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I don't know why anyone still bothers with twitter at this point. I got off the site in December and my quality of life has noticeably improved, which surprised

by nluken 4y ago

I don't know why anyone still bothers with twitter at this point. I got off the site in December and my quality of life has noticeably improved, which surprised me because I didn't think a single social media site could have that big an impact.

fandorin 4y ago
I left even a bit earlier - Oct 2022 and man, what a good decision that was. Huge instant positive impact on the quality of life - i’m reading more stuff that has some value instead of shitstorms, long and unispring threads and always the same memes. I’m not going back.
slowmovintarget 4y ago
It's like quitting alcohol. You miss it for a while, and every know and again you have urges to go back, but you know you're better without it.
- WindyLakeReturn 4y ago
  Given the extent that alcohol related establishments serve as the third space for young adults, at least in stereotypical US culture, I do wonder if there is a point where increasingly avoiding alcohol becomes detrimental. I'm thinking not merely bars, but social drinks with coworkers after work (with a chance of informal skip levels), social events where alcohol is a main attraction, and even college organizations where alcohol access (often before 21) is a primary motivator to join.
  - rhaway84773 4y ago
    When I wasn’t drinking, I was able to participate in 3rd places just fine while getting a club soda with lime. Most people didn’t really care. The only reason I carried the club soda was because I didn’t want to explain for the 100th time why I wasnt drinking. And there’s always that one guy pushing you to drink even if you don’t want it, in which case the club soda basically looks like a vodka soda. Of course that’s not a valid strategy if you have a problem with alcohol, and cannot be around it. But it’s useful if you just don’t like drinking but would still like to participate socially. The only problem is that once people get kind of drunk you have to be really drunk yourself to find them tolerable. Drunk people are extremely boring if you’re sober. And there’s an easy solution there too. Just leave early.
    - WindyLakeReturn 4y ago
      I eventually started doing much the same, down to the club soda and lime, but I only did so after my young adult years had passed and even then I would receive a few comments that indicated a disapproval of me remaining fully sober while others around me were not. I am still puzzled by this because almost everyone around me was driving home that night, so either they weren't drinking enough for it to matter, or they were and yet their plans to drive drunk were less notable than my avoidance of alcohol. It was done in more of a joking way, but the sort of joking way that social norms are enforced because even a friendly callout is different than no callout at all.
      - spacemadness 4y ago
        I’ve experienced this as well and some people can get really weird about it. It’s often insecurity and/or narcissism in thinking you’re making a statement about someone’s life choices. Maybe they do in fact have a problem and you’ve caused them a moment of reflection they don’t want to have. It’s never fun dealing with other peoples neuroticism while you’re trying to have a good time and couldn’t care less they are drinking. The ones I know that hit the bottle the hardest are usually the ones making a big deal about it.
tayo42 4y ago
I think people are still addicted to it. or people who use it a lot think the world actually happens on twitter. its a bubble, and don't realize the world actually goes on with out it. most americans dont use twitter.
rootusrootus 4y ago
I got the same effect when I gave up trying to get value from Reddit and blocked it at my router. And to a certain extent, I get a similar QOL improvement when I block myself from HN for a few days.
xmodem 4y ago
I'm on Mastodon now - for me, it neatly fills in the gaps where I'm waiting for a train or a bus, but it doesn't constantly draw me in when I should be doing something else. I have a much healthier relationship with it than I ever did with Twitter.
gms7777 4y ago
In my academic circle, it remains important for my career. Even as some people have left, it's still super useful for discovering other peoples research, seeing what the post-publication conversation is for published or preprinted research, and for sharing my own. I think most people would be perfectly happy if the community moved to another platform, but to date there has been no real consensus on where that is.
- esalman 4y ago
  I bookmarked a lot of tweets over the years featuring papers in my research area. Last time I was doing a literature review I found most of them do not exist anymore. Which is sad.. I should've bookmarked the DOIs instead of the tweets.
  - yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
    Any chance they're on archive.org?
- meetingthrower 4y ago
  I hear a lot of people say this but I find it suspect when you probe. I think it is entertaining for sure given the water cooler, but does it actually drive your productive work?
  - bachmeier 4y ago
    Here's an example from my area: https://twitter.com/IvanWerning/status/1643930683578916864 https://twitter.com/IvanWerning/status/1643930683578916864
    - meetingthrower 4y ago
      Right, a huge self posted thread on a paper with very few replies. A bunch of retweets though. Just read the paper! If it's important it will be talked about at next conference. But it feels good to scroll through economics paper announcements on twitter like HN and call it "work." (That's what I call my HN time too! No offense intended. I do it too. I think it's human nature.)
super256 4y ago
Twitter is awesome if you have a use case for it or want to dive into a specific bubble. I use it as a free news feed which has the quality of the paid Refinitiv subscription, and many activist investors publish their reports there. I get incredible value out of Twitter, as long as the network doesn't move elswhere.
- spiffytech 4y ago
  I've avoided the "toxic hellsite" vibe by just being judicious in who I follow. I get almost no politics, outrage, etc. in my timeline. Instead, I get people goofing around, or dissecting cultural norms, or sharing their project updates, or discussing what they've learned about an in-depth topic.
brianpk 4y ago
Seems like a reasonable place to plug my new project: https://theapricot.io https://theapricot.io Follow Substack newsletters, YouTube channels, Spotify podcasts, and subreddits in a Twitter-style feed without all the Twitter junk.
- Kye 4y ago
  Needs an OPML import and export.
  - brianpk 4y ago
    Totally, working on it.
  - brianpk 3y ago
    FWIW, Apricot's OPML import is done. Go to https://app.theapricot.io/ https://app.theapricot.io/, then the settings page.

by nluken 4y ago

fandorin 4y ago

I left even a bit earlier - Oct 2022 and man, what a good decision that was. Huge instant positive impact on the quality of life - i’m reading more stuff that has some value instead of shitstorms, long and unispring threads and always the same memes. I’m not going back.

slowmovintarget 4y ago

It's like quitting alcohol. You miss it for a while, and every know and again you have urges to go back, but you know you're better without it.

WindyLakeReturn 4y ago
Given the extent that alcohol related establishments serve as the third space for young adults, at least in stereotypical US culture, I do wonder if there is a point where increasingly avoiding alcohol becomes detrimental. I'm thinking not merely bars, but social drinks with coworkers after work (with a chance of informal skip levels), social events where alcohol is a main attraction, and even college organizations where alcohol access (often before 21) is a primary motivator to join.
- rhaway84773 4y ago
  When I wasn’t drinking, I was able to participate in 3rd places just fine while getting a club soda with lime. Most people didn’t really care. The only reason I carried the club soda was because I didn’t want to explain for the 100th time why I wasnt drinking. And there’s always that one guy pushing you to drink even if you don’t want it, in which case the club soda basically looks like a vodka soda. Of course that’s not a valid strategy if you have a problem with alcohol, and cannot be around it. But it’s useful if you just don’t like drinking but would still like to participate socially. The only problem is that once people get kind of drunk you have to be really drunk yourself to find them tolerable. Drunk people are extremely boring if you’re sober. And there’s an easy solution there too. Just leave early.
  - WindyLakeReturn 4y ago
    I eventually started doing much the same, down to the club soda and lime, but I only did so after my young adult years had passed and even then I would receive a few comments that indicated a disapproval of me remaining fully sober while others around me were not. I am still puzzled by this because almost everyone around me was driving home that night, so either they weren't drinking enough for it to matter, or they were and yet their plans to drive drunk were less notable than my avoidance of alcohol. It was done in more of a joking way, but the sort of joking way that social norms are enforced because even a friendly callout is different than no callout at all.
    - spacemadness 4y ago
      I’ve experienced this as well and some people can get really weird about it. It’s often insecurity and/or narcissism in thinking you’re making a statement about someone’s life choices. Maybe they do in fact have a problem and you’ve caused them a moment of reflection they don’t want to have. It’s never fun dealing with other peoples neuroticism while you’re trying to have a good time and couldn’t care less they are drinking. The ones I know that hit the bottle the hardest are usually the ones making a big deal about it.

tayo42 4y ago

I think people are still addicted to it. or people who use it a lot think the world actually happens on twitter. its a bubble, and don't realize the world actually goes on with out it. most americans dont use twitter.

rootusrootus 4y ago

I got the same effect when I gave up trying to get value from Reddit and blocked it at my router. And to a certain extent, I get a similar QOL improvement when I block myself from HN for a few days.

xmodem 4y ago

I'm on Mastodon now - for me, it neatly fills in the gaps where I'm waiting for a train or a bus, but it doesn't constantly draw me in when I should be doing something else. I have a much healthier relationship with it than I ever did with Twitter.

gms7777 4y ago

In my academic circle, it remains important for my career. Even as some people have left, it's still super useful for discovering other peoples research, seeing what the post-publication conversation is for published or preprinted research, and for sharing my own. I think most people would be perfectly happy if the community moved to another platform, but to date there has been no real consensus on where that is.

esalman 4y ago
I bookmarked a lot of tweets over the years featuring papers in my research area. Last time I was doing a literature review I found most of them do not exist anymore. Which is sad.. I should've bookmarked the DOIs instead of the tweets.
- yjftsjthsd-h 4y ago
  Any chance they're on archive.org?
meetingthrower 4y ago
I hear a lot of people say this but I find it suspect when you probe. I think it is entertaining for sure given the water cooler, but does it actually drive your productive work?
- bachmeier 4y ago
  Here's an example from my area: https://twitter.com/IvanWerning/status/1643930683578916864 https://twitter.com/IvanWerning/status/1643930683578916864
  - meetingthrower 4y ago
    Right, a huge self posted thread on a paper with very few replies. A bunch of retweets though. Just read the paper! If it's important it will be talked about at next conference. But it feels good to scroll through economics paper announcements on twitter like HN and call it "work." (That's what I call my HN time too! No offense intended. I do it too. I think it's human nature.)

super256 4y ago

Twitter is awesome if you have a use case for it or want to dive into a specific bubble. I use it as a free news feed which has the quality of the paid Refinitiv subscription, and many activist investors publish their reports there. I get incredible value out of Twitter, as long as the network doesn't move elswhere.

spiffytech 4y ago
I've avoided the "toxic hellsite" vibe by just being judicious in who I follow. I get almost no politics, outrage, etc. in my timeline. Instead, I get people goofing around, or dissecting cultural norms, or sharing their project updates, or discussing what they've learned about an in-depth topic.

brianpk 4y ago

Seems like a reasonable place to plug my new project: https://theapricot.io https://theapricot.io Follow Substack newsletters, YouTube channels, Spotify podcasts, and subreddits in a Twitter-style feed without all the Twitter junk.

Kye 4y ago
Needs an OPML import and export.
- brianpk 4y ago
  Totally, working on it.
- brianpk 3y ago
  FWIW, Apricot's OPML import is done. Go to https://app.theapricot.io/ https://app.theapricot.io/, then the settings page.