Fun & Famous

WHY I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND WHEN PEOPLE QUIT TWITTER

Every now and then, a news story surfaces about a celebrity or other famous person deciding to leave the Twitter era behind. The account gets locked or, even more drastically, goes completely offline. Actress Sanne Wallis de Vries is the latest in line; her account disappeared from the digital earth last week because she “no longer wants to be approachable for crazies.” And every time I see that, I actually feel really jealous.

There was a time when I was just as obsessed with Twitter as I am now with Instagram. Keep in mind: Instagram didn't even exist back then; Twitter was basically the only other social medium besides Facebook. Facebook quickly became annoying with an abundance of baby photos, while Twitter at least shared fun jokes and interesting links. I was crazy about Twitter and even made friendships through it.

But Twitter is also pure poison, as Aaf Brandt Corstius puts it. There is no place on the internet where people are so overwhelmingly negative as on Twitter. No matter what you do, you can be sure that 80% of the ’tweeps’ will dump a hefty load of crap on you. You appear on TV and have an opinion? You say something on the radio? You write an article? Everyone says it: check. Twitter. not.

”On Twitter, there are almost only assholes, also known as ’trolls’”

But still, you do it, I do too, and it's almost never fun. Amayzine once came under heavy fire (read here how and what) and that was further fueled by Twitter. On Twitter, there are almost only assholes, also known as ’trolls.’ On Twitter, you find the best armchair critics who always know better. Microsoft set up a bot as an experiment, named Tay, which could respond just like a real person. ‘They’ learned that through human Twitter interaction, but in no time, the corrupt Twitter user had taught her all antisemitic and racist tweets. Nice.

Nowadays, I rarely post anything on Twitter and limit myself to Instagram (and okay, secretly also a bit of Snapchat). I still follow a handful of interesting people who do write fun things and share good links, but in order to maintain a good mood, I no longer search for other tweets.

I don't think I can quit the platform. In case of world news, it's damn handy to follow live journalists covering the news, but ooooh, how I completely understand that you, especially if you're famous, just want to get rid of it all. Just give me Instagram, where you can sprinkle cheerful hearts, the cappuccinos are always perfectly shaped, and the sunset is invariably the most beautiful in the world. #blessed.