Social networks such as Twitter can be a lot of fun. But one place a person absolutely should not be tweeting is while playing in a sports game.
For one, tweeting while you’re sitting on a bench only lets people know you’re not receiving enough playing time. If you’ve been there long enough that you feel the need to whip out your phone, your tweet screams, “I’m not going in the game any time soon!”
During a game, your number could be called at any time. Even a few seconds’ delay in response is intolerable to some coaches. You lose any playing time you would have gotten.
Though illegal in the NBA, think for a second if Jeremy Lin had been tweeting when Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni had called his name. He never would have become the superstar he’s become.
And even if you’re an established player, you still shouldn’t be tweeting. Sure, you may be trying to keep fans updated, but the fans that really care are going to actually be at the game watching, not following it on Twitter.
You’re possibly even missing more tweet-worthy parts of the game by tweeting. Take your eyes off the game for a split second and you could miss the play of the game.
And finally, you should want to be involved in the game experience with your team and the crowd.
By doing other things such as tweeting during a game you’ve sent a clear message: you don’t really care about what’s going on.