You’ve read this post a dozen times already. Here are two versions of it. This will be mine. The short version is this: I’m going to be switching to having an unmonitored Twitter account.
What this means is my account will still be active and I’ll use it to share stuff we publish at Mere O as well as other essays, reviews, articles, and the like that I find interesting. It also means I’ll still have the Twitter account for promotional stuff, which is unfortunately still something that matters in the publishing world.
However, I will be doing all of this via the free version of Buffer. This means I will never be logged into Twitter so I will not see replies or direct messages. If you need to reach me, you can do so through the contact form on my website or via email: jake@mereorthodoxy.com. I genuinely do enjoy corresponding with readers so please do reach out if you’re wanting to chat.
Why am I doing this?
First, because I have too much to do and there shouldn’t be any room for Twitter in my schedule anyway. Whatever room I make for it is inherently taking me away from other more important tasks. Mere O is basically a one-man operation. We have an editorial assistant who does wonderful work as a slot editor for us and we outsource the design of the magazine to an old coworker of mine who now freelances and, also, does really excellent work. (Hire her!) Everything else is me. This is probably the equivalent to 1.5 FT jobs at least. Given that, the fact that I’ve been on Twitter at all and that I’ve spent the amount of time on it I have over the past several years is, frankly, absurd and irresponsible. So I’m going to stop.
Second, attention is a limited resource. There are many people in my life to whom I owe my attention. My wife and children need my attention. My parents live 20 minutes away. They need my attention. My church needs my attention. The people who write for me need my attention. My friends need my attention. That is enough.
The people who do not need my attention are the various members of the conservative and progressive Twitter mobs that are showing up in my mentions more and more regularly these days. As my wife told me recently during one of my increasingly frequent venting sessions about Twitter, “Jesus doesn’t need anyone to be on Twitter in order to use them for his purposes.” She is right. I’m out.
Jake Meador
Jake Meador is the editor-in-chief of Mere Orthodoxy. He is a 2010 graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where he studied English and History. He lives in Lincoln, NE with his wife Joie, their daughter Davy Joy, and sons Wendell, Austin, and Ambrose. Jake's writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Commonweal, Christianity Today, Fare Forward, the University Bookman, Books & Culture, First Things, National Review, Front Porch Republic, and The Run of Play and he has written or contributed to several books, including "In Search of the Common Good," "What Are Christians For?" (both with InterVarsity Press), "A Protestant Christendom?" (with Davenant Press), and "Telling the Stories Right" (with the Front Porch Republic Press).
