Erin Farley has her plans for Sunday all laid out. Two hours before the last episode of 'Lost' is broadcast three time zones away, she will shut down her home Internet connection. TweetDeck? Off. Facebook? Off. Her cellphone? Stashed out of reach. 'I'll turn off the whole Internet just to avoid having anything spoiled,' said Farley, a 31-year-old freelance writer in Portland, Ore. 'I don't want to ruin the surprise.' The Internet in general, and social media like Twitter in particular, can be a minefield for those who are trying to keep themselves in the dark about an event or show so they can enjoy it later. When the Olympics and Grammy Awards are time-delayed, for example, armchair critics chattering about the wins and losses online can destroy the suspense in an instant. But the problem is especially acute for fans of 'Lost.' The show's time-bending storyline and layers of mysteries can mean that a single indiscreet tweet might ruin a whole episode for someone who has yet to see it. At the same time, some fans can't resist the urge to share, and the jaw-dropping plot twists in the run-up to the finale Sunday night on ABC have given them plenty to post about. DVR users and people who don't live on the East Coast, where 'Lost' is shown first, are especially at risk for online spoilers. Overseas fans may have to wait days for a local broadcast -- several years in Internet time. This is one reason that the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC, said this week that it had arranged to have broadcasters in several European countries and Israel show the 'Lost' finale early Monday morning, at the same time it will be seen on the West Coast in the United States. The move will save Kelvin Downey, a 23-year-old bartender in Ireland, from having to spend four days dodging mentions of the finale online or being tempted to download an illegal copy of it -- though it will mean tuning in at the very un-prime-time hour of 5 a.m. on Monday to watch. 'We were getting worried that it'd be ruined for us,' Downey said. 'But now that we can watch the simulcast, we won't have to avoid Twitter, or the Internet in general, at all this time.' Given that 'Lost' has stretched on for 121 episodes, or 94 hours, over six seasons, each more enigmatic than the last, its die-hard fans feel they have a lot at stake. 'If you've invested that much time watching the arc of the show, you don't want to have it blown,' said Christopher Frankonis, 40, who works at a bookstore in Portland. 'You want the payoff to be as pure as possible. You just have to log off and wait your turn.' The tension between the oversharers and those who just don't want to know has at times pitted friend against friend. 'If I post about 'Lost,' I try to keep it cryptic,' said Kristina Lucarelli, 23, who lives in Manhattan and was watching the show this week with friends and about 150 other fans at an East Village bar called Professor Thom's. But two weeks ago, after watching in disbelief as two of the show's main characters met a watery demise, Lucarelli quickly posted about it. 'I was so shocked,' she said. 'I couldn't help myself.' 'She completely ruined it for me,' interjected Whitney Jefferson, 25. 'I was waiting to watch it with my boyfriend and she tweeted about it and then commented on Facebook.' Analysts say Twitter is typically a benefit to time-delayed television. 'The East Coast builds the West Coast's awareness,' said Mark Ghuneim, chief executive of Wiredset, a digital advertising agency based in New York that creates and tracks social media marketing campaigns. 'People see others talking about it and they tune in.' But with shows as rich and complex as 'Lost,' Ghuneim said, 'the Web has turned into one big spoiler.' During each broadcast of 'Lost' this season, an average of 27,000 posts about it flowed through Twitter, according to Wiredset. That topped even the mighty 'American Idol,' which averages 25,000 posts an episode. By comparison, there were about 310,000 posts about the Super Bowl during the game. ABC executives say social media reinforces the appeal of watching a prime-time show like 'Lost' as it is broadcast, even in an era of Hulu and TiVo where most programming can be delivered on demand. 'People still like to come together to watch something and talk about it, regardless of the platform,' said Michael Benson, executive vice president of marketing for the ABC Entertainment Group. Not everyone can deflect 'Lost' spoilers. Ryan and Jennifer Ozawa live in Hawaii, where the lush forests form the backdrop for many of the show's scenes, and where they record 'The Transmission,' a popular podcast about the show. The Ozawas say that for them, there is no safe zone, online or off. 'We saw Michelle Rodriguez dressed as a cop months before it was revealed to be her back story,' Ozawa said. The pair differ sharply in their opinions on prebroadcast 'Lost' knowledge. 'I love seeing the reactions start streaming in around 3 p.m. Hawaii time,' Ozawa said. 'But that is the point at which my wife turns everything completely off.' Ozawa said he had an 'uncontrollable obsessive hunger' when it comes to knowing more about 'Lost,' so much so that he watched part of the filming of the final episode. 'But that's all I'll say, because as much as anyone, I know 'Lost' is all about the reveal,' he said. 