Twitter was the first social media platform I joined, way back in 2008. I was far from being an early adopter, but I was one of the first people at work to sign up.
Even that early, you could see the enormous potential for good and bad that a social media platform like Twitter could have. What we know as cancel culture developed early.
From 2008 to 2023, I had a consistent strategy in how I used the platform. I tweeted positive stuff. I didn’t engage in politics or controversies. I highlighted good things people were doing or writing. And I have to say I was steadfast from the beginning to the end.
At one point, Twitter changed its algorithm, and I discovered my account had been suspended, caught up in some automatic change (I wasn’t alone). But I had a friend who had a friend who knew someone who was a developer at Twitter, and within about two days, my account had been restored. The suspension had been a mistake by the design of a heavy-handed algorithmic change.
That was then. Elon Musk eventually bought Twitter and fired a whole bunch of people. If your account got suspended, you were going to have to deal with algorithmic bots, and a bot is never wrong.
I was continuing on my merry way, when, on June 12 of last year, I discovered my account had been suspended. I appealed. Several times, in fact. The length of the reviews of my appeals could be measured in nanoseconds. My remaining option was to write a letter to Twitter / X headquarters in San Francisco.
And I said to myself, “No. I’m done. I am not going to waste my time on a letter that will likely be trashed before anyone reads it. I’m done with Twitter.” And I walked away.
I have not regretted my decision. Not at all.
Here’s what has happened because of that.
I have more free time. Like up to 90 minutes a day.
The craziness that the platform has always embraced is gone, leading to a quieter life.
I began to add links daily to my blog for interesting articles, stories, and poems that people might like to read.
My time on Facebook and Instagram has decreased as well. I haven’t increased my time on LinkedIn.
I’m writing more. I’m writing better.
Substack has become a more important social platform for me. I don’t have a column or site on Substack, but I follow favorite authors, writers, photographers, and artists, and it’s all positive. Negative stuff can creep in, but I ignore it or unfollow the account.
I also discovered that journalism is still being practiced in the United States, at least on Substack.
I miss the people I regularly communicated with on Twitter, including a lot of poets. Tweetspeak Poetry, the site I write weekly for, was born on Twitter. We hosted numerous poetry slams with the use of Twitter hashtags, but that’s long in the past. You might say Tweetspeak outgrew Twitter, or it grew in a different direction (Tweetspeak is celebrating 15 years this year.)
Overall, the suspension of my Twitter account has been a good thing. I could have created a different account and started over, but I decided it wouldn’t be worth it.
I got some of my life back, and I’m going to keep it.
Top photograph by David Paschke via Unsplash. Used with permission.
I chose to never be involved in Twitter or X. I haven’t missed it. In fact, I would read articles and get seriously annoyed when suddenly there would be this “click here to post on Twitter.” Ugh! I have never checked out Substack. Not sure why but just didn’t want to go down another rabbit hole like I have heard some do with social media. Maybe some day I will change my mind. I don’t even do Facebook and I think I’m better for it. 🙂
Bill, I don’t follow a lot of things on Substack, but it is one of the places left where (with The Free Press and Racket News) journalism is still practiced.
I’m still there. I scroll through every so often, maybe repost a couple things. What I do post doesn’t seem to get much traction. It’s just not as much fun any more, and I do miss the poetry parties.
I do, however, go there specifically for news on when a Tigers game that’s delayed by rain is expected to start. 🙂
My wife is still on Twitter. When she sees something newsworthy, she sends me the link. I could come up with an entirely new account, but without knowing what it was that tripped the X algorithm, I would likely make the same “mistake.” The odd thing is that my presence on Twitter / X was the same kind of presence from 2009 to 2023. I didn’t change, but the X algorithm did.
A blessing in disguise both in your life and now with the SCOTUS ruling today. I got kicked off of Twitter – and a few other sites – and agree with you life is better.
I am hoping the ruling today has a silver lining and I think it might.