Sometime in December last year, I had enough of Twitter. Elon Musk had just indiscriminately thrown seven journalists off the platform for sharing data from his private jet. In addition, he had ruthlessly started pruning the ‘trust & safety’ department, and he participated in inciting the online thugs against the former boss of the department, so that the best man could no longer live safely at home. Meanwhile, hatred exploded on the medium.
It’s pretty classic despot behavior. I decided that I no longer wanted to actively contribute to it, downloaded my archive and closed my account. And time and time again I get confirmation that it was the right choice. This week it emerged that Twitter links to media like The New York Times and Reuters slows down by a few seconds. Reason: Musk thinks she’s stupid. The Tesla visionary, who launched great companies and turned entire industries upside down, relentlessly stoops to using his latest toy to settle personal feuds. I therefore refuse to write ‘X, formerly Twitter’, as is customary, also in this newspaper. I refuse to participate in Musk’s infantile games.
And gradually I notice that I find the people who do decide to play more and more unbelievable. Our outgoing Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra writes that he is satisfied with the decision of the US to send F-16s to Ukraine. Weighty diplomatic statement, it seems to me, which he makes on… Twitter. Does the minister perhaps have better means of communication at his disposal for such important matters?
Now, of course, my contempt is terribly cliche. I’m like the vegetarian who shakes her head at the people at the all-you-can-eat spare ribs buffet. Still, I fear Twitter has done deeper damage. I think we, as a society, have been collectively misled by the tone and atmosphere of the medium. It is the village pump for the entire social elite: MPs, ministers, journalists, scientists, activists, lawyers. They see how discussions escalate permanently. Again and again conspiracy theorists, hooligans and extremists chirp through everything. They have been given an alarming amount of space and comment on every message.
Those who watch Twitter all day will become convinced that the average Dutchman drives circles through built-up areas at 100 kilometers per hour with a raised middle finger. That the average citizen no longer believes anything or anyone. That this country is about to succumb to polarization and mistrust. That is not true. Twitter is so undermining, not because conspiracy theories and fake news are spread, but because important people spend too much of their time there and have come to believe that the Dutch population really consists of complete idiots, instead of pretty decent citizens.
I fear it will be a long time before people leave Twitter. I come from a sector, science, that has convinced itself that it makes sense to pay a few thousand euros for putting a piece of text online. I know how much sane people become herd animals when it comes to communication. People are willing to swallow a lot because they are too afraid of missing out and not taking part in the conversation anymore.
I was too. I threw away a gold mine by leaving. Twitter was my main source of news, debate center and Internet guide. A place where I could follow all my micro interests, new conferences, vacancies, papers, essays, books; and everything else that I find important with a simple retweet could bring to an audience of tens of thousands of people.
I must have missed out on everything by leaving. But I strongly feel that there is a little more room in my head for longer lines of thought, without the continuous stream of undermining comments. And honestly, I’m still wasting my time with stupid apps and websites. But they are not filled with hatred and aggression. I just became a richer person.
My advice to everyone is therefore to leave Twitter. It’s the only right decision. Every human being must set limits on his herd tendencies.
Rosanne Hertzberger is a microbiologist.
A version of this article also appeared in the August 19, 2023 newspaper.