How I Become a Digital Hermit

So, it looks like Elon Musk is going to buy Twitter. He’s apparently going to take it private and “unlock its potential,” which may or may not mean giving famous Nazis back their Twitter accounts, and y’all, I am so tired.

I don’t have a big Twitter following. I mostly use it to retweet memes and promote my stuff. So, it’s not like anyone will really notice if I decide to quit, which I’ll have to do if it becomes a 24/7 klan rally in the name of “free speech.” A lot of the folks I follow have been saying similar things and wondering where they’ll go next if they decide to leave.

I’m sort of wondering if I’ll go anywhere else if I quit. Maybe I’ll just, like, go outside. I built a garden box last weekend with my hands and it was more satisfying than anything I’ve ever done with social media.

I used a level and shit. Behold!

I’ve also been reading the actual newspaper again, which is oddly soothing even though the news is almost uniformly terrifying. Every newspaper is basically a dispatch from the end of the world and yet, it doesn’t fill me with dread the way social media does.

It’s not all bad, of course. I’m still on Facebook, which, uh, has its problems. But I have a small circle there and a few Facebook groups that I couldn’t do without, including a number of mom groups. I never look at the news section and I haven’t had to deal with a troll over there in years. I also use LinkedIn, which has developed into a nice resource for keeping up with my professional contacts. (Remember when it was just a service that emailed you to beg for your address book? That seems like a thousand years ago.)

But for the most part, I feel like I’m coming to a crossroads with social media. If I drop Twitter, I probably won’t pick up a new service or network. I’ll probably just take it as a sign that it’s time to move on.

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What I’m Reading This Week

I’m going to be really honest with you and tell you that I have not been reading much because I discovered Schitt’s Creek (only like five years after everyone else) and I’ve been watching episodes on my iPad every night while waiting for Princess Beast to run out of BS and fall asleep. This can take hours so I’ve been making good progress on the series. I’m basically using this show, Ted Lasso, and reruns of Parks and Rec to get me through the end times.