Twitter is Toxic: I Quit

[SlammedZero]

Pretty much all of social media is toxic these days. I've never really been on Twitter. Had friends try to pull me in several times but just....meh. I was a Facebook guy though, and honestly, the early 2010s it was still fun. The last several years it's gone downhill, a lot, and though I am technically still on it I can tell you that I have cut my time spent on there by at least 80%. In fact, I catch myself on it from time to time (it's amazing you notice just the habit of motion - phone homepage and then click the FB app) and I scroll down about 2 times and then I'm already over it and close it. lol

A co-worker had some high blood pressure issues. He completely 100% cut out all his social media apps. It went down. So, that was a topic at work for awhile.

 

[Creeper]

I quit twitter, the only social media account I had, months ago. It is a place of nonsense, anger, hatred, and fake news, but embedded within all of that are a few gems. Some of the memes and other creative tweets were pure genius and I appreciated that. There were also some very good and intelligent people with some very smart things to say. It may seem like a wasted effort to have to wade through the mile high piles of horse manure to get to the good stuff, but I found some of it both educational and enlightening.

I strongly suggest balance all social media time with reading real news and research.

I was following some Cowboys fans and reporters for information. I miss that.

 

[PJTHEDOORS]

Guess I need to write this better for the mods. After years and 1000s of tweets I’m done. I used to love the instant news, sports updates, etc. Was great with fantasy football before I quit years back. But I find it’s just a place where people go to troll and get their anger out. I’ll still miss my sports fixes but there is just too much joy stealing there now. When it’s not fun, it’s time to run.

I got banned 3 years ago for paying a nice compliment to someone. Nothing rude/vulgar.. I tweeted to the person for how they allow hate posts, but my post was deleted for a compliment. I called the person a hypocrite (for what was acceptable) and my account was banned. Don't need twitter, they have deeper issues than I.

 

[darthseinfeld]

Early in life, I naively assumed much more unfettered communication would help people interact better. Back then, telephones, snail mail, newspapers, etc., were the primary mechanisms for communication.

I thought their inherent limitations shackled communication's effectiveness in bringing people together. Over the years, I have witnessed mechanisms for communications advance to (basically) instantaneous connection between people around the world. The freaking entire Earth.

My opinion? Present day communication is far superior technically from what it replaced but it's ability to connect exponentially many more people together, literally every second of each day, has been more of a detriment than an improvement.

I am glad that I never belonged to any social media platform except for Facebook, which I once created an account for but did not actively participate on. No Twitter. No Instagram. Nothing.

Wait. I lie. I did join Tik-Tok to watch videos. Best friend kept texting them to me and many are stupid. My mind's weird. Sue me.

Tik Tok is great for leverage with teenage family members.

I always threaten to start a Tik Tok, and send embarrassing Tik Toks of me to all their friends

 

[CouchCoach]

never had it.
never used it.
i text or call.
sometimes write letters.
thats it.

I write letters too, here's one for you now. L
If you are good, I will write you another one tomorrow.

 

[CouchCoach]

My wife talked me into Facebook and I couldn't wait to get off that. not my thing. However, when she got sick, it was very beneficial for her to stay in contact with family and friends. I chose to send a weekly email about our journey but I could see the benefit of social media when not used as a weapon.

 

[Jammer]

I had Twitter for a couple of months. It was kind of boring so I quickly stopped using it. I'm still on Facebook and since the election is over it's gotten a lot less political (from both sides), which is nice. I have never posted anything remotely political on Facebook as I very aware I will never sway a person's opinion either way, and they won't be able to sway mine either. It's a waste of time IMO.

 

[BigStar]

Tik Tok is great for leverage with teenage family members.

I always threaten to start a Tik Tok, and send embarrassing Tik Toks of me to all their friends

Lol, that is the only way to really threaten a teenager, embarrass them.

 

[Turk]

Lol, that is the only way to really threaten a teenager, embarrass them.

The other way is to tell them you will take the internet from them.

now depending on how stupid they are you might have to explain what the internet is....

 

[catiii]

Guess I need to write this better for the mods. After years and 1000s of tweets I’m done. I used to love the instant news, sports updates, etc. Was great with fantasy football before I quit years back. But I find it’s just a place where people go to troll and get their anger out. I’ll still miss my sports fixes but there is just too much joy stealing there now. When it’s not fun, it’s time to run.

Well done!!

 

[BigStar]

The other way is to tell them you will take the internet from them.

now depending on how stupid they are you might have to explain what the internet is....

Shoot that makes me go into a 1990s fetal position too lol. We had our internet go out for a few days and we turned into caveman seeing all our entertainment is through internet apps; Hulu, Netflix. My good old Sunny in Philadelphia DVDs come to save the day, but would be lying if my lifestyle didn't revolve around the internet. No poker, no cowboys forum, no tv apps, what am I supposed to do, "read a book?"

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Guess I need to write this better for the mods. After years and 1000s of tweets I’m done. I used to love the instant news, sports updates, etc. Was great with fantasy football before I quit years back. But I find it’s just a place where people go to troll and get their anger out. I’ll still miss my sports fixes but there is just too much joy stealing there now. When it’s not fun, it’s time to run.

Twitter is a cesspool. The only reason I have an account is for when I post art on there (which I haven't done in a while), talking to some friends on there, and, when I have my fursuit, to simulcast my YouTube videos on there. That being said, I really don't like Twitter. The best social media platform is Telegram by far! Much more private, and, for furries like me, it's the most fun as well with the stickers we can post.

 

[CouchCoach]

I never got Twitter, still don't. How self-important does someone have to be to pick up "followers" and how needy are followers? It's like all the the "Like" begging on Facebook.

I don't even read reviews about products on web sites anymore because of the constant soliciting for a positive review, sometimes the day I receive the product and haven't even unwrapped it, and I have tested some with a negative one to see what they did. Some I will never do business with again.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

I never got Twitter, still don't. How self-important does someone have to be to pick up "followers" and how needy are followers? It's like all the the "Like" begging on Facebook.

I don't even read reviews about products on web sites anymore because of the constant soliciting for a positive review, sometimes the day I receive the product and haven't even unwrapped it, and I have tested some with a negative one to see what they did. Some I will never do business with again.

This is where Telegram is at it's best. It's for mainly communicating in either a group setting or private messages with other users. There's no gaining "Likes" or "followers" on there. It's just a platform to talk to people. We furries love it for the most part!

 

[Miller]

I never got Twitter, still don't. How self-important does someone have to be to pick up "followers" and how needy are followers? It's like all the the "Like" begging on Facebook.

I don't even read reviews about products on web sites anymore because of the constant soliciting for a positive review, sometimes the day I receive the product and haven't even unwrapped it, and I have tested some with a negative one to see what they did. Some I will never do business with again.

Honestly I never paid attention to the number of followers I had but I did notice that both Lawrence Tynes and Sean Salisbury followed me ...lol. Overall I originally used it for speed of news. Football especially when I used to play fantasy football. It became the quickest source. I also would follow people where I enjoyed their articles and could link from there. What turned me off was the last couple of years the only response I’d get on anything was toxic where people wanted to troll and pick a fight. When it’s not entertaining I’m done

 

[CouchCoach]

I think I am not social enough for media and that's not a great thing. This is my only social media and it really is all I need with the zones aplenty and even the posters that wanna pick a fight are not that bad at all. They can be fun.

And keeping the politics and religion out of it because I don't want to know other posters' political inclinations or their religious preference, it is not necessary to have a relationship here and I like that. I used to think Reality was a little too anal about the political aspect but I was wrong. We no longer live in a country where that can be discussed like civil human beings. Discussing politics is the slippery slope that ends up in an infested swamp.

Facebook, Twitter and political discussions online are all the symptoms of the same cause, anger. We are such an angry people right now and I am not sure if we even know why. I am as guilty as anyone, maybe more so because I have a temper issue anyway. But I find myself just angry. At what? I don't know, just angry and it's partly the stress of this situation that we really do not realize what it's doing to us. Anger, as anyone who will tell you that has this issue, is a drug. Get angry, get better.

At some point over the last few years, I shifted from the belief that most people are good, kind and decent and want to do the right thing to the opposite. I went down Skeptic Street to Cynical Cove, which is a cul-de-sac and I have to circle for a while to come back out. The last place I need to be is on some social media platform with too many validating how I am feeling.

I share this because maybe some in here are feeling this way too and it's not pleasant but I also want to share what my wife taught me that I do not practice nearly enough, simply smiling at people. They can still see a smile through your eyes if your wearing a mask. I am not a natural smiler so I have to focus on that but I began doing that in the last several weeks and I am glad to report it is working. People are smiling back and it feels good. It feels good because I started that instead of being a respond smiler. Smiling at a stranger truly is what my wife told me, an act of kindness. And people can see a smile from 6 feet away.

 

[Miller]

I think I am not social enough for media and that's not a great thing. This is my only social media and it really is all I need with the zones aplenty and even the posters that wanna pick a fight are not that bad at all. They can be fun.

And keeping the politics and religion out of it because I don't want to know other posters' political inclinations or their religious preference, it is not necessary to have a relationship here and I like that. I used to think Reality was a little too anal about the political aspect but I was wrong. We no longer live in a country where that can be discussed like civil human beings. Discussing politics is the slippery slope that ends up in an infested swamp.

Facebook, Twitter and political discussions online are all the symptoms of the same cause, anger. We are such an angry people right now and I am not sure if we even know why. I am as guilty as anyone, maybe more so because I have a temper issue anyway. But I find myself just angry. At what? I don't know, just angry and it's partly the stress of this situation that we really do not realize what it's doing to us. Anger, as anyone who will tell you that has this issue, is a drug. Get angry, get better.

At some point over the last few years, I shifted from the belief that most people are good, kind and decent and want to do the right thing to the opposite. I went down Skeptic Street to Cynical Cove, which is a cul-de-sac and I have to circle for a while to come back out. The last place I need to be is on some social media platform with too many validating how I am feeling.

I share this because maybe some in here are feeling this way too and it's not pleasant but I also want to share what my wife taught me that I do not practice nearly enough, simply smiling at people. They can still see a smile through your eyes if your wearing a mask. I am not a natural smiler so I have to focus on that but I began doing that in the last several weeks and I am glad to report it is working. People are smiling back and it feels good. It feels good because I started that instead of being a respond smiler. Smiling at a stranger truly is what my wife told me, an act of kindness. And people can see a smile from 6 feet away.

Bravo! Incredible post. Thanks for sharing this

 

[Reverend Conehead]

I have a Twitter account that I almost never use. It's not installed on my phone. I just occasionally log in with my computer. One day I got on my computer to do some important work and there was some popup from some woe-is-me lady whining about her life and blaming everyone but herself for her problems and I was like, "Where did this crap come from?" Turns out I had forgotten to log out of Twitter.

I just stay logged out. Maybe I'll even close my account. I don't need that crap in my life.

 

[ShortRound]

I love Twitter, I've been getting into stocks/crypto/investing recently and Twitter is essential for news.

Facebook is a load of crap though. lol.

 

[Doomsday]

I quit Facebook and Twitter back in January and haven't missed either one.