Why I left Twitter. Now I'm free!


Twitter. Yuck. Bleah. The place has become a toxic mire.

In 2012, I joined Twitter, because I was told it was a good place to promote myself. I gained over 10,000 followers and was heading for 11,000. The rules when I signed up said, "Always be kind and courteous." So I was.

In the last few years, there have been droves of people being absolute trolls, jerks, and taking offense at every tiny thing, to the point that everyone had to mince their words. Twitter didn't kick these scumbags off.

I began to realize that after every session on Twitter, I came off upset and frustrated.

There is a writing community there who lauds itself as extremely supportive. It's filled with self-proclaimed authors who laugh at procrastinating their writing. They have memes stating, "If you're a writer, you're on Twitter right now and thinking you should be writing." Another one was, "If you SAY you're a writer, then you're a writer." Most were not doing what it took to be a writer. These were also giving writing advice.


I've seen people upset over something, only to get attacked for no reason at all, save the attacker wanted to seem intelligent. There are long threads where people do nothing but fight. The only safe thing to do is talk about whether you like this kind of chicken or that, hate or love ice cream, go on long, pointless conversations about olives. If you're tagged in one of these asinine conversations and don't catch it right away, your notifications skyrocket and you can't find what's important.

If you do catch it, chances are, you're a slave to Twitter when you could be doing what matters, like writing, reading, spending time with your kid, and any other number of real things.


Twitter is supposed to be a platform for authors to promote their work, and yet those who do get branded. Some rats go so far as to tag the authors in a thread, telling everyone not to follow them because they promote their books. Who else will do it if not the author? Now they have a shameless self promo day that's extended into other days of the week. Nobody is selling anything. Some authors sell nothing for months.

They say, "Buy each other's books. If you buy someone's book, they will buy yours. Swap reviews."

This is not good in the least. This means you buy a ton of books, most of which will be truly crap, and you're obligated to give a five-star review for something you hate. Plus, you make none of that spent money up in royalties.


You end up knowing the author, which is bad, because if you happen upon a rat, this person has the potential to revenge review you. This means pinning a one-star review on your book because they're angry. What's worse is if the author is your friend and you don't like their book. What then? I've seen authors bemoaning what to do when this happens.

Now there are large groups of authors demanding five stars for everything they write, whether or not the work deserves it. They say, "If you're an author, you know how hard it is to write a book, so you should give everyone five stars." I've seen some crap books that look like rough drafts written in two weeks. Tons of five stars. They're Indie books, which means there were review swaps and these authors know each other.

It's a sickening cycle and if you get caught, you're trapped. I was trapped. I had to endure one stupid comment after another, wishing I could go back to what my Twitter used to be when I had 100 followers. My feed was full of beautiful pictures and lovely quotes. I fell into the world of numbers and "a follow for a follow" and "build your platform!" A platform of non-readers who will only buy your book if you buy theirs, and then never read it. Maybe they donate it to Goodwill. I can count on my fingers how many friends I made there.


Some of my friends started leaving Twitter and I felt left behind inside a chaotic cage without a door, and walls painted to look like I was outside. Some writers announced they were going to quit writing because they didn't see results and Twitter was mean. They didn't want to deal with that mess anymore.

The day I quit was the day I nearly got into an argument with a troll who've I've seen trolling other people. Maybe I should have blocked this person when I had the chance, but I think it was good I didn't. The person ended up being my Gollum. I'd already been attacked, I'd seen so much stupid it was driving me up the wall, and I was on the verge of snapping. I've never argued on Twitter, but I was ready to claw this wretch up.


I responded the first time, and I know Gollum responded to me, probably with some political garbage that had nothing to do with anything, but I didn't open the notification. I realized I was falling deeper down the Twitter hole. I was thinking dark things only a furious Apache could think, and knew this was wrong. My God didn't want me thinking these things, or feeling these things. What's more, Twitter is stupid. Why should I let some virtual reality that can go down any time ruin my entire life?

Instead of clicking on the notification, I went straight into settings and deactivated my account on the spot. As soon as it closed, the fury and anger got sucked away. I'd found the hidden door to the cage. I got out and I'm free.


Comments

  1. I have never had a Twitter account. Goodness gracious, it sounds like it's not worth it! I think you did the right thing for your sanity by stepping away.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks. Twitter isn't worth it. I've been so much happier ever since. 😊

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  2. Hi Julia, I'm giving up as well. I'll leave links to my books but that's it. I've had to block someone because they keep putting me into these follow days, weeks et al, even though I politely request not to be tagged. Still after all, this person keeps doing it and apparently I can't report them for annoying me so. My notifications blow up and no one cares to even say "Hi" It was fun to begin with, but now it's just frustrating. Regardless, I joined with new email (rebrand if you want) in June 2020 it lasted about a month, then down the loo it went. October is a tough month for me, so I'll be updating everything for my sanity from November 🤣🤣🤣

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    1. Those follow trains are the worst! I was excited with lots of notifications, too, but nobody said hello, either. I knew I was going to lose it. LOL. I hope your November is much better than October. I'm glad you're escaping that cage without walls or a key. It's really nice. People are so negative on there and that is the last thing anybody needs. Happy Halloween! Eat lots of candy! LOL And may you regain your sanity. :D

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    2. Hi Julia, sorry for the late reply. Here's hoping you're having a wonderful 12-days of Christmas. I've subscribed to your blog. In new year, if I have the funds to fix my laptop, I need to find out how to add tabs and SUBSCRIBE + Contact link on my blog page.

      Still trying to find a platform to communicate but it's proving elusive. I've joined AllAuthor as well as StoryOrigin and StoryGraph. StoryOrigin, I can't complete profile as I've all my programs and stories on laptop (yeah, vicious circle, I know). Most new places I've found, platform-wise, once again posts from Authors speaking about their books and links ARE REMOVED! Oh the cheek of it, urgh! Anyway my latest blog post is an interview. If you want to read it, drop me an email, I'll send you the link then. CeDany BB V-V!

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    3. It's totally fine. :) And I'm so glad you've subscribed! I've had a very good Christmas, and I hope you did, too. A guy named Bryan Cohen is doing a free Amazon Ad profit challenge in 15 days, where he helps you sell your book on Amazon and you join a facebook group to get help from a lot of professionals and people who will help you every step of the way, and so you don't need to go onto platforms where your book will get deleted.

      I don't have your e-mail, and when I clicked to go to your website, it got blocked. If you could e-mail me, you can send me the link to the interview, which I would love to read, and I will send you the Amazon Ad Challenge.

      Hm... maybe that will be my new post today. I think I'll do that, then it'll be easier for you to get to.

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    4. Hi dear, sorry about that, here's my Biolinky to reach me and my sites, all updated!
      https://biolinky.co/cdbnovelist

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    5. Went back to Twitter and same happened again! I know, I'm cleaning out again, I'm fed up of negativity by some in just two short months yuck! I'll be joining Novellic it's a Book Club app. It might end up putting my books in front of actual readers as StoryGraph didn't. Later dear!
      https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.novellic

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    6. Thank you very much! Twitter is a mire of worms. I hope you get your books out there!

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