Bob CollinsI’m generally not a big fan of of the theatrics and drama of people who declare that they’re leaving Twitter. Just go, already, if it’s not for you.
Everyone who’s on Twitter already knows it’s become a cesspool of bickering and politics since, well, you know. That’s not all Twitter is, of course, but it can easily give you a skewed perspective of the human condition and that can be exhausting.
There are ways around this, of course. First, put down the phone. And don’t pick it up first thing in the morning while you’re taking care of the things most people do first thing in the morning. Second, put down the phone. That’s also third, fourth, and fifth.
Somewhere around sixth or seventh is “follow more accounts about dogs,” but I digress.
The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman on Friday explained why she’s put down the phone.
With exception of breaking news and my own stories, taking a break from this platform. No reason or prompt other than that it’s not really helping the discourse.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) July 15, 2018
Haberman has a good reason for not wanting to be consumed by it all anymore. She’s a White House correspondent, a species that is known for not having lives.
It’s probably no fun at all to start each day with an endless list of notifications, tweets to remind you how much you stink at your job. But let’s not get carried away in the drama. She penned her Twitter farewell Friday under the heading “news analysis.”
Twitter has stopped being a place where I could learn things I didn’t know, glean information that was free from errors about a breaking news story or engage in a discussion and be reasonably confident that people’s criticisms were in good faith.
Just go, already.
Related: When outrage is all the rate, progressive politics suffers (Boston Globe)
