The Trap That Is Twitter

I can no longer believe that the people who run and work and make decisions about Twitter are ignorant, or misguided. At this point the only explanation is that they are deliberately fomenting abuse and division within the userbase as a tactic. Were it not for my friends and professional connections, I'd quit twitter in a heartbeat. If I could find another way to connect with those whom I enjoy connecting with, I would, because that is the only thing that keeps me here. It's not clear to me how much longer that will be true. It's become exceedingly clear to me that Twitter is toxic along several different axes, and I'm rapidly getting to the point where the toxicity outweighs the positive interactions. Which is a shame. The original thing that drew me to Twitter was the ability to connect with a wildly diverse number of voices, some of which I knew, some of which I admired, and many of which I envied in one way or another. Then, later, I became exceedingly conscious of the biases of my view of the world, and actively attempted to diversify my consumption, by unfollowing cis white dudes and actively seeking out women, non-cis people, and black and brown folk (occasionally in combination). It's probably both naive and gobsmackingly simple to say that it helped me to understand my own place of privilege and power; it certainly radicalized me towards a much more extreme Leftist position than even my Radical Unionist upbringing started me with.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, In The Beforetimes, Twitter seemed like a good tool. But like everything that exists in Capitalism, the drive to monetize it has destroyed it as a useful tool.

So I guess what's going to happen is that I'm going to spend a lot more time trying to get regular posts on this blog, and I'm going to work hard to get the people I like and enjoy to connect with me via other means (I have a Discord! You should join it! Comment or email me for an invite!), and mostly, I'm going to try and avoid being on Twitter as much as I possibly can. I was able to wean myself off Facebook, so here's hoping I can do the same thing with Twitter.

I have never missed Google Plus more than I do right now, for the record.