Why I Left Twitter

It took me a week after the election, but I finally decided to delete my Twitter account. I’d been having second thoughts about Twitter since Elon Musk took over and, since the election, they’ve only gotten louder.

Twitter was always the least popular of my social media accounts and it’s only gotten more so. In just the last week, I’ve lost at least 16 followers and most of the followers I’d gained since Musk took over were, I’m assuming, fake accounts. (Women looking for sex from a gay man? Hello?)

Add to that the fact that it seems like Musk has been suppressing anti-Trump accounts and amplifying pro-Trump accounts.

In fact, now that Musk has succeeded in getting Trump elected, I wouldn’t be surprised if he sold Twitter (assuming anyone would be interested in buying it).

Then there’s my natural antipathy towards social media in general.

As a late boomer, I’ve always thought all social media was kind of bullshit. I distinctly remember my reaction when I first considered joining Facebook (which I only joined in order to promote my stand-up comedy shows). My reaction was, “You mean to tell me that adults are doing this?!!!” It all seemed so juvenile. (And I’m not sure how helpful it’s been in terms of putting asses in seats. It seems like personal connection and word of mouth is much more effective.)

But I eventually gave in.

Then, I was actually required to join Instagram by my real estate job and it was equally ineffective in helping my real estate career.

Another truism to consider: No one’s opinion has ever been changed by social media. Social media is designed to reinforce the opinions you already have. And it mainly thrives on just two emotions: fear and anger.

So all those New York Times articles I posted about how dangerous Trump was were for nothing. People don’t read newspapers anymore and, even if they did, they’d have to already be a Times subscriber to get past the paywall.

And I’m reluctant to join another social media platform like Threads because what would be the point? I feel like I’m just pissing in the wind.

But maybe it might be worth it as an experiment, just to see if one platform is any more useful than another.

At least I won’t be subjected to all the offensive ads on Twitter (most of which I blocked) and the even more offensive people (like Musk and Trump, both of whom I also blocked).

I didn’t think anyone could be more of a pathological narcissist than Trump, but in Elon Musk, who bought Twitter solely for his own self-aggrandizement, Trump may have finally met his match.