I have to admit: I was a Twitter-fanatic back then. I used it for 10 years now, but for the past couple of years, Twitter got more and more irrelevant to me personally, so I mainly utilized it for sharing business-announcements and the likes.

Twitter Logo taken from Wikipedia

That could have continued for the next ten years, but there is a different aspect in Twitter disturbing me: The discussion culture, or better: The lack of any discussion culture.

Discussions vs. Shouting

I was raised with a culture of asking and discussing. That was something, I liked in the Newsgroups in the 90s and in many, many forums. It was a matter of respect, allowing others to make their point and to hear their arguments – and discussing them, attacking the arguments (not the person) and always knowing there’s a person on the other end. That gave things a personal aspect, there was room for irony, jokes and even friendships growing from there.

I learned a lot from this. It widened my horizon. It allowed me to grow.

With Twitter, this is different.

Twitter is not a place for discussion or for learning from other people’s arguments. Twitter is for shouting out, for sharing something without caring about any others, since there is no such things as threads, moderation and a common sense, as you have (or had) with other platforms. It is about being the loudest, mobilizing people, shortening things to just headlines. It is about black and white – and nothing in-between. There is no room for personal aspects, for irony or jokes, since pretty much everything is dragged out onto the public. There is no humanity anymore, there are Twitter-bots and a loud, cheering crowd.

That changed discussion culture in our society: We have a US-president, who’s making politics by using Twitter. We have shitstorms. We have right-winged parties just pushing and hating – and communities, that behave the same.

Perhaps I’m too old for that

I don’t want to be part of that game anymore.

Perhaps I’m too old, perhaps I’m too conservative, perhaps I’m too naive – but I usually expect people to get in touch instead of just starting shitstorms, I expect people to express their questions, criticism and concerns towards me before mobilizing masses. And I don’t see that happening anymore with Twitter. Because it is so easy to just attack instead of asking or instead of discussing (and accepting other points of view). Black-White is always easier than Colors and Shades.

That is not the way I want to be involved in discussions. That is not the way I want to operate. That is not what defines me. That is not what reflects me, my ideas, my wishes and expectations.

Bye, bye

Therefore: Farewell, Twitter. We’re going different paths, I do not want to be part of the shouting crowd anymore. There are more important things in life than Twitter and a culture of obsession and being loud. I doubt reaching the right people here with the right messages. My company will perhaps remain with Twitter, but I’ll quit that chapter for me.

Now.

Feels good to me.