Don't worry, I'm not vanishing entirely. Best I explain things.
As an author, I began reaching out into the wide and awkward world of social media back in 2016 with Twitter that was and Facebook. Now it's 2024, and Twitter has stopped being Twitter. Everyone I know has moved either partially or fully onto other platforms such as Facebook, Threads, Instagram or BlueSky. Or were on those platforms by preference anyway. And while I was willing to tolerate it as a place where I might just get a few more people clicking on my stuff after it got taken over in 2022. Since then, it has steadily grown less and less like a platform I want to be on.
So, from this coming Tuesday, 13 August 2024, I will be deactivating my account there. I see no reason to continue using a platform that my network has moved away from, and that is becoming increasingly a place I see not as a necessary evil, but as a dangerous place to be. The people still using it who aren't just...eugh...are the people with the clout or the guts to see it purely as a business thing. But when the platform is not telling me that suspicious accounts (sexy accounts, to not be too specific) are following me, artificially inflating my follower count, that's the biggest of big red warning flags I've been getting.
Not to mention that its current owner whom I won't dignify by naming has been promoting a culture of intolerance, extremism, and inflammatory statements that further the spread of misinformation. It's becoming a place I don't want to be, and so while it's difficult to break away from a place where I started, clinging to something when it becomes nasty isn't anything but misplaced and unbalanced loyalty. You should abandon what no longer suits you, what you can't make better. Well, within limits, but Twitter falls well within those limits.
Also, on a purely personal level, I've been getting more positive overall engagement recently from my other social platforms over the past...year or two, than I got on Twitter/X over nearly ten years. I don't want to read too much into that for obvious reasons, but since making this decision, I've been feeling uplifted and safer with myself. I suffer from anxiety, and out of all the social medias I've gone into, Twitter has been having the worst impact.
And so we come to the reason behind the title of this post. Walking away from something like this, especially as there is a lot of subtle and not so subtle pressure to stay, will be a toll. While there is relief, there is bound also to be whiplash. And when that happens, I may well need to take a rest. I'll do my best to continue being as active and engaging as I can be, but there may well be times when quiet is the best remedy. Quiet, and contact with living beings who aren't affiliated with a power-hungry, ultra-rich egomaniac. Maybe I would return, but that will be the day! I'll only go back if that platform which shall not be named gets thoroughly cleaned up again.
If you want to find me, I'll link my active socials/pages, Spotify, and Youtube below. Looking forward to what happens go things going forward. And hopefully my Possible Social Media Deletion Withdrawal won't be too terrible.
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