan Breslow, the CEO of BOLT, discussed the challenges of managing one’s time on Twitter, both of them admitting to having Twitter addictions.
Breslow described his personal challenge as managing his time on the platform, as he used to check it randomly and often everyday, a habit which gives a dopamine hit and keeps all of us hooked on the technology. It is a difficult challenge to overcome, as there is no silver bullet approach. As Breslow pointed out, it is hard to resist the appeal of something that’s always available and just one button away.
Maraia’s compromise has been to join Telegram, a platform that he finds to be the perfect middle ground for him. However, he still feels excluded from the Bitcoin Twitter community, as he has great ideas to contribute but they won’t be heard unless he becomes more active on Twitter. This is a dilemma that many face, as it is hard to break the addiction when we are constantly surrounded by the temptations of technology. The only solution is to be mindful of our time and to actively manage our addiction.