Stepping back from Twitter once again has been a good decision. And I feel like it might "stick" this time, because I'm feeling a whole bunch of interesting things that I haven't felt before on previous occasions when I've taken a Twitter break.
The most significant of these is probably the fact that the prospect of Twitter now causes me anxiety. Now, this is not a good thing in and of itself, but it is a sign that I recognise what a bad influence that site can be on one's life and mental wellbeing.
To explain what I mean, I have poked my head in on Twitter a couple of times on the last week, but only to see if I had any mentions or direct messages. I had a few, and no-one wanted to shout at me. Great. However, the moment I saw the main timeline, I felt an odd sensation somewhat akin to panic, weirdly, and I knew that I just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. The tab was closed and I didn't even look at anything anyone had posted. I didn't want to know.
The other thing is that stepping back from Twitter allows one to put things into perspective somewhat. On Twitter everything is a massive deal, the worst thing that ever happened, literally killing people or something along those lines. And it's easy to get swept up in that hysteria — and it is hysteria — every time something mildly inconvenient happens. However, take a step back and think about the things that you're considering getting angry about, and almost a perfect ten times out of ten I can guarantee that they're probably not worth getting angry about — because there's nothing you can do about them, because they don't really affect you all that much, because there are infinitely better, more productive and more fun things you could be doing with your time.
I watched a video on YouTube earlier by someone I occasionally enjoy commentary on recent happenings by, because although he's an active participant in social media, he recognises when people are being silly. His most recent video highlighted an excellent example of this, and he still had people in his comments saying how wrong he was, "well actually"-ing and all that good stuff. When I was fully engaged with Twitter, I might have been right there with them; having not actively engaged with the site for several weeks now, I understand what he's saying and why.
So outside of daily posts promoting my content, channel, book and that stuff, you won't be seeing me around Twitter for the discernible future. There are plenty of means to get in touch with me, though! You can leave a comment or use the contact form on MoeGamer, you can leave a comment here on Patreon, you can send me a message through Patreon, or you can hit me up on Discord if you have that.
Twitter has become a negative influence in my life, and I don't need it. So out the window it goes — as a means of social interaction, anyway.
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