It’s OK to Ignore Twitter

After all, the vast majority of the country does.

About nine months ago, I stopped spending much time on Twitter. Part of this was accidental: I’d just signed a new book contract and had to transfer much of my doomscrolling time into book-writing time. But I also was exhausted. I’d been shut inside like you for most of 2020 and 2021, spending that time terrified by whatever fresh horror would await me on Twitter, and I was ready for a break. At some point, I asked myself a reasonable question: Am I happier when I close this app than I was before I opened it? The answer was never, ever “yes.”

So I’ve mostly quit. I haven’t deleted my account or anything: I still like to Tweet out pieces I’ve written, and I’m not against popping on occasionally to toss off a joke.

On the whole, though: I really don’t use Twitter anymore. I do not intend this as an indictment of the app’s power users, the people (often in media or some sort of equally self-promotional field) who open up and stare at the site all day; if it works for you, if it makes you feel a little less…