If Twitter dies I’ll rejoice. I left the platform not long after the Russian invasion of Ukraine after leaving FB/IG at the end of 2020. No regrets on leaving either platform.
Here’s an added benefit of leaving the platform: you get to find out which of your old friends you had on there are real, and which ones are just spectating your life. When you get off of social media and go back to just occasionally texting friends and family, you find out who really gave a shit about having a presence in your life and who was there for the likes and follow count.
On top of that, you get your mental health back and can stop doom-scrolling all the time. If you used to get your news by following journalists directly on there, I promise that if you get the AP News and Thompson Reuters and Axios and The Hill apps onto your phone, you’ll get the important events on your phone within hours of the events taking place and you won’t have all the “omg this is insane!” retweet takes all over the place. Just the straight facts (plus some analysis) and then you can move on with your day. It is sooo much better this way, trust me.
I too am at the social media use stage (no use) where I can just sit back, grab a beer, and enjoy watching the dumpster fire cook. The only people I feel bad for watching the network plummet are the journalists who rely on their account followership as a fuckin resume basically (tells you a lot about how attention-economy journalism works these days). I hope Elon chokes on his losses.
Do folks not check their email regularly? I don't do social media but I get several morning news headline emails, like NYT does. I can always dig deeper on a story. I also gave up cable and went to Roku and can buff through the headlines in minutes and go deeper only on stories I want to hear more about. And I still think I spend too much time on all that....
Amen to everything you and Alex Thomas said. Loved Chris Kluwe impersonating Musk along with a blue check so the tweets must be real?
I left FB long ago because I got tired of seeing memes from my “friends” telling me how evil liberals were. Deactivated Twitter on the way to deletion after Musk’s Pelosi tweet. Don’t miss it a bit and have lots of time to read actual news stories and live life. Thanks for the recommendations.
I’m sure I won’t be missed with my thousand whatever followers. Look forward to seeing people who will be missed leaving and the ensuing death spiral of the bluebird.
I think there is a different feel for people who built professional connections on Twitter and the rest of us casual users. I feel like we were bottom feeders and experienced the worst. I left Twitter about 2 months ago and good riddance.
I inactivated my account and deleted the app this week. There will be things I miss, such as Ben Wittes’ laser shows in front of the Russian embassies. The net positive of not doom scrolling however is immeasurable. JVL already laid out the saddest part of this saga: it will help sweep Trump and his crazies into power once again.
As for Elon, he will be willing to let some of the vilest people or regimes bail him out.
I don’t think Twitter will necessarily sweep TFG back into the White House; I think he’s going to stick to Truthing because he set the thing up, it’s a revenue stream FOR HIM. And his hardcore base, if they REALLY want to capture every golden morsel of his words of wisdom, are already there or on the other right wing platforms.
If Twitter dies I’ll rejoice. I left the platform not long after the Russian invasion of Ukraine after leaving FB/IG at the end of 2020. No regrets on leaving either platform.
Here’s an added benefit of leaving the platform: you get to find out which of your old friends you had on there are real, and which ones are just spectating your life. When you get off of social media and go back to just occasionally texting friends and family, you find out who really gave a shit about having a presence in your life and who was there for the likes and follow count.
On top of that, you get your mental health back and can stop doom-scrolling all the time. If you used to get your news by following journalists directly on there, I promise that if you get the AP News and Thompson Reuters and Axios and The Hill apps onto your phone, you’ll get the important events on your phone within hours of the events taking place and you won’t have all the “omg this is insane!” retweet takes all over the place. Just the straight facts (plus some analysis) and then you can move on with your day. It is sooo much better this way, trust me.
I too am at the social media use stage (no use) where I can just sit back, grab a beer, and enjoy watching the dumpster fire cook. The only people I feel bad for watching the network plummet are the journalists who rely on their account followership as a fuckin resume basically (tells you a lot about how attention-economy journalism works these days). I hope Elon chokes on his losses.
Do folks not check their email regularly? I don't do social media but I get several morning news headline emails, like NYT does. I can always dig deeper on a story. I also gave up cable and went to Roku and can buff through the headlines in minutes and go deeper only on stories I want to hear more about. And I still think I spend too much time on all that....
Cut the cable long ago. Movies on DVD and Great Course lectures. I’m seriously old school. 😉
Amen to everything you and Alex Thomas said. Loved Chris Kluwe impersonating Musk along with a blue check so the tweets must be real?
I left FB long ago because I got tired of seeing memes from my “friends” telling me how evil liberals were. Deactivated Twitter on the way to deletion after Musk’s Pelosi tweet. Don’t miss it a bit and have lots of time to read actual news stories and live life. Thanks for the recommendations.
I’m sure I won’t be missed with my thousand whatever followers. Look forward to seeing people who will be missed leaving and the ensuing death spiral of the bluebird.
I think there is a different feel for people who built professional connections on Twitter and the rest of us casual users. I feel like we were bottom feeders and experienced the worst. I left Twitter about 2 months ago and good riddance.
I inactivated my account and deleted the app this week. There will be things I miss, such as Ben Wittes’ laser shows in front of the Russian embassies. The net positive of not doom scrolling however is immeasurable. JVL already laid out the saddest part of this saga: it will help sweep Trump and his crazies into power once again.
As for Elon, he will be willing to let some of the vilest people or regimes bail him out.
I don’t think Twitter will necessarily sweep TFG back into the White House; I think he’s going to stick to Truthing because he set the thing up, it’s a revenue stream FOR HIM. And his hardcore base, if they REALLY want to capture every golden morsel of his words of wisdom, are already there or on the other right wing platforms.