That headline is fairly self-explanatory, but in case you need a bit more detail:
I've been umming and ahhing for many months about whether to keep my Twitter account. Obviously, the site is now a hellhole of fascist and authoritarian propaganda, served with heaping helpings of misogyny and racism, and it's owned by one of the worst people in the world. I feel morally compromised just by being there. I also get very little benefit from it: most of the interesting people I used to follow have left or don't post, and the stories I share on there get little or no traction. All those factors pushed me to leave.
At the same time, I've been reluctant to delete my account. There's a big archive of posts (although I have downloaded a copy). My follower count has largely held up, although, given how little engagement I get, I suspect that's mostly because people haven't got around to deleting their accounts. There is a slim but non-zero chance that someone else will take over the site and turn it back into something decent. It did also occur to me that, if I deleted my account, somebody could impersonate me on there - although I doubt I'm important enough for anyone to bother.
Also, sidenote, while Elon Musk is absolutely awful, the owners of the other social media sites are not much better. Mark Zuckerberg is dreadful, and he owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads. I could leave all of those too, but at that point I wouldn't have many outlets left. (I'm sorry, Mastodon doesn't count: it has failed to draw in non-techy users. Maybe that will change, but for now I've given up on it.)
Anyway, two things happened to help me make up my mind. One was that Loomly, the software I use to manage all my social media, announced it was discontinuing support for X. The other was that I saw the National Autistic Society's new policy on X, which is to keep their account but freeze it and stop posting. This seemed to me the best way to thread the needle. Anyone who searches for my old posts will still find them and hopefully gain something, but I'm no longer actively contributing to a hellsite.
You can find me on pretty much any other social media site:
I've been umming and ahhing for many months about whether to keep my Twitter account. Obviously, the site is now a hellhole of fascist and authoritarian propaganda, served with heaping helpings of misogyny and racism, and it's owned by one of the worst people in the world. I feel morally compromised just by being there. I also get very little benefit from it: most of the interesting people I used to follow have left or don't post, and the stories I share on there get little or no traction. All those factors pushed me to leave.
At the same time, I've been reluctant to delete my account. There's a big archive of posts (although I have downloaded a copy). My follower count has largely held up, although, given how little engagement I get, I suspect that's mostly because people haven't got around to deleting their accounts. There is a slim but non-zero chance that someone else will take over the site and turn it back into something decent. It did also occur to me that, if I deleted my account, somebody could impersonate me on there - although I doubt I'm important enough for anyone to bother.
Also, sidenote, while Elon Musk is absolutely awful, the owners of the other social media sites are not much better. Mark Zuckerberg is dreadful, and he owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads. I could leave all of those too, but at that point I wouldn't have many outlets left. (I'm sorry, Mastodon doesn't count: it has failed to draw in non-techy users. Maybe that will change, but for now I've given up on it.)
Anyway, two things happened to help me make up my mind. One was that Loomly, the software I use to manage all my social media, announced it was discontinuing support for X. The other was that I saw the National Autistic Society's new policy on X, which is to keep their account but freeze it and stop posting. This seemed to me the best way to thread the needle. Anyone who searches for my old posts will still find them and hopefully gain something, but I'm no longer actively contributing to a hellsite.
You can find me on pretty much any other social media site:
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