Last summer I announced that I was leaving twitter for good. It didn’t last. I thought I could control my time on the platform, but within a few weeks I had succumbed to the same dangerous urges of incessant scrolling and tweeting banal and inconsequential nonsense.
Full disclosure - I live in SF and have actually worked with (but never directly for) Twitter.
That said I always felt like maybe I was ...missing something... because of this aversion I've always had to Twitter going back to when it started. Friends fawning over it and me going 'dont get it / dont want it in my life' because of the 'micro' level of interaction and exposure of it. All that said you absolute nailed what Ive been trying to articulate for a decade in two sentences :
*Do we really need to know what each of us is doing day in and day out? I am tired of giving people I’ve never met or even care to meet a rent free space in my head.*
Well done Kevin and thanks for encouraging folk to get off the platform - I dont see how its doing anyone any good anymore (if it ever did) .
I would probably have never used Twitter except the Rowan-Salisbury superintendent (the one who hated librarians) required it when she took over. When I got removed (forced retirement, librarians are very expensive, replaced me with a clerk), I shifted to sports, then to authors. It’s been very entertaining and I’ve made friends who I check up on pretty regularly. Going to be sad to see it crash. https://www.businessinsider.com/news-organizations-wont-pay-elon-musk-twitter-blue-checkmark-verified-2023-3
I never got going on Twitter, so deactivating (2 separate accounts) wasn't a problem for me. It does take a little more time, but I prefer to do my own news curation with various apps specific to general news outlets—AP, NPR, I even have a BBC app for national news. When something major happens, like the Nashville shooting, I find a local news source if I can. Still on FB, but only to keep up with people I know that I'm not connected to any other way. I've been subscribing to Heather Cox Richardson's blog for years for the national scene. If she mentions something I need to know more about, I follow her links and dig in deeper. In fact, I'm pretty sure that she (and Substack) is how I found you.
Twitter can still be a pleasant place depending on who you follow. At least half the accounts I follow are just entomologists who post pictures of cool moths. I highly recommend Cool Moth Twitter.
I can relate to what you’re saying here but I’m concerned that I won’t have access to news. How does one stay informed? This is not a rhetorical question. Maybe others have thoughts?
The Twitter experience is different since Musk took over. Whereas I used to scroll for what felt like forever, now I come across the same Tweets I have seen just a few minutes before. As a private account, I can only reply to people who follow me. So it’s driven down my engagement.
I quite Facebook because it became a morass of negativity for me and led me to view friends and family in a negative light. I’d see them in person and they’d be lovely people to interact with. I applaud you for building this space. Maybe some day I can quit Twitter too!
Here’s a good source, and they’re expanding all the time. It’s how I keep up with the news in the six different states I’ve lived in, on all four coasts. https://statesnewsroom.com/
I don't have a Twitter account, but I check the tweets of 5-6 people I admire daily. I often follow links they provide to articles. I mainly get my news by reading several sources online, including a newspaper. Going to these sources, rather than having them come to me, helps me limit time online.
Yup. Easy access to multiple news sources drives me to stay on Twitter. Besides DC, I follow local reporters in FL, KY, and other hot spots. I follow big-time folx like Nikole Hannah-Jones, Kimberle Crenshaw, Sherilyn Ifill, and Glenn Beck (bless his heart!). I also follow orgs that are active in democracy reform, cancer advocacy, repro and social justice, and, of course, local politics. My feed isn't what it used to be since Musk took over, that's for sure. You're welcome to follow me: @LisaDTRice (personal rantings!) and @7B07_LISADTRICE (official, elected acct ... more boring).
Yes, the bird app can be a real time suck. I don't spend as much time on it this year as I have in times past. As an elected official, though, I must admit it comes in handy to get scoop on our mayor's shenanigans, covered with much more scrutiny by hyper-local writers than those who report for the Washington Post. Also, I need to know how those who don't think like me -- or just plain don't like ppl who look like me -- are thinking (or posting). That stated, I don't miss you on Twitter because you're here! Yay! Thanks for setting up the Steady account. I follow you and 3 others here and it's a nice experience.
Full disclosure - I live in SF and have actually worked with (but never directly for) Twitter.
That said I always felt like maybe I was ...missing something... because of this aversion I've always had to Twitter going back to when it started. Friends fawning over it and me going 'dont get it / dont want it in my life' because of the 'micro' level of interaction and exposure of it. All that said you absolute nailed what Ive been trying to articulate for a decade in two sentences :
*Do we really need to know what each of us is doing day in and day out? I am tired of giving people I’ve never met or even care to meet a rent free space in my head.*
Well done Kevin and thanks for encouraging folk to get off the platform - I dont see how its doing anyone any good anymore (if it ever did) .
Appreciate the response, Charles.
I would probably have never used Twitter except the Rowan-Salisbury superintendent (the one who hated librarians) required it when she took over. When I got removed (forced retirement, librarians are very expensive, replaced me with a clerk), I shifted to sports, then to authors. It’s been very entertaining and I’ve made friends who I check up on pretty regularly. Going to be sad to see it crash. https://www.businessinsider.com/news-organizations-wont-pay-elon-musk-twitter-blue-checkmark-verified-2023-3
I never got going on Twitter, so deactivating (2 separate accounts) wasn't a problem for me. It does take a little more time, but I prefer to do my own news curation with various apps specific to general news outlets—AP, NPR, I even have a BBC app for national news. When something major happens, like the Nashville shooting, I find a local news source if I can. Still on FB, but only to keep up with people I know that I'm not connected to any other way. I've been subscribing to Heather Cox Richardson's blog for years for the national scene. If she mentions something I need to know more about, I follow her links and dig in deeper. In fact, I'm pretty sure that she (and Substack) is how I found you.
Twitter can still be a pleasant place depending on who you follow. At least half the accounts I follow are just entomologists who post pictures of cool moths. I highly recommend Cool Moth Twitter.
I hope Substack can create a similar platform for writers on this platform. I think the service here has improved immensely over the past few months.
I’ll probably quit Twitter at some point. Im on Spoutible and will figure out how to engage Instagram more to help broaden my reach.
I can relate to what you’re saying here but I’m concerned that I won’t have access to news. How does one stay informed? This is not a rhetorical question. Maybe others have thoughts?
The Twitter experience is different since Musk took over. Whereas I used to scroll for what felt like forever, now I come across the same Tweets I have seen just a few minutes before. As a private account, I can only reply to people who follow me. So it’s driven down my engagement.
I quite Facebook because it became a morass of negativity for me and led me to view friends and family in a negative light. I’d see them in person and they’d be lovely people to interact with. I applaud you for building this space. Maybe some day I can quit Twitter too!
Here’s a good source, and they’re expanding all the time. It’s how I keep up with the news in the six different states I’ve lived in, on all four coasts. https://statesnewsroom.com/
I don't have a Twitter account, but I check the tweets of 5-6 people I admire daily. I often follow links they provide to articles. I mainly get my news by reading several sources online, including a newspaper. Going to these sources, rather than having them come to me, helps me limit time online.
Yup. Easy access to multiple news sources drives me to stay on Twitter. Besides DC, I follow local reporters in FL, KY, and other hot spots. I follow big-time folx like Nikole Hannah-Jones, Kimberle Crenshaw, Sherilyn Ifill, and Glenn Beck (bless his heart!). I also follow orgs that are active in democracy reform, cancer advocacy, repro and social justice, and, of course, local politics. My feed isn't what it used to be since Musk took over, that's for sure. You're welcome to follow me: @LisaDTRice (personal rantings!) and @7B07_LISADTRICE (official, elected acct ... more boring).
Yes, the bird app can be a real time suck. I don't spend as much time on it this year as I have in times past. As an elected official, though, I must admit it comes in handy to get scoop on our mayor's shenanigans, covered with much more scrutiny by hyper-local writers than those who report for the Washington Post. Also, I need to know how those who don't think like me -- or just plain don't like ppl who look like me -- are thinking (or posting). That stated, I don't miss you on Twitter because you're here! Yay! Thanks for setting up the Steady account. I follow you and 3 others here and it's a nice experience.