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Twitter is the one platform that I never understood. Every time I get pulled in to read an individual tweet I'm blown away by how miserable the conversation is.

by anm89 5y ago

api 5y ago
I've gotten sucked in once or twice and then I come to my senses and back away slowly. It's really harmful to mental health. I call Twitter a "hate laser." Hate bounces back and forth between camps of angry people and is amplified until it shoots out and causes damage in the real world. Twitter isn't the only platform like this or even the most toxic, but I think it does the most harm by virtue of its size. Virtually all discourse on there is toxic, but especially anything that touches politics. The political position doesn't matter. No matter what it is the content is always a barrage of lazy memes, brutal ad hominem, and the violent dismemberment of straw men.
30367286 5y ago
I have expressed this same sentiment to some friends who use Twitter. I don't know how much they use Twitter, but they seem to have the hang of it. The general consensus has been that to use Twitter effectively, you have to only follow accounts that are informative (a friend of mine follows obscure linguistic stuff) and be brutal about unfollowing people that aren't providing value. I also know that there are blocklists and ways to in general tame the rowdiness. It seems like sound advice. I tried it, but Twitter still didn't "stick" for me. Primarily I did not find curating my own experience to be work I enjoyed doing, and it certainly did not net me a return that justified the investment of my time or mental energy. So I stick to re-directing individual tweets to nitter.net.
akavel 5y ago
FWIW, I only ever created an account on Twitter because I thought "maybe I should have one", but never felt compelled to do anything with it in the end. I mean, I sometimes read some Twitter thread that is posted here on HN, but even then still just plain can't understand the thing's appeal. I'm quite curious what's the underlying difference between me (plus any other people who apparently don't get it too), and those who are there and enjoy using it.

Twitter is the one platform that I never understood. Every time I get pulled in to read an individual tweet I'm blown away by how miserable the conversation is.

by anm89 5y ago

Twitter is the one platform that I never understood. Every time I get pulled in to read an individual tweet I'm blown away by how miserable the conversation is.

api 5y ago

I've gotten sucked in once or twice and then I come to my senses and back away slowly. It's really harmful to mental health. I call Twitter a "hate laser." Hate bounces back and forth between camps of angry people and is amplified until it shoots out and causes damage in the real world. Twitter isn't the only platform like this or even the most toxic, but I think it does the most harm by virtue of its size. Virtually all discourse on there is toxic, but especially anything that touches politics. The political position doesn't matter. No matter what it is the content is always a barrage of lazy memes, brutal ad hominem, and the violent dismemberment of straw men.

30367286 5y ago

I have expressed this same sentiment to some friends who use Twitter. I don't know how much they use Twitter, but they seem to have the hang of it. The general consensus has been that to use Twitter effectively, you have to only follow accounts that are informative (a friend of mine follows obscure linguistic stuff) and be brutal about unfollowing people that aren't providing value. I also know that there are blocklists and ways to in general tame the rowdiness. It seems like sound advice. I tried it, but Twitter still didn't "stick" for me. Primarily I did not find curating my own experience to be work I enjoyed doing, and it certainly did not net me a return that justified the investment of my time or mental energy. So I stick to re-directing individual tweets to nitter.net.

akavel 5y ago

FWIW, I only ever created an account on Twitter because I thought "maybe I should have one", but never felt compelled to do anything with it in the end. I mean, I sometimes read some Twitter thread that is posted here on HN, but even then still just plain can't understand the thing's appeal. I'm quite curious what's the underlying difference between me (plus any other people who apparently don't get it too), and those who are there and enjoy using it.