A few times in my life, a clear and decisive thought has manifested in me like a light turning on or like land appearing on the horizon before an exhausted ship’s crew.
Terrific piece as always. I hope you feel the JOMO that I feel being off of Twitter and get added joy from knowing that you’re yet another enlightened person making a conscious vote against the structures of the modern social internet. Even if nothing truly springs up to “replace” Twitter there is much to be said for simply reading, enjoying and not sharing beyond the limits of our own heads, or only within a trusted circle of friends and family. We did it this way for millennia and unlearning newer habits, as I’ve found, has been remarkably easy.
JOMO! I've never seen that acronym before, and it's perfect. I appreciated the sense that Twitter reflected the Zeitgeist, and that idea is something I'll probably crave for a while as I return to more 'old school' ways of info consumption and sharing. Part of this recent epiphany was the recognition that Twitter doesn't reflect the actual Zeitgeist but rather an algorithm-skewed pseudo version.
I'm going to ride out Twitter. 75% of its user are international, not American. I joined to keep up with science communication, so I just block right-wing stuff if it annoys me. The Twitter disability community is unique, as well. There was a good Time magazine article recently interviewing some disability activists on how the democratic nature of Twitter can't really be reconstructed inside siloed platforms like Mastodon. The intersection of MedTwitter and DisabilityTwitter comprises, for example, sufferers of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome approaching doctors treating Long Covid with attempts to work together. Twitter has been the place where ground-zero news from coups, protests, etc., are first aired, in attempts to reach mainstream media reporters. I was on Twitter when the first Burmese people posted videos of the government crack-down in Myanmar. In fact, I suspect that Musk's takeover and failure with Twitter could have a chilling effect on human rights protests--another reason why I want to stay and fight for the platform. If Twitter goes down, many important voices of resistance will be silenced. I also suspect that the rich and powerful would like this. As part of a marginalized group, with friends in other marginalized groups, I don't have the privilege of retreating into a bubble. I want to be on the front lines, digitally at least. Yes, it requires a lot of self-care to balance it out. But I lived in a bubble for far too long and have no desire to go back.
I hear that, and I agree that Twitter has served some important constituencies in a unique way. I'm skeptical that it will continue to do so, or I'm skeptical that the growing costs won't drastically outweigh these benefits for most people. I don't consider leaving Twitter to be a retreat into a bubble. Life was rich before Twitter, and it is rich without Twitter (also, I would argue that Twitter itself is a bubble).
I hope (and predict) that other things will arise for many of the communities you've highlighted, to fill the vacuum that Twitter leaves behind.
Terrific piece as always. I hope you feel the JOMO that I feel being off of Twitter and get added joy from knowing that you’re yet another enlightened person making a conscious vote against the structures of the modern social internet. Even if nothing truly springs up to “replace” Twitter there is much to be said for simply reading, enjoying and not sharing beyond the limits of our own heads, or only within a trusted circle of friends and family. We did it this way for millennia and unlearning newer habits, as I’ve found, has been remarkably easy.
JOMO! I've never seen that acronym before, and it's perfect. I appreciated the sense that Twitter reflected the Zeitgeist, and that idea is something I'll probably crave for a while as I return to more 'old school' ways of info consumption and sharing. Part of this recent epiphany was the recognition that Twitter doesn't reflect the actual Zeitgeist but rather an algorithm-skewed pseudo version.
I'm going to ride out Twitter. 75% of its user are international, not American. I joined to keep up with science communication, so I just block right-wing stuff if it annoys me. The Twitter disability community is unique, as well. There was a good Time magazine article recently interviewing some disability activists on how the democratic nature of Twitter can't really be reconstructed inside siloed platforms like Mastodon. The intersection of MedTwitter and DisabilityTwitter comprises, for example, sufferers of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome approaching doctors treating Long Covid with attempts to work together. Twitter has been the place where ground-zero news from coups, protests, etc., are first aired, in attempts to reach mainstream media reporters. I was on Twitter when the first Burmese people posted videos of the government crack-down in Myanmar. In fact, I suspect that Musk's takeover and failure with Twitter could have a chilling effect on human rights protests--another reason why I want to stay and fight for the platform. If Twitter goes down, many important voices of resistance will be silenced. I also suspect that the rich and powerful would like this. As part of a marginalized group, with friends in other marginalized groups, I don't have the privilege of retreating into a bubble. I want to be on the front lines, digitally at least. Yes, it requires a lot of self-care to balance it out. But I lived in a bubble for far too long and have no desire to go back.
I hear that, and I agree that Twitter has served some important constituencies in a unique way. I'm skeptical that it will continue to do so, or I'm skeptical that the growing costs won't drastically outweigh these benefits for most people. I don't consider leaving Twitter to be a retreat into a bubble. Life was rich before Twitter, and it is rich without Twitter (also, I would argue that Twitter itself is a bubble).
I hope (and predict) that other things will arise for many of the communities you've highlighted, to fill the vacuum that Twitter leaves behind.