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Quit Your Bitcoin Twitter Addiction – Bitcoin Magazine
This is an opinion editorial by Mark Maraia, a professional development author and Bitcoin researcher.
I’ve been studying Bitcoin since 2020 and I’ve noticed there is a strong, vibrant community on Twitter. In fact, “Bitcoin Twitter” is virtually its own “country” that exists online.
I’ve had a Twitter account since 2009, but I never use it to tweet. There are several reasons for this (perhaps the subject of a different article) but, suffice to say, I’ve never found it to be a great use of my time. Like many Boomers, I see social media as a huge time and productivity drain. I also see it as perhaps the worst addiction of our age.
In a recent “TFTC” podcast episode, host Marty Bent and guest Ryan Breslow, the CEO of BOLT, got into the topic of our addiction to technology and, specifically, Twitter.
Both admitted to having Twitter addictions. It appeared from the conversation that, while Bent admitted to his addiction, he had not done much to break his addiction, while Breslow had. In fact, Breslow described “his toughest personal challenge is managing his time on Twitter.” Breslow used to check it randomly and often everyday, which brought him the dopamine hit that keeps all of us hooked on the technology.
How many can say the same? Probably many of you who are reading this.
No Silver Bullet
Since I’m not on Twitter, it’s easy for me to feel excluded. I may have great ideas to contribute but they won’t be heard, unless I become more active on Twitter. My compromise approach has been to join Telegram, which has been just the right middle ground for me.
But, as Breslow pointed out, there is no silver bullet approach. Day to day, how are you managing your addiction? It turns out that few of us can resist the appeal of something that’s “always available, one button away.” Breslow adopted this rule for his posts: He checks his Twitter feed once to see how a post did. It’s easy to say and hard to do.
I’ve been writing about this growing addiction to our devices before the age of smartphones and before Bitcoin. In fact, I wrote about it with the advent of PDAs (which stands for personal digital assistant), in particular Blackberries, which were — during their heyday — sometimes called “crackberries.” I even wrote a chapter in my second book that ironically was titled “Fire Your PDA!”
I joked back then, that most people did not know that there was an on/off switch on their devices. And for those of you who are too young to remember, Blackberries were highly addictive in the age of email and before social media or texting.
Well, as anyone reading this article today can attest, the problem has only worsened with Twitter and other social media platforms, but it’s at least 10, or perhaps even 100, times worse.
Kicking An Addiction
Before I share specific experiments that you might implement in the new year to increase your awareness of this addiction, let me ask you these questions:
- Do you admit that you have a Twitter addiction?
- Has it hindered or interfered with your relationships with a coworker, family member or friend?
- Have you ever tried going a day without it?
- Do you check Twitter (or another social media app) first thing when you wake up?
- Do you keep your phone in your bedroom?
- Do you keep your phone on your nightstand?
- After you post something, do you check it compulsively?
It’s a safe bet that if a family member or friend has ever asked you to stop reading your Twitter feed when you are with them, you are probably addicted to or misusing the technology. In fact, I’m betting that it’s harder for some of us to give up our addiction to social media than to give up our addiction to certain foods, like sugar. In fact, I’d say our addiction to devices is as damaging to our health as is our addiction to sugar.
What follows are several actionable “experiments” (from easiest to most challenging) that you can implement today that will be worth trying in 2023:
- Turn off notifications for Twitter for one week
- Turn off notifications for Twitter for one week and check your usage data for the last week. Set a benchmark for the number of minutes you spend on the platform each week. Monitor this on the same day each week.
- Establish a defined number of times per day when you will check the app on your device. Or set a block of time for when you check it.
- Turn off your device for one hour per day. (This is actually a really good way to assess how compulsively you check it.)
- Turn off your device for an entire day. Keep track of the number of times you go to check it and/or turn it back on.
- Turn off your device when meditating or reading spiritual literature. Keep track of the number of times you go to check it and/or turn it back on.
- Turn off your device when you are eating. Keep track of the number of times you go to check it and/or turn it back on.
- Turn off your device when you are writing an article. Keep track of the number of times you go to check it and/or turn it back on.
- Turn off your device when you are working, if possible.
- Turn off your device for an entire weekend.
- Delete Twitter from your phone for a day.
- Delete Twitter from your phone for a week.
Some of these experiments may be totally unworkable because of life situations, but the overall purpose for them is to assess how addicted you are to the device. The goal of the exercise is for you to gain greater control over Twitter or the social media app that has you in its grip. Ideally, if you spend less time on Twitter and devote more time to your friends and family, it will improve the quality of your life and productivity. Remember: We want the tech to serve us and not have us be addicted to the app or the tech.
Consider establishing one or more of the above as a possible 2023 New Year’s resolution. Best wishes for an awesome 2023!
This is a guest post by Mark Maraia. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.
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Legislators need to educate themselves on Web3 if they care about protecting consumers, Steven Eisenhauer, chief risk and compliance officer at Ramp, writes.
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The Ministry of Justice in South Korea announced plans to introduce a crypto-tracking system to counter money laundering initiatives and recover funds linked to criminal activities.
The “Virtual Currency Tracking System” will be used to monitor transaction history, extract information related to transactions and check the source of funds before and after remittance, according to local media outlet khgames.
The South Korean Ministry of Justice will introduce a “cryptocurrency tracking system” in the first half of this year to strengthen the tracking of money laundering and recovery of criminal proceeds using cryptocurrencies. https://t.co/2CLkaLUrX6
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) January 29, 2023
While the system is slated to be deployed in the first half of 2023, the South Korean ministry shared plans to develop an independent tracking and analysis system in the second half of the year. A rough translation of the ministry’s statement reads:
“In response to the sophistication of crime, we will improve the forensic infrastructure (infrastructure). We will build a criminal justice system that meets international standards (global standards).”
The South Korean police previously established an agreement with five local crypto exchanges to cooperate in criminal investigations and ultimately create a safe trading environment for crypto investors.
Related: South Korean prosecutors request arrest warrant for Bithumb owner: Report
The South Korean Supreme Court ruled that crypto exchange Bithumb must pay damages to investors over a 1.5-hour service outage on Nov. 12, 2017.
The finalized ruling from the supreme court ordered damages ranging from as little as $6 to around $6,400 be paid to the 132 investors involved.
“The burden or the cost of technological failures should be shouldered by the service operator, not [the] service users who pay commission for the service,” the court stated.
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Bitcoin hashrate is becoming highly centralized, with a few mining pools controlling most of the blockchain mining power. The latest data from Mempool indicates that 50% of the total hashrate is held by Foundry USA and Antpool.
A Highly Centralized Mining Network
Foundry USA has maintained a hashrate of over 30% of the total Bitcoin network for several weeks. It became the first mining pool of non-Chinese origin to lead the list in November 2021, following the ban on Bitcoin mining in China in the middle of the same year.
Back then, Foundry USA contributed 17% of the total Bitcoin hashrate. Today, the US-based pool averages 34.1% of the mining power, equivalent to about 104 EH/s, considering that the Bitcoin hashrate is around 300 EH/S.
Related Reading: First Bitcoin Mining Powered By Nuclear Energy To Open In The U.S. In Q1 This Year
Antpool comes in second with about 18.0% of the total hashrate equivalent to about 58 EH/s. The Chinese-based pool used to be the largest Bitcoin pool but was affected by the ban on crypto mining which caused several miners in the region to migrate.
What Is Behind This Trend?
The graph shows that over 80% of Bitcoin’s mining power is concentrated among just 5 pools. This contrasts with the beginning of 2022, when these five mining pools barely exceeded 60% of the hashrate.
Some factors could have contributed to this rise. One of which is the location of the servers of the said pools. The closer the servers are to the pools and mining facilities, the lower the information transfer latency. This means that a miner will likely get more shares in the mining process and earn more Bitcoin (BTC) by connecting to a closer server.
Another factor is the financial incentives offered by these major mining pools. Bigger mining pools can consistently distribute profits to their members, who pay a commission for mining with their resources, driving more miners to their ecosystem. This is evident with the high mining difficulty in recent weeks due to the bullish movement of Bitcoin, making it difficult for smaller mining pools to be profitable.
Related Reading: Why The S&P 500 Could Help Send Bitcoin Soaring Higher
However, Bitcoin’s highly centralized mining system poses significant dangers to the cryptocurrency. The miners could agree to reject transactions that do not meet a specific parameter leading to a 51% attack.
We’ve seen such attacks occur on other Proof-of-Work blockchains like Ethereum Classic, which could be a problem for Bitcoin. In addition, these pools are recognized companies and could face pressures from regulatory agencies trying to control activities on the Bitcoin network.
Bitcoin Price
So far, Bitcoin is still maintaining its bullish trend, with the leading cryptocurrency up by 40% since the start of the year. As of the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $23,400, according to data from Tradingview.com.
Featured image from Pixabay, charts from Trading View, Coinwarz, and Mempool
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