I feel most of that, especially the middle-aged grumpiness taking over.
Twitter used to be exciting; I learned so much on there, just by following a bunch of people from dfferent places, communities, experiences. I had lots of fun, too, but I finally deleted it a year or so ago. It hadn't been fun for a long time.
I do however see glimpses of what Twitter was to me on Threads (yes, also Meta, I know, damn it all). Merely glimpses, tbf, but I'll take it.
Also, your legendary "keep fucking off until you come to a gate ... dream the impossible dream" Tweet keeps resurfacing when people are asses on the internet, so there's that. Your legacy :)
Ha, yes! And that was one of the tings about Twitter — it inspired one to really let a thought fly every now and then. Hard to find. Even harder is finding the community we used to have there...
MMS, you have put your finger on the exact pulse of the <dead> old social media. I miss it, and I know it will not be back. I'm with you on the reddit pages as well, they used to wound me deep. No more. It's time to leave. I love the watch matching era of MMS and extra level points for the Roy Batty revised speech! Upgrading to paid just for that. xoxo
You're right. It is all too much. But if you change species, maybe choose something more durable. Frogs are just too squishy and probably wouldn't understand your Bladerunner reference...
I feel you, though I must admit that I really miss your posts & sense of humour, & that I had a conversation with Paula in the Ladies at the Stones Concert without having the courage to confirm it was indeed she - & I knew you were there because of tweets posted while we were enroute to the concert! The old Twitter used to be a place of breaking news, of following decent people. It is a total cesspit now & I'm basically only there now for the Cat accounts. And I’m horrified to see the racist s**t coming out of the UK now too. All fed by the monster(s) at the wheel!
Yep. I guess to a degree the media (including social media) simply reflect what's going on in the society and culture at large. And I really do miss the old days on Twitter — we had fun hanging out!
If I may, phrases like "as venal politicians gleefully rip off masks that have always chafed" do not belong in the "bottomless landfill of superfluous utterance". That's poetry, that is. Keep writing like that, and I'll keep giving a damn what you think. Glad you're still here, at least. Thanks.
I've never talked politics on any of the platforms I'm on because I know stuff like what happened to you might happen to me, and I don't want that. So I focus just on trying to connect with people who are in the same professions or have common interests to mine, and focus on those.
I don’t know if you subscribe to the online newsletter The Nerve? Written by UK journalists who are ex-Guardian. There’s a great piece in the most recent edition by Arthur Snell (geopolitical expert) about the current situation in America. Also a hilarious piece by the comedian Stewart Lee that might make you laugh 😉
Yeah I missed all the good interactions that used to happen on there before it became an open sewer of hell, same with instagram. I’ve only got this now, and I use hipstagram if I fancy sharing a photo or too… and this gets checked once a fortnight!
My partner is in marketing and his partner agencies have stopped dealing with "X" and removed themselves from it. This happened because one of their employees made a new account to test something.
The new account, with no click or like data to tell X what it wanted to see, was dropped into what they described as a "vile foam of hate." Nazis, antisemites, woman-haters, male supremacists and so on and so forth - they wanted to get themselves and their clients as far away from it as possible, and had deleted everything and cancelled their promotions and advertisements within an hour of the CEO being shown what the newbie saw.
I'm with you. This year I'm stepping away from all the rubbish and getting my information and entertainment solely from people and organizations I'm willing to pay subscription fees for. The online world feels like it's drowning in its own excrement, and I'm watching my teenagers swimming in it too. Blah.
I deleted my Twitter when I realized the death of what it was. Still mourn Twitter but will never return. Keep Facebook for exactly the same reason you do, though do not think its head is much better. Internet feels strange - I read comments under articles in Icelandic newspapers and wonder if all the bad spelled/grammatically incorrect comments are bots or just some of them… I just wish there was a better way to gather the friends and keep out the rats somewhere - keep a safe space… because it isn’t there…? Love the watch. Good call.
Who knows — maybe there's a better social media to be invented. Or maybe it's better to keep making the effort to interact with people in realer ways. I guess time will tell...
I deleted my twitter account last year. I avoid Instagram as much as I can as I am fed up with all the posts of “influencers” who apparently are my best friends?? I too am just on Facebook but now plagued by adverts of companies who are selling the best shoes (I bought a pair off an advert over 2 years ago - so stupid me), the best anatomy courses, the best foot exercising courses. I hardly get to see my true friend’s posts. I used to enjoy discussing controversial subjects with others but now I avoid it because with a blink of an eye if I disagree with anyone I am now suddenly a “stupid b….” . It is scary as is the world out there. I think the Australians have taken the first step in limiting young impressionable minds from social media’s nastiness. I believe we should follow. Somehow what started as a great way of communicating with friends and family far and wide and with others who you might never have met in real life, social media now just seems to give people permission to spout out lies and divisive poison. Ps I proudly wear my analogue watch every day!
Analog solidarity! Yes, there seems to have been a definite downturn in how people are on social media... maybe it's something to do with global feelings of frustration and powerlessness needing an outlet. Either way, it doesn't feel like it's a positive thing to invite into one's life on an hourly basis...
Although I just got asked on here to verify my age due to the new UK laws, apparently some people I follow post things that are not suitable for kids. This requires I give a valid uk identification document to Substack and all its third party vendors to view posts labelled for over 18’s or not for children. I will not be doing that… digital life sucks and is getting more and more inshitified (thank you for naming it Cory Doctorow) by the microsecond!
Also watched a documentary about US malls and strip malls being converted into weird micro apartments that have no kitchen areas due to fire restrictions in the commercial buildings so the residents have to buy food downstairs in the still operating shopping complex. Reminded me of Spares…. We’re almost there!
There's an interesting piece in a domestic (Norwegian) newspaper about some friends who went to a cabin for the weekend and decided to ditch their phones. These were all women. The experiment was a disaster. They ran out of things to talk about.
Before cell phones, cabins were stocked with board games, comics, books, skis and fishing rods.
People ran out of things to talk about in days of yore as well.
I feel that here ought to be a moral here and that it might be that people seem to blame the cell phone for replacing human contact that not necessarily happened.
That's SUPER interesting. We have a small group of friends we occasionally go away for the weekend with. Someone always brings a jigsaw. People talk to whoever's cooking. You need something to do while chatting — not just sit there staring at each other.
I wonder if knitting was invented to have something to do while chatting, and then somebody accidentally discovered that the products could be used to make clothes.
I feel most of that, especially the middle-aged grumpiness taking over.
Twitter used to be exciting; I learned so much on there, just by following a bunch of people from dfferent places, communities, experiences. I had lots of fun, too, but I finally deleted it a year or so ago. It hadn't been fun for a long time.
I do however see glimpses of what Twitter was to me on Threads (yes, also Meta, I know, damn it all). Merely glimpses, tbf, but I'll take it.
Also, your legendary "keep fucking off until you come to a gate ... dream the impossible dream" Tweet keeps resurfacing when people are asses on the internet, so there's that. Your legacy :)
Ha, yes! And that was one of the tings about Twitter — it inspired one to really let a thought fly every now and then. Hard to find. Even harder is finding the community we used to have there...
MMS, you have put your finger on the exact pulse of the <dead> old social media. I miss it, and I know it will not be back. I'm with you on the reddit pages as well, they used to wound me deep. No more. It's time to leave. I love the watch matching era of MMS and extra level points for the Roy Batty revised speech! Upgrading to paid just for that. xoxo
Aw, thank you :-) I really appreciate that, and I'm glad you're here!
You're right. It is all too much. But if you change species, maybe choose something more durable. Frogs are just too squishy and probably wouldn't understand your Bladerunner reference...
Hmm. Good point. Maybe a squirrel?
As long as your cats don’t find you…
Ha :-)
I feel you, though I must admit that I really miss your posts & sense of humour, & that I had a conversation with Paula in the Ladies at the Stones Concert without having the courage to confirm it was indeed she - & I knew you were there because of tweets posted while we were enroute to the concert! The old Twitter used to be a place of breaking news, of following decent people. It is a total cesspit now & I'm basically only there now for the Cat accounts. And I’m horrified to see the racist s**t coming out of the UK now too. All fed by the monster(s) at the wheel!
Yep. I guess to a degree the media (including social media) simply reflect what's going on in the society and culture at large. And I really do miss the old days on Twitter — we had fun hanging out!
If I may, phrases like "as venal politicians gleefully rip off masks that have always chafed" do not belong in the "bottomless landfill of superfluous utterance". That's poetry, that is. Keep writing like that, and I'll keep giving a damn what you think. Glad you're still here, at least. Thanks.
Thank you, very much.
Matt Walsh is a scabrous twit. Annnnd I just proved your point.
That's allowed on him. He's actively disgusting.
I've never talked politics on any of the platforms I'm on because I know stuff like what happened to you might happen to me, and I don't want that. So I focus just on trying to connect with people who are in the same professions or have common interests to mine, and focus on those.
That's a very smart and sensible approach, I think... and one I'm going to try.
I don’t know if you subscribe to the online newsletter The Nerve? Written by UK journalists who are ex-Guardian. There’s a great piece in the most recent edition by Arthur Snell (geopolitical expert) about the current situation in America. Also a hilarious piece by the comedian Stewart Lee that might make you laugh 😉
Ooh, no, hadn't heard of that. I'll go have a look — thank you!
Yeah I missed all the good interactions that used to happen on there before it became an open sewer of hell, same with instagram. I’ve only got this now, and I use hipstagram if I fancy sharing a photo or too… and this gets checked once a fortnight!
You were one of my old crew on Twitter — and I miss that!
My partner is in marketing and his partner agencies have stopped dealing with "X" and removed themselves from it. This happened because one of their employees made a new account to test something.
The new account, with no click or like data to tell X what it wanted to see, was dropped into what they described as a "vile foam of hate." Nazis, antisemites, woman-haters, male supremacists and so on and so forth - they wanted to get themselves and their clients as far away from it as possible, and had deleted everything and cancelled their promotions and advertisements within an hour of the CEO being shown what the newbie saw.
Good. Fascinating (if disturbing) to see what would happen to a new account. No reputable business should want any part of that.
I'm with you. This year I'm stepping away from all the rubbish and getting my information and entertainment solely from people and organizations I'm willing to pay subscription fees for. The online world feels like it's drowning in its own excrement, and I'm watching my teenagers swimming in it too. Blah.
Yep. I'm just hoping that the youngs — having grown up with all this — will be developing some ways of stepping around the worst of it.
I deleted my Twitter when I realized the death of what it was. Still mourn Twitter but will never return. Keep Facebook for exactly the same reason you do, though do not think its head is much better. Internet feels strange - I read comments under articles in Icelandic newspapers and wonder if all the bad spelled/grammatically incorrect comments are bots or just some of them… I just wish there was a better way to gather the friends and keep out the rats somewhere - keep a safe space… because it isn’t there…? Love the watch. Good call.
Who knows — maybe there's a better social media to be invented. Or maybe it's better to keep making the effort to interact with people in realer ways. I guess time will tell...
Real is definitely preferable
I deleted my twitter account last year. I avoid Instagram as much as I can as I am fed up with all the posts of “influencers” who apparently are my best friends?? I too am just on Facebook but now plagued by adverts of companies who are selling the best shoes (I bought a pair off an advert over 2 years ago - so stupid me), the best anatomy courses, the best foot exercising courses. I hardly get to see my true friend’s posts. I used to enjoy discussing controversial subjects with others but now I avoid it because with a blink of an eye if I disagree with anyone I am now suddenly a “stupid b….” . It is scary as is the world out there. I think the Australians have taken the first step in limiting young impressionable minds from social media’s nastiness. I believe we should follow. Somehow what started as a great way of communicating with friends and family far and wide and with others who you might never have met in real life, social media now just seems to give people permission to spout out lies and divisive poison. Ps I proudly wear my analogue watch every day!
Analog solidarity! Yes, there seems to have been a definite downturn in how people are on social media... maybe it's something to do with global feelings of frustration and powerlessness needing an outlet. Either way, it doesn't feel like it's a positive thing to invite into one's life on an hourly basis...
Although I just got asked on here to verify my age due to the new UK laws, apparently some people I follow post things that are not suitable for kids. This requires I give a valid uk identification document to Substack and all its third party vendors to view posts labelled for over 18’s or not for children. I will not be doing that… digital life sucks and is getting more and more inshitified (thank you for naming it Cory Doctorow) by the microsecond!
Also watched a documentary about US malls and strip malls being converted into weird micro apartments that have no kitchen areas due to fire restrictions in the commercial buildings so the residents have to buy food downstairs in the still operating shopping complex. Reminded me of Spares…. We’re almost there!
If I can find it again I’ll send you a link… :)
Thank you!
It's only ever been a matter of time... that thing about strip malls sounds weird and fascinating!
This is sad. It's like a bastion has fallen.The end of an era.
Twitter was the first time I was starstruck by a friendly response from a real published author by the name of you.
I'm still on X because of J.K. Rowling, who's announced that she'll stick to the dumpster fire she knows. But I have no other use for it.
BlueSky is not an alternative for me, either. You summarized that one well.
I'm glad you migrated over here, as I miss our interactions on Twitter! When that place was good, it was good.
There's an interesting piece in a domestic (Norwegian) newspaper about some friends who went to a cabin for the weekend and decided to ditch their phones. These were all women. The experiment was a disaster. They ran out of things to talk about.
Before cell phones, cabins were stocked with board games, comics, books, skis and fishing rods.
People ran out of things to talk about in days of yore as well.
I feel that here ought to be a moral here and that it might be that people seem to blame the cell phone for replacing human contact that not necessarily happened.
That's SUPER interesting. We have a small group of friends we occasionally go away for the weekend with. Someone always brings a jigsaw. People talk to whoever's cooking. You need something to do while chatting — not just sit there staring at each other.
I wonder if knitting was invented to have something to do while chatting, and then somebody accidentally discovered that the products could be used to make clothes.
I love that thought :-)