One of the first things my mom learned from Alcoholics Anonymous is that once a person gives up on their addiction, it’s not over. They often choose a different addiction — hopefully one less destructive.

Giving up on Facebook was difficult. I felt a little bit like an addict itching for a fix. That I would still get notifications didn’t help.

Now, after one month I don’t miss it so much, even with the occasional notification. I am spending a bit more time on Twitter, though. Not like Facebook, mind you. Maybe once every couple of days, and I usually don’t spend more than five minutes at a time. With Twitter it’s quicker to catch up with people than Facebook, because of the 140 character limitations.

A few days ago, Dave and I watched and episode of Criminal Minds where popular people on social media were being murdered. A suspect met one of those famous people he followed and said, “I’ve been following you for a long time. You even retweeted one of my tweets, and because of that I gained six more followers!” He was so proud. Most people would find it pathetic, that a person would take so much pride in a retweet. I was one of them. For about a half a second.

Two days prior I had commented on an actor’s feed pertaining to abortion. I didn’t think much of it, because I’ve done it before. And with someone who has tens-of-thousands of followers, I didn’t expect any kind of response, except for a few likes from said actor’s followers. A few minutes later, I received a notification that he both quoted and responded to my tweet. Within 24 hours I received over 20 likes and 20 retweets. I even gained a few new followers. I also discovered that my tweet made a site called Twitchy who scours Twitter for news and opinion, usually pertaining to politics. The writers comment on those tweets with a decidedly conservative bent, and with a lot of snark.

Part of me wanted to brag about it, but after watching Criminal Minds, I was glad I didn’t. After all, who wants to look as pathetic as a man whose only highlight in his life was to be retweeted by someone famous?

Once the Criminal Minds episode ended, I told Dave about my own brush with social media notoriety. Sure, I could have kept my mouth shut, but I also know my husband wouldn’t think less of me, any more than I know you will.

I said once a person should do three things each day:

1. Learn something new.
2. Do at least one good deed.
3. Do something silly and make sure other people know about it.

Three is important, because I think we take ourselves too seriously. We need to laugh at ourselves at times, because it keeps us humble. This is one such moment for me, so go ahead and laugh. I need the humility.

Hopefully I won’t allow this entire episode (no pun intended) to encourage me to spend even more time on Twitter in the vain hope I can do a repeat retweet from a famous person (Oi. Try and say that seven times fast!).

I need to spend that time working on my current novel. Not to brag or anything (yeah, that’s a lie), but I took a week’s vacation between Christmas and New Years. I set a goal of writing 20,000 words for those 10 days (including weekends). Believe it or not, but I managed to write over 30,000. Go me!