Flibberty Bibberty
Twitter’s engagement scheme
Spreads around viral memes
And with them, hate
Since nothing can redeem
This vicious spite machine
Unjustifiable,
You should vacate
In the last few days I have changed my Twitter habits from “multiple times a day” to “almost never look at it”, and experienced a huge upward spike in my mood and mental health. I am on the fence about whether to delete outright, I might, but I have to recommend quitting the damnable thing as an act of self-care.
This is self-evidently excellent advice: if something optional is making you miserable, quit it.
I’ve observed, however, what may be a generational effect. If someone my age (fifties), someone for whom social media like Twitter et al is a johnny-come-lately curiosity rather than something I’ve grown up with, suggests to someone in, say, their early twenties that they are actively choosing to go bash their faces against the fists of their bullies (as well as enriching billionaires) by persisting to use social media when their experience of it is toxic, they commonly react as though you’ve suggested amputating a limb and beating a puppy to death with it. When I was bullied (an experience that included psychological and physical abuse up to and including being held down and cut open), it happened in school or on the way there or back – situations I had no escape from. When I hear kids (or adults) bleating about how horrible it is for them being “bullied” when they voluntarily log on to some website or other and spend their time reading it, my sympathy is limited.
I can only hope that good advice from a recovered addict has more traction and credibility than what I assume are seen as “get off my lawn” rantings of an out-of-touch reactionary.
@1 sonofrojblake
Hardly an addict. But I despise traditional media with its unavoidable deluge of advertising and EXTREME corporate overlords bias, so my reasons for using Twitter were on account of following curated content I was interested in, currewnt affairs, and the work of people fighting the good fight. Unfortunately that latter exposed me to what they were fighting AGAINST all the time, and it is hard not to join in trying to protect someone.
I think you’ve also seriously downplayed the real psychological damage produced by a massive deluge of hate delivered by ANY channel. Your assumption that everyone can ‘just leave’ is a silly one, since it relies on one having a different channel with which to communicate with the people one DOES want to see. You are, per your comment, old, and so used to doing this via telephone or voicemail. You would be disturbed in the extreme if your phone was ringing constantly with people screaming slurs at you, and you would think being told therefore just don’t use the only method of communication you know well was victim-blaming. Which it is.
Twitter is shitty and toxic because of the deliberate chocies of its overseers, and I can leave because I have found an alternative. I will not be joining you in shitting on ‘kids today’ on this or any other topic.
Ignoring twitter and facebook gives you useful time you can spend waxing cucumbers, counting sheep, or writing!
Basically, the premise of twitter is “you get comments from people you really don’t want to talk to, in return for hoping that a few decent people see what you say and agree.” Such a deal.