I (somewhat) famously claimed right here on this site that Twitter would be dead within the first year of the Trump presidency because of his abuse of the platform.
Clearly, I was wrong.
I even signed up for Twitter, had an account, and used it for a year for rugby-related stuff.
It has been 18 months since my last post, and the last time I logged into the account. (I just had to go into my paper-based password archive to find my login and password for the account, to see that my last tweet was April 18, 2019.)
I frequently see people getting worked up about something that happened on Twitter. And obviously, The Donald still drops turds there multiple times a day.
And it is funny to me ... there are all these people, in this little warehouse, out in the middle of this field. Inside the warehouse the sound system is blaring pre-recorded messages at volume 11, while people huddle in groups trying to hear with each other, while shouting and throwing rocks at other small groups of huddled people... and they are all so fucking earnest about it...
But over here, a mile away, at the edge of the barren salted wasteland surrounding the little warehouse, I can make out the flashing lights and discern a low rumble of noise, but ... it's kinda sad ... and oddly quaint ... and more than a little puzzling to me now why people would choose to stand inside that building at all.
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At some point I deleted the Facebook app from all my devices, changed my password to a random one generated by 1Password, and made my browsers forget the login, so any time I want to log in to Facebook, I have to open 1Password, find the login, and laboriously type in the string of random letters, numbers, and punctuation that 1Password assigned.
I didn't delete it - or my account - entirely, because I own/run a large group on Facebook. I have 5 other Moderators and about 15 Top Users who manage the content and moderation for me on a daily basis. So I am not needed for the group any more, but want to keep my finger in the pie just in case rugby ever starts happening again in the US. (Slated for March 2021. But we shall see...)
I try to log in once every two weeks or so, to let my group know I am still here, and deal with anything the Mods ask me to address.
But there is no more attraction to FB outside of that one group, at all. Zilch.
Once I log in, I cannot wait to log out again. I do only the minimum I possibly can, and log out.
The environment on there is just so unpleasant. From the tool itself, to the types of interactions people have, to the blatant conservative-cause championing that Facebook was designed to perpetuate.
It's so repugnant... and so insidious.
Until I was out of it for a while, I couldn't see all the sneaky little shit that it does to actively make the content and interactions worse. Hate is a powerful motivator. Love is really calm and relaxing. So Facebook carefully cultivates the worst animal characteristics in humans, and then fans the flames of hate so effectively.
It's honestly a bit frightening, once you see it from outside.
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Am I better for not engaging in these social media environments? Absolutely.
Am I better than anyone else who is engaged in them? No. Absolutely not.
But prior to abandoning these tools entirely, I was totally convinced that I would feel loss... that I'd feel "outside"... and lose my friends... and be "missing something".
None of that is true. I feel free. Released. Unbound.
It's quite nice. And if you are inclined to try it out, I encourage you to do so.
Life is better outside the shouting chambers of social media. It truly is.
(And yes, I know. You are pissed off at my right now, and think I'm being an imperious dick. Which tells me more about you and your regret, since I said nothing about what YOU should do at all; I just shared my personal experience. Social media, man; it's a helluva drug, when it has its talons in you...)