Man oh man, the blogosphere is having a field day with the latest Twitter takedown by DDoS attacks. Twitter wasn’t the only service affected either (Google, Facebook, FriendFeed, Youtube, Livejournal, and Blogger). If your panties have been in a wad over the downtime of these services, here are a few tips on what you can do to avoid the panic and stay out of it:

Tip #1: Move Those Connections

This is something you should’ve done a long time ago. The sooner you do it, the easier it will be to continue to do as your connections grow. Add them into Gmail (or whatever email service you’re using), or move them to another service outside of the hyped networks. Back up those important connections and start saving email addresses, asking for them, and moving messages behind the limelight into your inbox. Just get them off of these services.

Tip #2: Find Another Community To Join

If you come to Twitter only for the conversations, find out where other conversations are taking place that are related to the things you want to talk about. In fact, during such downtimes take a leap of faith and  find out more on topics that you have no clue about but have always been fascinated with learning more about. Expand your reach.

Tip #3: Blog! Yeah, Blog!

Yeah, you still have one of those to maintain. How about adding some posts so you can get that guilt out of your system. And don’t blog about Twitter being down!

Tip #4: Get Off The Computer

This happens to be my favorite, but if these services go down, either switch to work mode or get the hell off your computer and go read that book you’ve been putting off for weeks now, or finish writing the one you’re working on. Do what you finally have a moment to do.

Tip #5 / Conclusion: Get A Life

In the end, if you’re backing up your contacts (see tip #1), then services crashing won’t be the huge apocalypse everyone is making them out to be, at least not for you. I stayed off of Twitter for the better part of yesterday, got a ton of email done, meetings out the way, and even had time to do some spiritual studying. I didn’t miss Twitter one bit (I know, it’s hard to believe, but it’s true).

You have no obligations to fulfill, only goals and dreams. So quit your whining and stop making these services your life. It seems if these attacks and downtimes don’t happen, you’d never go anywhere else or learn about something different. Get your head out of the echo chamber and into new territory. Be the leader I know I you are.

Better yet, check out: 5 Steps To Take To Prepare For A Post Twitter World. It’ll do you some good, I promise.