Somewhat serendipitously, or providentially depending on who you ask, my reminder email for domain renewal came around the time I was getting fed up with Twitter. I never had a great relationship with Twitter, mostly following comedians and occasionally live-blogging during some sporting event or another (I’m sorry). I started reading Twitter more now that I am working part-time and home with my (soon-to-be) one-year-old son more often. You can’t really settle into a long-form read while you’re waiting for the next attempt at pulling the trash can down.
Anyway, I think the emotional whiplash was subconsciously getting to me, and then I was consciously considering how Twitter is a platform for some truly odious people, who amass huge amounts of followers due to it. Beyond that are the purposeful malevolent actors, influencing negative social change and corrupting elections. And finally, a pretty laissez-faire attitude to enforcing harrassment policies that are only good business to be in print, not in effect.
And then I thought about how all social media interactions in general are filtered through how the company wants you to see them, to make them money. I’d already bailed on Facebook due to similar conclusions. I’ve just come to the conclusion that any positives to be gained don’t outweigh the negative.
So with all that said, I would rather have my own space to set my thoughts down. I kind of have too-kind memories of pre-Web 2.0 socialization, but maybe I can build on that kind of thinking and build my own “social network” that doesn’t have the side effects of warping society. Or maybe I’ll just be yelling into the void here, who can say.
Life is information, information is life. 