# Abandoning twitter good idea or not? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 21, 2024, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989 "2024-08-21T11:18:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989/41 "2024-08-22T20:27:20Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > It should be illegal, being public political communication that’s inaccessible to a lot of people > [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > but can’t, because of age, location, and ability. By these arguments politicians shouldn’t be allowed to give statements to local papers (well, assuming they still existed), local TV stations, or any other media source that is not universally accessible. The bar to view things on ex-twitter is extremely low. It used to be even lower, when no account was required to read as much as you wanted. Back to the OP, most of the replies in this thread seem to be of the mostly useless variety of “I never used Twitter,” so I feel bad saying I barely ever used Twitter. I got an account back in 2009 or something because I got a free buffet if I followed MGM in Las Vegas. Anyway, I do use Bluesky quite a bit now. I check it nearly every day, sometimes even twice a day, and almost everyone I follow left a large ex-Twitter following and joined Bluesky. I think pretty much all of them say that even though their follow count went down, the quantity and quality of engagement went way up, and they are far more happy on Bluesky than even the Twitter glory days. Some of that is selection bias. The people I follow who are active are active on Bluesky because they like Bluesky. Of course, none of this is exclusionary. Who do you follow, do they post someplace else? If so, go make an account there and see how it goes. If you don’t like it the Mastodon police aren’t going to arrest you or anything, and as much as some might want it, ex-Twitter won’t do anything to you, either. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989/42 "2024-08-23T00:41:41Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > By these arguments politicians shouldn’t be allowed to give statements to local papers (well, assuming they still existed), local TV stations, or any other media source that is not universally accessible. The bar to view things on ex-twitter is extremely low. I have a very lengthy post percolating in my head about how when technology changes, some people are slower to adapt than others, and accommodations are made (say, two or three generations ago, granny is uncomfortable talking on the phone, having lived most of her life without it, so you send a letter instead). Now granny’s passed on, and literally (almost!) everybody has a phone of some sort, and we move on to the next technological shift. But this is not the thread for that. I just want _official_ communications from government offices to come through more than one channel with different levels of technology users in mind, in the spirit of near-universal accessibility, in order to reach the maximum number of people who need/want the message. Which pretty much already happens, so whatever. The SOTU is still on television, and (almost!) everybody has the ability to view TV, so I’ll save my real gripe for the day the White House skips that, just tweets the message, and says “What? Everybody’s on Twitter.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989/43 "2024-08-23T00:54:13Z")
Agreed that if a corrupt government decides to communicate only through corrupt crony capitalist channels (including paybacks) it’s time to break out the torches and pitchforks and gleefully (and fully justifiably to posterity) kill them all. Much as I hate Elmo & X & trump, we’re not there … yet. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989/44 "2024-08-23T06:59:44Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > > [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > > > They (media people) have the option, but it would be hard for most of them to quit. They’re trapped, unless, as I say, a critical mass all quit at once. If any one of them quit, they’d hamstring their own career. > > I’ve seen the argument that a large wave leaving effectively all at once is likely what you can expect, actually. **I don’t recall the name for the phenomenon, but essentially, due to people already being there, there’s significant inertia to stay there even as it becomes worse because that’s where _other_ people are.** But at some unpredictable point it will become bad enough that a threshold of reluctance is passed and people start leaving in a rapid cascade, the more who leave, the faster others leave in a self-reinforcing feedback loop. > > And once that happens the threshold is in the _other_ direction, and the barrier to luring people back will be as large as the one to getting them to leave. “network effect”? When something (particularly social media) is only useful because enough people use it. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2024, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989/45 "2024-08-23T07:09:39Z")
That might be what I was thinking of, yes. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989/46 "2024-08-28T14:51:18Z")
> [@Iori\_Yagami](#): > > Deplatforming yourself is not really a solution to anything, right? It sure the hell is… probably the best. Why are you sounding like people HAVE to read political drivel from all their relatives? Or post every little thought on social media? Just stop. Get off. I’ve never gone back, and it’s been over a decade now. The only downside is that I’m missing pics of the little kids in our fam… oh, wait, I’m not, because they know Uncle Luddite isn’t online, so they’ll show me photos of Little Brunhilda Playing Goalie, either on a facetime call or in person. Now, if you need me, I’ll be out on my bike (with a pannier full of books, for when I stop at a coffee place…). ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989/47 "2024-08-28T15:33:27Z")
I’ve never really used Twitter although I have a reasonably large following on a couple of other platforms; I do have a Twitter account, just because it’s necessary to log in to properly see some things that people are talking about if they send me a Twitter link to look at (and also to park my identity there as a possible safeguard against people impersonating me on a platform I don’t use, although I fully expect my named identity could simply be yoinked by someone who paid for the right kind of pseudo-authenticity badge, if they tried hard enough). ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2024, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989/48 "2024-08-28T15:51:26Z")
IMHO, mental health is a resource much like just about any other resource: if you’re flush, you can spend your energy, and face endless aggravation, pretty much without thinking about it. But when the resource of mental health feels like it’s starting to wane, make decisions that bolster it, and/or that remove things that tax it excessively or unnecessarily. > No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible. That’s a salient concept, but even “snowflakes” need to put the oxygen masks on themselves _first._ And to avoid mixing metaphors. Yeah. That, too. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abandoning-twitter-good-idea-or-not/1005989.md?page=2)