The (Not Always) Fine Print - Vol. 5

It's time to talk about Twitter...

Social media. It’s all around us at this point. In truth, SubStack itself is a social media platform. It just happens to allow long-form content, where most focus on visuals or short, punchy prose.

I’m a millennial, so for me it started in a much more innocent time. When the friends I’d spent all day with would log onto MSN Messenger and we’d talk as if we hadn’t seen in each other for weeks.

It was also how I’d (try to) to talk to girls I wasn’t confident enough to flirt with during the school day. For those who don’t remember, MSN Messenger had a ‘nudge’, a feature that literally shook the chat window if someone ignored you. At the time, I thought it was smooth. In retrospect? It screams ‘please, for the love of God, notice me!’

Then there was MySpace. Oh, what a time to be alive. Designing your profile, picking the all-important track to autoplay when people visited, and, most petty of all, curating your Top 8. Yes, people really argued about being bumped down the list.

If only that was as dramatic as social media got these days…

The anti-social network

The Twitter I joined in 2011 and the Twitter that exists today are two very different phenomena. As different as the Nokia 3310 and the AI-powered nightmare sat in your pocket as you read this.

It used to be a place to share thoughts, converse with people from all four corners of the world and discuss niche topics with those who share the same hobbies and interests.

Today, it’s often a hellscape promoting bile at every turn. It feels like hate-speech is just as common as memes at this point. Some say my proclivity for politics exposes me to more hate aimed at vulnerable groups. Basically, a Daily Mail headline in real time.

While there is some truth to that, my feed is also filled with pro-wrestling chat (it wasn’t a phase, Mom!). Even discussions about TV shows often devolve into vitriolic insults.

At some point, the ability to politely disagree died. What was the turning point? Here’s looking at you, Elon…

Fighting the good fight

I’ve been asked quite a lot why I’ve not followed the crowd and left Twitter behind. Especially given my political leanings, which I’m sure you’ve worked out by now.

I throw no shade at anyone that has made the choice to leave. I almost did last summer during the anti-immigration riots that hit Bristol in August 2024. I shared a photo of graffiti that made it clear that migrants are welcome here, it’s the fascists that need to pack their bags. That resulted in more than 400 responses, some of which could easily classify as death threats.

While it might seem counterintuitive, that experience hits the crux of why I’m staying put. Yes, I was treated like a sub-human by the far-right once they found my post, but there was an equally loud voice fighting my corner.

That camaraderie shone through in what could have been a very dark time and made me realise something. If everyone decides to up and leave Twitter because of the extremists, the far-right wins. That loud minority then has an established echo chamber to continue spreading racism, homophobia and transphobia until their hearts’ content.

So I’m not going anywhere. I refuse to play into the hands of the extremists by giving up a platform I used to love. Still to this day, it’s home to some great friends that I’d have never met if it weren’t for Twitter.

Leaving would be easy. Staying takes grit and courage, qualities clearly in short supply for anyone blaming asylum seekers in dinghies for their own poor life choices.