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I’m not on Twitter. I was once, for a few years on and off, from around roughly 2013 to maybe 2018 but my tweets were rare and mundane, mostly related to my writing and editing work. I went long, long stretches of time not even touching the platform. Months, even a year or more would go by with no tweets or visits by me.
I’ve never been a big social media user. Facebook on and off for years, used in a similar way by me as Twitter. I’ve always felt there’s a sort of Online Derangement Syndrome which is toxic and unhealthy. (This seems axiomatic and obvious at this point.)
Recently, I was listening to the lengthy (4.5 hours long) interview of Sam Harris on Lex Fridman’s podcast. I’ve been a Harris fan for a long time. I don’t agree with everything he says, but I’m with him on most ideas. Like tens of thousands of others, I’ve found him to be—in addition to thinkers like Coleman Hughes, Glenn Loury, John McWhorter, and others—a beacon of rational thinking, commonsense and civil debate over these last decrepit, broken few years, especially since 2020, when division, [cognitive and cultural and political] polarization, social media bubble-fragmentation, and mainstream media dishonesty, moral panic and hysteria has reined supreme.
Anyway, Harris discussed his decision to get off Twitter about five, six months ago, and how glorious the experience has been. He described his newfound sense of sanity. He talked about being “too online,” and how that can deeply upset a person’s sense of normalcy and decency, and how obsessively checking on Twitter, and responding to tweets can distort real life. Clearly, this addiction, which is obviously not unique to but seems perhaps the worst on Twitter, is toxic and unhealthy. Another easy example is online dating. The way people treat each other on online dating is often horrendous. Men and women dehumanize each other with an almost ribald, frisky joy. Harris made a great point about Twitter: One thing we could do (aka Musk could do) is to get rid of the anonymity. Anonymity encourages, in some, the worst impulses.
And this brings up the bigger structural problem with Twitter: The algorithmic incentives. Users are incentivized—just like mainstream media—to cling to outrage. Self-righteousness, rage, judgement, tearing others apart, thread pileups, public shaming: These are all tactics of many users on Twitter.
It’s tribalism, pure and simple, stripped down to its barest, nastiest core. This is our collective monkey brain surging with adrenaline, gathering with our collective civilized apes to dump digital turds on each other’s heads.
Fifty-year-old men suddenly sound like 12-year-olds. Women in their twenties become demonic. Hatred abounds from both and all political and cultural sides masquerading as being “pro” this or “anti” that. Identity obsession reins on high like the black god of doom. Mis- and disinformation is omnipresent. Our worst, most angry, most superbly childish impulses are rewarded again and again and again.
This is why we’re coming apart at the seams as a society. Not because of Twitter, but because the impulses Twitter rewards are being flouted outward at each other like exploding bombs.
1. Only 23% of U.S. adults actually use Twitter (compared with 81% for YouTube, 69% for Facebook, 40% for Instagram, 31% for Pinterest, etc)
2. 32% of Twitter users are Democrats, versus only 17% Republican
3. The top 25% of users produce a staggering 97% of all content (compared with the bottom 75% which produce only 3%)
4. 60% of Republicans say Twitter is bad for American Democracy (compared with only 28% of democrats who say the same)
5. 91% of users say they’ve come across some type of inaccurate or wrong information on the platform (33% say they’ve come across a lot of it); 45% of Republicans say they see a lot of bad information versus 27% of Democrat users
6. 61% of Republican users say they’re concerned about Twitter bans of certain users, compared to a staggeringly low 6% of Democrat users
7. 69% of U.S. adult Twitter users get their news from the platform (57% of users say their knowledge of “current events” has increased on the platform from 2021-2022)
The above data points seem to point to a few obvious conclusions:
1. Not that big of a chunk (less than one in four) of the U.S. population even uses Twitter, which is lower use than six other platforms above it.
2. Those that do use the platform tend to much more likely be center-left politically
3. A tiny sliver of a percentage of the [mostly left-leaning] minority of users produce the vast amount of content seen (we can generally assume this safely to mean elite journalists, professors in academia, people in tech, people in big publishing, etc)
4. There is clearly a fair amount of mis/disinformation floating around the stratosphere of Twitter and there’s no significant manner in which this inaccurate information is fairly labeled as such. I’m certain some amount of this mis/disinformation stems from both political sides, but, given the raw numbers it seems likely that much of this comes from center-left sources.
5. There is a sharp political divide when it comes to how users feel around shadow-banning, full-on user banning, etc.
So in other words: Twitter is not the place to go for fair, safe, honest, accurate information or to have wise, intelligent, clear and open debate and discussion between American citizens. It just isn’t. YouTube, though not perfect by any means, seems like a much more open and Democratic arena to play in. But I’d say: Why not get OFF Twitter? What do you really have to lose? That sense of Ultimate Doom, as if the world is quickly falling apart? That adrenalized rage and self-righteousness you love to feel when piling on someone for having a view you and your tribe disagree with?
Harris made a good and obvious point. When driving in a car, it’s one thing to have road rage in the moment, flipping some asshole off on the freeway when you’re both going 85 MPH. But what happens when there’s a traffic jam up ahead, or road work happening, and suddenly you and the asshole are side by side? A few things become obvious:
1. He or she is a human being, just like you.
2. You feel embarrassed because you now feel like the asshole, and also like a child.
3. The person you flipped off might be much bigger, angrier and more hardcore than you, and could easily kick your weasel ass.
This brings me to my final point. Whether it’s Twitter or Online Dating or anything else which allows people to hide behind a screen, be anonymous, or have a tribe digitally behind them: We have truly lost any sense of courage. Any man knows, you don’t shove another man unless you’re 100% prepared to actually fight. Otherwise, you’re in big trouble. (And many men don’t even push; they just punch from the gate.) It’s honestly pathetic when people online—hidden behind their protective screen—say horrible things to other people, knowing they will likely never actually have to confront that person in real life. With AI growing at the speed it is, this phenomenon will surely only get worse.
If we want better men, better women, better American citizens, better human beings, we need to get off social media and start seeing each other as full human beings again. Yes: I understand this may sound naïve, and it may very well be impossible. The arc of history and science and progress doesn’t bend backwards; it only moves forward, for better or worse. But I encourage any Twitter users, even if you stay on the platform: Every time you feel that angry, sexy impulse to start bashing someone in a “different” tribe, or to respond negatively to someone who you’ll never meet, try to challenge yourself by asking: Is what I’m about to say kind, compassionate, honest and genuine? Would I say this to this person if they were standing right here in front of me?
Because if it’s not—and you’ll get that anxious flutter in your gut when it isn’t—my advice is: Press delete, close your laptop or shut down your iPhone, and go outside.
I've seen genuinely kind people turn monstrous on Twitter, especially after 2016. I've been influenced to a degree as well. It's only when I left it for good that I felt like I could think for myself again and not be as afraid anymore and that I could see different sides without getting upset anymore. I feel so much happier, less stressed, and more level-headed. I have more time for creative endeavors, my loved ones, and fun stuff. When people log off and listen to people speak in real life, they will see what is being shouted on Twitter is not the reality for most folks, and that part of it is also mass media and politicians manipulating people.