There is seriously no good way to do it. None!
I use G-chat a lot during the workday (obviously), but there are a couple of people on my list who seem to want to chat me more than I want to chat them (which is not much at all). I get sucked into chats easily, though, and end up talking for two hours to someone I don’t even really like. Going invisible hasn’t been enough because they know I’m always on. How can I avoid these situations?
G-chat invisibility is NOT STRONG ENOUGH, we’re agreed there. If you go invisible, your name shouldn’t appear on other people’s chat lists, you know? These people should also momentarily forget that you exist. You should fade out of their pictures of you both, like a ghost. And when you come back, it will be in degrees so small that they never even noticed you were gone. IF you come back.
There really is something about G-chat that makes you unusually willing to talk to people you don’t want to talk to, isn’t there? And I don’t really understand why, because the little blinking at the top of the tab is FAR more annoying than almost anything anyone could ever say. And it’s demanding and distracting, tricky on tone, and often hard to know how to leave the conversation. But it’s still so fun, and that’s why these people keep chatting you. They probably assume you’re having fun too.
So when you’re stuck in a chat with someone you’d rather not chat with, you should disengage. Right off the bat, you should say “Hey, sorry, too busy to chat right now!” If you do that a few times, these people should take the hint. If you’re not a fun and available chatting partner, most people will move on. If the chats keep coming, you can block this person on chat.
I once ran into a woman I only vaguely knew but who I did follow on Twitter, and when the time came to make conversation, I ended up landing on a recent tweet of hers. When I brought it up things got intensely awkward, like I'd run afoul of some social convention nobody bothered telling me about. So never again, I swore, which makes it all very interesting that a coworker has recently started checking in on the reg to discuss my tweets. Now that I'm on the receiving end I find it awkward, too. And it's all so ridiculous! What's the answer here? Should I just delete my Twitter?
Deleting your Twitter is the first step of many. Delete your Facebook, delete your Tumblr and your Instagram. Unpin your Pinterest pictures, then burn them all. Take back everything you’ve ever said: when you see your friends next, say to them, “I take back everything I’ve ever said. I meant none of it.” Switch your face with John Travolta’s face and start anew. Never speak in public: if you never say a word, nobody can ever paraphrase you back to you. Sure, the isolation might kill you. But at least nobody will ask you about the outfit you wore on your trip to Colorado. They “think” they saw that on Facebook or something, they don’t know.
Listen, the problem is not Twitter. The problem is people.
People are awkward. I mean, wow, have you noticed this? It is a crazy prominent issue. Nobody knows how to talk about anything, but they also love their voices and so they keep trying anyway. So they bring up Twitter. So do you. And that is fine. The answer is this: don’t give a shit. Who cares? Everyone is so weird I can’t believe it. If someone reacts strangely when you bring up something she put online, you say, “Oh, I’m sorry, did you mean to put that on your SECRET Twitter?” She’ll get it. She’ll probably laugh awkwardly and then shuffle away. Whatever! Do your part by not being like her. Embrace your coworker (symbolically). S/he’s just trying to find some way to relate to you before you’re both dead.