Over six months completely off Twitter, after over a decade being on it every single day.
There’s a lot to unpack.
Am I less anxious and depressed? Yes. No doubt. It feels almost weird that despite whatever happening around, I’ll take it, and move on.
Seeing the same bad news a few dozen times a day is an absolute mind killer that I’m glad is gone from my life right now.
Am I missing Twitter? No and yes. Twitter is the closest thing to a digital cigarette.
It’s really wild: the first time you connect after being addicted is like the first puff. You get a buzz –hilarious comment, smart tip-, you smile, you feel good. Then you almost feel more focused, just like the first 2mn of a cigarette break.
And then it’s over. It goes inexorably downhill after that.
You scroll down, see a murder, read some inane comment about something mildly interesting, someone is trying too hard next, then a funny gif but is it really the time to smile? Some terrible national news, here’s a puppy and some obscure challenge hashtag etc. After those first good minutes you hate yourself more and more. Your heart rate goes up and your chest feels compressed.
And just like a cigarette in the hands of a veteran smoker, you are hurrying to end the smoke session. More than half the cigarette is making you feel bad about yourself. The after taste makes you feel guilty.
Twitter is the same, in about the same time frame of a small smoke break. You scroll faster to make it stop.
I do miss the friends I was having a Twitter smoke break with. Not necessarily friends, but people you overhear and giggle at what they say or agree with heavily without needing to interact much. After thousands of days with them, and now a couple hundreds without them, I still miss them a bit.