Since leaving twitter, for the first time since I crossed 5,000 followers, I have fewer than twenty messages in my hollymathnerd email to reply to. Messages of that nature going forward will be much more helpful and meaningful than they would have in the past, if you ever care to send one!!
You would like El Gato Malo, if you want another substack subscription. I have no idea who he is IRL, but he seems to know his way around data and statistics, even if he does have a bit of a tendency to conspiricism and a truly astonishing addiction to memes.
For my part, I don’t think humans are either smart or loyal enough to run a conspiracy for any appreciable length of time. Perverse incentives are my go-to explanation for the current state of the world.
Without Twitter, I would not be motivated at all to pay attention to current events – and, as a citizen, I think I probably should. Besides, it’s much more amusing to read hot takes on political speeches than to listen to them from the source, given the parlous state of oratory today.
However, I just replied the other day to Kamala Harris’s assertion that “we all have the same capacity” and that took off to @HollyMathNerd levels. It’s exhausting – but encouraging that most Twitterers involved agree with me that that’s not remotely true. Never has been, and never will be (unless “Harrison Bergeron” comes to pass).
Still on the transgenderism beat, too, now that I have 5 grandkids. No. 6 is due in January, and the kids (two sets of parents) are each planning 4, for a total of 8.
None of them will ever set foot in a public school unless things change radically (or reactionarily, whatever …).
I opened a Twitter account maybe within 2 years of its inception. You know why? There was a weather event going on in my area about which I wanted to get live updates. I think I checked it out maybe a couple of times and then forgot about it. Never been back and don't care, especially after hearing so many complaints about it. I follow links to stuff on Twitter, and read the comments on some of them - can't say I've seen anything that comes close to the comment sections of the Substacks I follow and blogs I visit. Probably just me. You Tube clutters my feed with "Shorts" of content creators I follow and that along with notifications telling me a video is arriving in 30 minutes just irritates the hell out of me. Frankly, I have a longer attention span than 140 characters or 30 seconds. Glad you've discovered LAT (life after Twitter) and how much it has to offer.
I just got the boot from twitter. I've been trying to wean myself off for some time, to no avail. So I'm taking it as a nudge in the right direction. Four or five days out, now, and the only thing I miss is the artbots. It is really quite good for viewing art, and studying art history. I blew out my knee big time playing soccer the other day, which has also proved to be a blessing in disguise. Last time I was home injured I plunged deeper into twitter than normal, which lasted much longer than the injury itself. It's been great. Naps on the grass with my dog, lots of reading great books, and not a hint of that chaotic, acidic digital-fog between the ears I've been so saturated in the last year. I do miss those damn artbots, though. I need to find an alternative. Glad things are going well for you, Holly!
never never got into twitter, have FB and instagram. That is enough. I can still follow current events, and I can let go and watch old black and white tv series from the 1960’s Lost in space here I come!
I suspect part of the reason Twitter is so bad and Substack/Locals (and even OnlyFans, now that you mention it) are better is that all of us paying subscribers (and even the freebies) feel a sense of community - that even though we might mot agree on everything, we probably agree on enough.
It thus makes me sad that that’s not the case on Twitter... that even though (I suspect) 95% of the people you interact with on Twitter are Americans, “American” isn’t enough of a community to guarantee a modicum of civility and respect. For example, there was a sense back in the 80s and 90s that after an election, both sides would come together and get to the real business of living together. That seems to be gone. By contrast, even though you are decidedly not a conservative Christian (and I am,) there’s still enough of a sense of community that we can talk politely (in the comments, anyway.).
I guess I bring this up only to mention that I suspect the problem is bigger than Twitter. You probably already knew that though :)
I'm sadly still on Twitter, and it's still a massive shitshow, BUT ... and there is always a but .... the only problem is the mainstream news is so crazy now and is little more than a running advertisement for Pfizer, climate change hysteria (as opposed to actual climate science reporting) and faceless "experts" that know everything yet we are never told who they are, that there is no point in watching, reading or listening to it, while ignoring or wildly distorting real stories that affect people's lives.
There are some great accounts on Twitter - like panning for gold it's hard to find them. I have found a few nuggets such as yourself.
I also feel for the guy .... it's hard, once you find a nugget, someone you can agree or disagree with and engage in good faith back and forth, and suddenly they block you. Not saying this guy was actually like this, but no one subscribes to your substack who is entrenched in a particular narrative and only wants to hear stuff they agree with.
I'm glad you said this -- it gives me a chance to try to show a little of the difference between Twitter and everywhere else, when you have a ton of followers. I'm sure that this is what it looks like from the perspective of someone with somewhere south of 5,000 followers, or an account that doesn't get a ton of engagement. Numbers in (parentheses) are how many notifications I have at each point.
Me: logs on to twitter after sitting down with breakfast. (93)
Me: tweets what I want to say about whatever is on my mind, then go to the notifications tab (99) to take a look, click like on some replies, and post perhaps two responses.
Me: goes back to the thing I tweeted ten minutes ago after clearing my notifications from what was in them when I started this.
Me: starts reading replies. (52)
COMMENT TREES HAVE BRANCHES. BRANCH 1:
good_faith_nitpicker: I agree with you but don't forget that #notall are like that! (71)
helpful_reply_guy: dude. 280 characters. Do you really think she doesn't know that #notall are like that?
good_faith_nitpicker: her tweet gave the impression that she thinks #allaretoo like that, yeah.
(87)
me: Obviously, #notall are like that. I have so many notifications that I kind of have to count on my followers to interpret my tweets reasonably and without excessive nitpicking.
(95)
good_faith_nitpicker: you're a mathematician, so this "nitpicking" accusation is both surprising and hurtful. Also frankly insulting. I thought you cared about precision.
(123)
less_helpful_reply_guy: oh FFS. How many bridges are going to fall down if she's not as precise as you want her to be in a f***ing tweet?
(139)
good_faith_nitpicker: I don't think she needs you to defend her. She should be speaking for herself and would if she had an argument!!
(155)
random_cool_follower: wow, I never dreamed you'd respond to my response! While I have you, what do you think about (news story on which there are multiple angles worth considering and to which a proper response would be five pages, not 280 characters).
(6 other followers chime in with their takes on that story and it quickly devolves into a fight)
BRANCH 2:
woke_hate_follower: here we go again. I'm surprised you haven't blocked me. The way that you've been radicalized by James Lindsay is a huge example of one of the dangers of internet radicalization. Imma write my congressman right now.
(170)
Me: you do that, guy.
(177)
woke_hate_follower: long and aggressive series of tweets to which I respond where I want and don't where I don't want since I'm doing twitter over breakfast and have (228) notifications now.
good_faith_nitpicker: Ah ha! I KNEW you really thought that #yesall because that is how I am interpreting one of your responses here to my super nuanced point from which you have run like a scared rabbit because you have NO defense!!!!
helpful_reply_guy: Wow @good_faith_nitpicker, you should be adding your pronouns, eh? Seeing you pick a side with @woke_hate_follower is veeeeery telling.
good_faith_nitpicker: I just want her to defend her point or admit she's wrong. Debate is how we do everything in Western civilization or do you not know that?
less_helpful_reply_guy: maybe she hasn't even read your response yet, idiot.
(301)
Me: adds a reply tweet to my original tweet imagining the scene in Athens if the founders of Western thought all were limited to 280 characters and behaved like twitter, with a funny gif.
(319)
COMMENT BRANCH 3:
cool_longtime_follower_who_gets_me: kind reply that makes me smile, to which I reply with thanks.
(334)
good_faith_nitpicker: replies to my reply asking if I would please just address his point? He's busy.
(355)
helpful_reply_guy: entitled much?
(433)
Me: sees the jump in notifications in the last ten seconds and realizes someone with a big platform has gotten involved. Starts looking.
(511)
(588)
(616)
Me: finds a person with a ton of followers who has QT'd me and dunked, stupidly in my opinion, but this is going to fill up my notifications with a lot of crap. Considers what to do for perhaps two minutes.
(703)
(777)
(802)
(811)
(852)
woke_hate_followers: RT's the QT'd dunk
less_helpful_reply_guy: can't even think for yourself can you?
(909)
Me: decides not to reply at all but reads COMMENT BRANCH 4, which has devolved into three people arguing about whether or not my being pro-choice makes me a Wokie who won't admit she's a Wokie; COMMENT BRANCH 5, which has evolved into a discussion of Star Trek and whether my liking most, not all, of Picard means I'm insane in particular or if you just have to grow up on TOS to really "get" Star Trek; COMMENT BRANCH 6, which @good_faith_nitpicker has linked to with a QT and written an introduction of how it fully explains the difficulty of people like me who get radicalized by Twitter. I read it and it's a masterpiece of seeming to think that any tweet can or should sum up anyone's full position. I add a tweet to my original thread pointing people to my Substack if they *actually* care what I think and aren't just performing for an audience; COMMENT BRANCH 7, which is @less_helpful_reply_guy saying everything I want to say myself now and three followers who think more highly of me than they probably should being all "no, no, I don't think she really thinks that."
(1141)
Me: considers how bad for me all this hyper-focus on me is, how in God's name I'm going to explain all this bullshit to my therapist, and wonders why I'm on Twitter at all.
(1201)
Me: looks up at the clock and sees that my intended 30 minutes over breakfast is now at 75 minutes.
(1499)
Me: realizes someone else with a big platform just got involved.
(1616)
Me: makes myself log off Twitter.
Me: stupidly does some version of this again four more times before the sun goes down.
*****the above is a typical type of Twitter experience when you have a lot of followers and get a lot of interaction. I didn't even mention the DMs that would be flowing in during this. If you would be patient enough to not block anyone who, from his own perspective, is engaging in good faith back and forth, then I admire you your level of patience and your independent wealth that gives you that much free time. :-)
I feel the same way about Facebook, which I left in 2018 or 2019. I'm on twitter, but not very often. I might spend an hour a week (which is still way too much time for the negative reward involved).
I like Dave Chapelle's take on twitter, which is that "it isn't real."
To the extent that this statement is untrue for people, I'm guessing they are proportionately unhappy.
I suspect I don't use twitter like most people do. I signed up early on. Wondered what the point of it was and mostly stopped using it at all for a long while except for occasionally posting some meme that would then disappear into the ether and never be seen again. I started up when the Ukraine war began because I found that some Twitterers had useful insights into that war and often better news about it than any more traditional outlet. I would prefer it if these people would publish their long threads somewhere other than twitter but they don't so I go visit their twitter profiles directly to see what they say. I tend not to go to the general twitter feed and I certainly hate with a passion the "twitter knows best" curated version (I'm very glad Elon Musk explained in a tweet how to get rid of that option)
On the whole I see no good in twitter. Twitter as a whole seems to live on encouraging people to become toxic avatars of their real selves. and if it weren't there these people I like there could be blogging (or substacking) and I'd greatly prefer that for them.
Congratulations on cutting the twitter thread. It's good for you. I hope more people do too
Since leaving twitter, for the first time since I crossed 5,000 followers, I have fewer than twenty messages in my hollymathnerd email to reply to. Messages of that nature going forward will be much more helpful and meaningful than they would have in the past, if you ever care to send one!!
You would like El Gato Malo, if you want another substack subscription. I have no idea who he is IRL, but he seems to know his way around data and statistics, even if he does have a bit of a tendency to conspiricism and a truly astonishing addiction to memes.
For my part, I don’t think humans are either smart or loyal enough to run a conspiracy for any appreciable length of time. Perverse incentives are my go-to explanation for the current state of the world.
Without Twitter, I would not be motivated at all to pay attention to current events – and, as a citizen, I think I probably should. Besides, it’s much more amusing to read hot takes on political speeches than to listen to them from the source, given the parlous state of oratory today.
However, I just replied the other day to Kamala Harris’s assertion that “we all have the same capacity” and that took off to @HollyMathNerd levels. It’s exhausting – but encouraging that most Twitterers involved agree with me that that’s not remotely true. Never has been, and never will be (unless “Harrison Bergeron” comes to pass).
Yup.
Still on the transgenderism beat, too, now that I have 5 grandkids. No. 6 is due in January, and the kids (two sets of parents) are each planning 4, for a total of 8.
None of them will ever set foot in a public school unless things change radically (or reactionarily, whatever …).
Although I miss your tweets, I'm so glad getting off of Twitter has been so positive for you. Seriously thinking about taking the plunge myself.
I opened a Twitter account maybe within 2 years of its inception. You know why? There was a weather event going on in my area about which I wanted to get live updates. I think I checked it out maybe a couple of times and then forgot about it. Never been back and don't care, especially after hearing so many complaints about it. I follow links to stuff on Twitter, and read the comments on some of them - can't say I've seen anything that comes close to the comment sections of the Substacks I follow and blogs I visit. Probably just me. You Tube clutters my feed with "Shorts" of content creators I follow and that along with notifications telling me a video is arriving in 30 minutes just irritates the hell out of me. Frankly, I have a longer attention span than 140 characters or 30 seconds. Glad you've discovered LAT (life after Twitter) and how much it has to offer.
I just got the boot from twitter. I've been trying to wean myself off for some time, to no avail. So I'm taking it as a nudge in the right direction. Four or five days out, now, and the only thing I miss is the artbots. It is really quite good for viewing art, and studying art history. I blew out my knee big time playing soccer the other day, which has also proved to be a blessing in disguise. Last time I was home injured I plunged deeper into twitter than normal, which lasted much longer than the injury itself. It's been great. Naps on the grass with my dog, lots of reading great books, and not a hint of that chaotic, acidic digital-fog between the ears I've been so saturated in the last year. I do miss those damn artbots, though. I need to find an alternative. Glad things are going well for you, Holly!
never never got into twitter, have FB and instagram. That is enough. I can still follow current events, and I can let go and watch old black and white tv series from the 1960’s Lost in space here I come!
First off, I’m happy for you!
I suspect part of the reason Twitter is so bad and Substack/Locals (and even OnlyFans, now that you mention it) are better is that all of us paying subscribers (and even the freebies) feel a sense of community - that even though we might mot agree on everything, we probably agree on enough.
It thus makes me sad that that’s not the case on Twitter... that even though (I suspect) 95% of the people you interact with on Twitter are Americans, “American” isn’t enough of a community to guarantee a modicum of civility and respect. For example, there was a sense back in the 80s and 90s that after an election, both sides would come together and get to the real business of living together. That seems to be gone. By contrast, even though you are decidedly not a conservative Christian (and I am,) there’s still enough of a sense of community that we can talk politely (in the comments, anyway.).
I guess I bring this up only to mention that I suspect the problem is bigger than Twitter. You probably already knew that though :)
I'm sadly still on Twitter, and it's still a massive shitshow, BUT ... and there is always a but .... the only problem is the mainstream news is so crazy now and is little more than a running advertisement for Pfizer, climate change hysteria (as opposed to actual climate science reporting) and faceless "experts" that know everything yet we are never told who they are, that there is no point in watching, reading or listening to it, while ignoring or wildly distorting real stories that affect people's lives.
There are some great accounts on Twitter - like panning for gold it's hard to find them. I have found a few nuggets such as yourself.
I also feel for the guy .... it's hard, once you find a nugget, someone you can agree or disagree with and engage in good faith back and forth, and suddenly they block you. Not saying this guy was actually like this, but no one subscribes to your substack who is entrenched in a particular narrative and only wants to hear stuff they agree with.
I'm glad you said this -- it gives me a chance to try to show a little of the difference between Twitter and everywhere else, when you have a ton of followers. I'm sure that this is what it looks like from the perspective of someone with somewhere south of 5,000 followers, or an account that doesn't get a ton of engagement. Numbers in (parentheses) are how many notifications I have at each point.
Me: logs on to twitter after sitting down with breakfast. (93)
Me: tweets what I want to say about whatever is on my mind, then go to the notifications tab (99) to take a look, click like on some replies, and post perhaps two responses.
Me: goes back to the thing I tweeted ten minutes ago after clearing my notifications from what was in them when I started this.
Me: starts reading replies. (52)
COMMENT TREES HAVE BRANCHES. BRANCH 1:
good_faith_nitpicker: I agree with you but don't forget that #notall are like that! (71)
helpful_reply_guy: dude. 280 characters. Do you really think she doesn't know that #notall are like that?
good_faith_nitpicker: her tweet gave the impression that she thinks #allaretoo like that, yeah.
(87)
me: Obviously, #notall are like that. I have so many notifications that I kind of have to count on my followers to interpret my tweets reasonably and without excessive nitpicking.
(95)
good_faith_nitpicker: you're a mathematician, so this "nitpicking" accusation is both surprising and hurtful. Also frankly insulting. I thought you cared about precision.
(123)
less_helpful_reply_guy: oh FFS. How many bridges are going to fall down if she's not as precise as you want her to be in a f***ing tweet?
(139)
good_faith_nitpicker: I don't think she needs you to defend her. She should be speaking for herself and would if she had an argument!!
(155)
random_cool_follower: wow, I never dreamed you'd respond to my response! While I have you, what do you think about (news story on which there are multiple angles worth considering and to which a proper response would be five pages, not 280 characters).
(6 other followers chime in with their takes on that story and it quickly devolves into a fight)
BRANCH 2:
woke_hate_follower: here we go again. I'm surprised you haven't blocked me. The way that you've been radicalized by James Lindsay is a huge example of one of the dangers of internet radicalization. Imma write my congressman right now.
(170)
Me: you do that, guy.
(177)
woke_hate_follower: long and aggressive series of tweets to which I respond where I want and don't where I don't want since I'm doing twitter over breakfast and have (228) notifications now.
good_faith_nitpicker: Ah ha! I KNEW you really thought that #yesall because that is how I am interpreting one of your responses here to my super nuanced point from which you have run like a scared rabbit because you have NO defense!!!!
(244)
woke_hate_follower: (welcome_to_the_party_pal.gif)
helpful_reply_guy: Wow @good_faith_nitpicker, you should be adding your pronouns, eh? Seeing you pick a side with @woke_hate_follower is veeeeery telling.
good_faith_nitpicker: I just want her to defend her point or admit she's wrong. Debate is how we do everything in Western civilization or do you not know that?
less_helpful_reply_guy: maybe she hasn't even read your response yet, idiot.
(301)
Me: adds a reply tweet to my original tweet imagining the scene in Athens if the founders of Western thought all were limited to 280 characters and behaved like twitter, with a funny gif.
(319)
COMMENT BRANCH 3:
cool_longtime_follower_who_gets_me: kind reply that makes me smile, to which I reply with thanks.
(334)
good_faith_nitpicker: replies to my reply asking if I would please just address his point? He's busy.
(355)
helpful_reply_guy: entitled much?
(433)
Me: sees the jump in notifications in the last ten seconds and realizes someone with a big platform has gotten involved. Starts looking.
(511)
(588)
(616)
Me: finds a person with a ton of followers who has QT'd me and dunked, stupidly in my opinion, but this is going to fill up my notifications with a lot of crap. Considers what to do for perhaps two minutes.
(703)
(777)
(802)
(811)
(852)
woke_hate_followers: RT's the QT'd dunk
less_helpful_reply_guy: can't even think for yourself can you?
(909)
Me: decides not to reply at all but reads COMMENT BRANCH 4, which has devolved into three people arguing about whether or not my being pro-choice makes me a Wokie who won't admit she's a Wokie; COMMENT BRANCH 5, which has evolved into a discussion of Star Trek and whether my liking most, not all, of Picard means I'm insane in particular or if you just have to grow up on TOS to really "get" Star Trek; COMMENT BRANCH 6, which @good_faith_nitpicker has linked to with a QT and written an introduction of how it fully explains the difficulty of people like me who get radicalized by Twitter. I read it and it's a masterpiece of seeming to think that any tweet can or should sum up anyone's full position. I add a tweet to my original thread pointing people to my Substack if they *actually* care what I think and aren't just performing for an audience; COMMENT BRANCH 7, which is @less_helpful_reply_guy saying everything I want to say myself now and three followers who think more highly of me than they probably should being all "no, no, I don't think she really thinks that."
(1141)
Me: considers how bad for me all this hyper-focus on me is, how in God's name I'm going to explain all this bullshit to my therapist, and wonders why I'm on Twitter at all.
(1201)
Me: looks up at the clock and sees that my intended 30 minutes over breakfast is now at 75 minutes.
(1499)
Me: realizes someone else with a big platform just got involved.
(1616)
Me: makes myself log off Twitter.
Me: stupidly does some version of this again four more times before the sun goes down.
*****the above is a typical type of Twitter experience when you have a lot of followers and get a lot of interaction. I didn't even mention the DMs that would be flowing in during this. If you would be patient enough to not block anyone who, from his own perspective, is engaging in good faith back and forth, then I admire you your level of patience and your independent wealth that gives you that much free time. :-)
LOL, thanks. I will try to do a better version of it soon.
Maybe she hasn't even read your response yet, idiot. - JOKING .....
It's eye opening alright !
I feel the same way about Facebook, which I left in 2018 or 2019. I'm on twitter, but not very often. I might spend an hour a week (which is still way too much time for the negative reward involved).
I like Dave Chapelle's take on twitter, which is that "it isn't real."
To the extent that this statement is untrue for people, I'm guessing they are proportionately unhappy.
I suspect I don't use twitter like most people do. I signed up early on. Wondered what the point of it was and mostly stopped using it at all for a long while except for occasionally posting some meme that would then disappear into the ether and never be seen again. I started up when the Ukraine war began because I found that some Twitterers had useful insights into that war and often better news about it than any more traditional outlet. I would prefer it if these people would publish their long threads somewhere other than twitter but they don't so I go visit their twitter profiles directly to see what they say. I tend not to go to the general twitter feed and I certainly hate with a passion the "twitter knows best" curated version (I'm very glad Elon Musk explained in a tweet how to get rid of that option)
On the whole I see no good in twitter. Twitter as a whole seems to live on encouraging people to become toxic avatars of their real selves. and if it weren't there these people I like there could be blogging (or substacking) and I'd greatly prefer that for them.
Congratulations on cutting the twitter thread. It's good for you. I hope more people do too
Makes me glad I've never seriously used Twitter.