Now, I adore Twitter, which has helped me, frustrated and unheard, find a voice in these last 6 years. I’ve made some really close friends, some of whom I’ve actually met, others who can be guaranteed to scrape my mood up off the floor if I only mention that I’m a bit sad or cross or low.
In the past I was more of a prolific tweeter than I am now though 171,000 tweets in 6 years had caused me more embarrassment than pride. In my defence most of these are conversational tweets, I’d say, rather than me spouting some opinion into the ether, though there are plenty of those too.
I have been fortunate indeed to have encountered the nasty, dark side of Twitter only a handful of times and because these are incidents have been shaken me so viscerally, I have been very glad of the support of other friends when it’s happened.
I’m not a great user of Mute, Unfollow or Block. I have in the past let some people treat me in a rather too cavalier manner for too long. I am only just putting into practice my belief that I should not tolerate on Twitter anyone whom I would give a wide berth in real life. That’s not to say I agree with surrounding myself only with people who agree with me, where would be the interest in that?
Sometimes, though, there are misunderstandings, exacerbated by the 140 character format. I concluded some time ago the it is almost impossible to have a complex, nuanced debate on Twitter unless it’s with someone whom you know well, in which case you’d be unlikely to have the debate, but we’ll let that go. Things escalate so quickly and people wilfully misunderstand each other. It’s not worth the grief. This is part of the reason for me taking to my blog when I want to explain a complex thought from my point of view without someone twisting its meaning. I’m happy to have comments on my blog where I can engage with them in my own time.
I came across this TED talk by Jon Ronson today, about how someone’s life was ruined by a remark of hers being completely misinterpreted. You’ll be familiar with the story of Justine Sacco, though I wasn’t on Twitter that night, but the talk is compelling.
There are actually people out there who trawl through people’s Twitter feeds and, in their anonymity, derive some fun out of criticising and castigating others. These are trolls but, so far, I have encountered only a few of them and managed to shake them off.
I deplore the Twitter pile-ons that I see where people jump on a bandwagon without knowing or thinking about the damage they are inflicting. I wonder whether some people simply soon;t think about the impact of their tweets. What sort of people are they?
So my advice is think about the consequences of what you’re tweeting; do as you would be done by and be kind because kindness hurts no-one. It shouldn’t need saying but, sadly, it does.
I confess that I probably have jumped on some bandwagons from time to time, I suppose it’s easy to get caught up in mob mentality, and to forget that there may be another interpretation of someone’s tweets/actions. Thank you for posting this and giving me something to think about.
I try to keep away from anything other than a bit of innocuous chatter nowadays ….which is a pity as I used to enjoy long chats and discussions. But people seem so much more touchy and quick to judge and condemn ….it drives me mad so I stay off Twitter more and more.
It used to be my ‘happy place’ but now I’m not so sure. …
I just don’t interact much anymore ….I’m not into ‘rejection’. And I can’t do those attention-seeking tweets so beloved of so many.
I have made some really good friends on Twitter …and a couple of special pals. But, for me, Twitter has had its day I think.
Good blog, Gita. I suppose it depends on what you use Twitter for. I could post 1,000 tweets a day about my views on politics, world events, social trends & no doubt would get loads of flak from nuance-poor folks. But I use Twitter (mostly) as a fun, light-hearted thing to chat with friends whose interests on some things are similar. ie The Archers. Don’t see how it can really be used for serious debate (as opposed to opinion-stating).
I’m not done with Twitter yet, although there are days when I don’t like it at all. I love its sense of humour, most of the time, and I use it for news and information by following lots of journalists and media outlet accounts. I’ve mainly escaped the dark side but also recognise that if I offer an opinion on something, I have to expect to be disagreed with and to defend myself, but I won’t engage with those whose method of disagreeing is simply to be rude. eg the other day it was “are you illiterate?” When I hadn’t been on Twitter very long a famous actress tweeted what I thought was an unnecessary and unkind comment on a top female politician’s clothes. This actress was clearly very unhappy about the politician’s recently announced policy on something or other, but I tweeted to her that I didn’t think what the politician was wearing was relevant and that it was unkind. (I know, very naïve and silly of me.) Well, the actress set her adoring fans on me and I was taken aback. I was never going to a bold tweeter because I worry too much about who might be reading my tweets, but that incident made me even less brave.
That’s horrible for you Annette. I think most of us have been subject to some sort of pile-on. It’s the price we pay for saying something that isn’t bland. We all known the thing about people who don’t have a reasonable argument resorting to abuse. I find myself opening my think/say filter rather a lot. It’s best that way, I think.
I do wonder if, as a society, we are de-evolving. So many seem not to have the first clue how to hold a reasonable conversation and Twitter can magnify that at times.
Yes, it was an eye-opener. I’m afraid to say one sees this sort of behaviour in a more concentrated form on Twitter than in real life. But I find I’m mostly quite good at just scrolling on by.