Too much tweeting is bad for you: how to spot the signs

THE CO-FOUNDER of Twitter has declared that the micro-blogging site is a "waste of time" and "unhealthy". Biz Stone, Twitter's creative director, told a conference in Montreal that he tweets a maximum of four times a day – "if I have something important or interesting to say" - and that those who spend longer should, basically, get a life.

With 30 million users in Britain and 500 million worldwide, that's a lot of hours being wasted by some people we know. So how do you tell if you are becoming a Twitter-head? Here are 12 dangerous signs.

#youknowyoureaddictedtoTwitterwhen...

1. You refer to people in real life by their Twitter username
2. You spend more time tweeting about your breakfast than actually eating it
3. Your cat/baby has its own Twitter account
4. You're struggling to write anything more than 140 characters long
5. You go to the Grammys in a specially crafted Twitter dress so fans can "accompany" you 
6. You don't believe what's in the news until it's trending on Twitter.
7. You get an adrenaline rush when your tweet fits 140 characters without having to make any contractions
8. You're about to say something at dinner – and you think, ‘No, I'll save it for Twitter'
9. You still think adding "Tw" to words is clever – as in tweeps
10. You pledge to attach clothes pegs to parts of your body for every retweet you get 
11. You have to run the USA but you still find time to tweet about father's day
12. You start conversations with "Stephen Fry told me today…"

Can you suggest other symptoms? I've got three DVD copies of "the beautifully average" BBC4 film We'll Take Manhattan to give away to those with the best suggestions. The film stars Aneurin Barnard as Swinging London photographer David Bailey and Doctor Who's Karen Gillan as the supermodel Jean Shrimpton. Tweet your best tell-tale sign to @TheWeekUK ·