"My own sad epiphany about Twitter, now known as X, came in the immediate aftermath of the US election in 2024. I'd spent a lot of that year lying to myself, ignoring the increasing volume of abuse I'd been receiving and the fact that no one ever read my linked pieces any more, but that week I realised I had to stop."
"Government ministers cannot be making policy announcements in a space that hosts AI-generated, near-naked pictures of young girls Much of the British political sphere chose to stay put, both that November and in the year that followed. Everyone had their reasons: some felt their reach would be curtailed without it, others wanted to be on all available possible platforms. Some said they relished the intensity of the debates, others didn't believe other platforms could ever be quite as thrilling or all encompassing."
"Most of those justifications were, of course, nonsense. Humans are creatures of habit and ego. If there is an app you have used every day for years, it will be tough for you to quit it, especially if it provided you with both adrenaline and dopamine. If you have a number of followers on that app, and that makes you feel important, it will be hard for you to willingly leave."
The writer experienced mounting abuse and dwindling readership on Twitter/X after the 2024 US election, prompting a decision to leave the platform for good. Government ministers cannot responsibly make policy announcements on a platform that hosts AI-generated, near-naked pictures of young girls. Many British politicians chose to stay because of reach concerns, platform ubiquity, the thrill of debate, or habit and ego. The writer acknowledges months of self-deception and the lure of followers, adrenaline, and dopamine. Being in Washington when Donald Trump won produced a shock that forced a dramatic break from the platform.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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