Twitter is a popular social media platform that allows users to share their thoughts, ideas, and experiences in real time with a global audience. However, for some users, the platform can also become a source of negativity, stress, and anxiety. I personally experienced this and decided to leave Twitter.
Like many users of social media, I enjoy the opportunity to connect with other people and stay current on events that occur throughout my community and the world. As with most people, I have a small collection of sites that I visit daily to check in with the world. This includes Twitter. I started noticing a few years ago that my feeds were becoming more fractured and angry. No matter what topic I searched, scrolling became an increasingly negative experience.
One of the main reasons I decided to leave Twitter was because I started seeing an increase in misinformation becoming amplified across my feeds. Misfacts on every topic started to spread everywhere in my feeds. The same fake stories were originating over and over from the same accounts. I couldn’t trust what I was reading because I couldn’t trust that the author was a real person.
Another factor that contributed to my decision to leave Twitter was the lack of privacy and security on the platform. I was concerned about the amount of personal information that I was sharing on the platform and the potential risks that it could pose to my personal and professional life.
Additionally, The recent ownership change and the resulting chaos have now made Twitter the story, versus being the town square it was intended to be. Questionable funding sources combined with ever-shifting content policies have crushed any appearance of objectivity as a platform that ensures free speech and a safe environment for user engagement. This was the last straw for me as a Twitter user.
In the end, departing from Twitter as my main source of social media was one of the best decisions I have ever made. It has allowed me to focus on my mental health and well-being and has also helped me to prioritize other aspects of my life. I have also learned some valuable lessons from my experience on Twitter:
Be mindful of the content you consume: Be selective about the content you engage with on social media platforms. Try to limit your exposure to negative and divisive content, and focus on more positive and uplifting content instead.
Be mindful of the personal information you share online: Be careful about the personal information you share on social media platforms. Understand the privacy settings and security features available on the platform, and use them to your advantage.
In conclusion, my personal experience on Twitter has taught me that social media can be a powerful tool, but it can also have a negative impact on our mental health and well-being. This is was I started Advocy with the goal to create a place that allows users to read the content they can trust was created by real people, and limit the ability for malevolent actors to create fake accounts whose purpose is to spread anger and misinformation. With this single goal in mind, I set out the make it as easy as possible to sign up and start engaging, while building trust among the users of Advocy that this site is a home for them, not the bots. The idea of real content being created by real people is the core value behind Advocy.