It’s not even worth trying to remember the point that Twitter turned from a somewhat fun place into a hellsite but the fact is that it is now just a hell site. and yes, in my younger days i also enjoyed a good [but not cruel] trend, examining someone’s thoughts, live-tweeting events as seen on TV. Over the years, I have tried various ways of using Twitter — unfollowing everyone and then making lists, which makes it easier to switch off, entirely, from one country or topic. There was a summer that I didn’t log on at all, because I was in an immersive Arabic program. There’s been times when - fearful for the fact that I am about to stroke out because someone is wrong on the internet - I have logged out and not logged back in for months. I have not had the Twitter app on my phone in two years, if not more.

But every time I log back on — because, unfortunately, it is still the place to show your work — it is even more depressing. Seemingly rational people in real life quote-tweeting some douchebag with 2 followers to amplify it to thousands more, with the insightful “This is WRONG” tweet as their quote—dude, we all get it, couldn’t you just reply to the person instead of dredging this up in front of us? Every single awful, misogynistic, trauma-inducing tweet I have seen is because someone couldn’t resist quote-tweeting it to everyone.

Most of my work has nothing to do with Twitter, which is why I at least get to call a timeout and not engage. But it is ridiculous that the website keeps getting worse and worse, and that this kind of awfulness “Here’s my thread on X traumatic event (1/200000) that I know nothing about” continues.