Twitter - what an absolute cesspit

[ImaSababa]

I had to deactivate my account last night. I feel like an absolute coward for doing so, and I will probably reactivate at some point. But wow...

I happened to comment on a post from Planned Parenthood, expressing disappointment at their use of non-female specific wording regarding abortion. Within minutes I'd been attacked by a legion of TRAs with manga profile photos. One delightful specimen managed to find my work website, and launched an attack there.

I should have stayed to fight, but I just feel like I'm too old and too weary to be waging war with little twits on social media.

Anyone else left Twitter, or gone back to fight the good fight??

[AgnesNaismith]

I left a year ago, it genuinely damaged my mental health.

Now I know the majority of people don’t actually act like or believe in the nonsense on twitter. I also feel very sure that a lot of twitter accounts are ran by bots looking to capitalise and exploit divisions in society.

The good fight is in the real world.

[FloralBunting]

I. Will. Never. Go. Back.

And my perpetual novena for its complete destruction is still live.

[littlbrowndog]

Yeah loads of bots on twitter.

[Smurftastic]

I feel for you! I only stared using it in April after being shocked by a trans friend insisting about 'female penises'. It's been... interesting. Unfortunately it seems lots of companies, politicians etc. really follow Twitter crowd. It feels like the opposing voices will be silenced if we don't shout the TRAs down on Twitter.

[rogdmum]

I lock down when needed but otherwise I don’t tend to engage. I’m not there to discuss- I’m there to document our experience and share useful information. It’s too much of a cesspit to get involved in “debate” which inevitably ends up as vile one sided abuse.

[CatsCantCatchCriminals2]

I can't believe twitter is still a thing.

The whole layout and set up is ugly and counter intuitive.

Clearly a place for people who are adults who haven't grown up yet and still like cartoons.

Manga profile photos? Give me a fucking break.

I'm not on it.

[Helmetbymidnight]

Yeah, sometimes I do look on twitter and despair.

There seems to be zillions upon zillions of aggressive young men incapable of anything more than sloganeering and whose raison detre is to shut down and intimidate women.

It does make me worry for my daughter that these people are going around in real life.

[FloralBunting]

It's irredeemable. No point attempting to shout back at the MAPs and other assorted creeps on there. The only cure is for the movers and shakers in business and government to realize it is irrelevant and obsolete because they've worked out that all the sensible people ignore it for the pile of utter wank it is.

[Childrenofthestones]

FB is where they show the face they want people to see.
Twitter is where they show their real face.
I'm glad to say I've never indulged on either. Talk forums like this and others are the nearest I've been to social media.

[ImaSababa]

It does make me worry for my daughter that these people are going around in real life.

Same. The whole thing played out last night while I had my baby daughter in my arms. I think that's what spooked me - thinking that someone could find out about her (even though I limit what I post about her on social media) and make threats.

Ugh.

What a horrible world I've brought her into.

[MedusasBadHairDay]

I love twitter, but I've been very careful to only follow accounts that bring me joy or educate me and I refuse to engage with people whose views are the polar opposite to mine. Its not a great platform for finding common ground and compromise, or for respectful discussion. It definitely thrives on division and tribalism.

I used to get sucked into arguing with strangers in there, but it never achieved anything except vileness and frustration.

[NotMeekNotObedient]

Women & womanhood under attack everywhere but twitter seems to be particularly ugly. Women have lost their jobs over this stuff, they are trying to silence us, make us scared to be called a TERF, so they can get their way. But probably best to step away for your own mental health!

[Beamur]

I'm not on Twitter. DH uses it occasionally to contact companies when no other avenue works, it seems to work quite well for that.

[Ringsender2]

@MedusasBadHairDay

I love twitter, but I've been very careful to only follow accounts that bring me joy or educate me and I refuse to engage with people whose views are the polar opposite to mine. Its not a great platform for finding common ground and compromise, or for respectful discussion. It definitely thrives on division and tribalism.

I used to get sucked into arguing with strangers in there, but it never achieved anything except vileness and frustration.

This

[TartrazineCustard]

I'm still on Twitter (was an early adopter), but use it rarely and then only really to chat to my industry contacts or tweet customer services requests, which are dealt with so much more efficiently than they are via phone.

I do think that media/companies and even governments are still trying to treat Twitter like it's a fasttrack to "real public opinion." A around 10 years ago it probably was, but now there's so many bots I don't think anyone over 25 actually believes they're seeing authentic opinion trends on there anymore.

[gardenbird48]

Angela Rayner is all over it today with a video commemorating transgender day of remembrance.

A number of people have asked exactly how many people this is commemorating.

Thankfully there have been no murders of transgender people in the UK since 2018 (the transwoman at Heathrow, sorry can't find a name atm).

Angela has also been asked if the Labour party will be quite so supportive of the End violence against Women day on the 25th. We shall see.

[twoHopes]

It's awful and you're best deleting it. I appreciate the women with big platforms who are raising awareness of these issues (JKR, Janice Turner, Hadley Freeman etc.). Otherwise it's an entirely pointless exercise and will just ruin your mental health.

There are some people I used to respect who genuinely seem to have lost touch with reality through their constant Twitter use. It's scary.

[sqirrelfriends]

It's depressing, my theory is that those behind the manga profile pics are more likely to incels than trans. It's the same on Reddit, it seems they've found a socially acceptable way to hate women.

[NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace]

I got banned for saying that TWANW.

They invited me to 'correct my thinking'. I invited them to 'Fuck Off To The Other Side Of Fuck And Then Fuck Off Some More!

It's a vile, stinking cesspit of misogyny!

[MrsBrunch]

The only good thing about twitter is that it keeps the majority of these online misogynists contained in one place.

[PaperTowels]

Leaving Twitter was the best thing I did for my mental health.

[Collidascope]

Deactivated it months ago, which was ages after I'd stopped engaging on there anyway. My logic was there's no way I'd give people this stupid the time of day in real life so why would I bother online?

[ImaSababa]

@NiceLegsShameAboutTheFace

I got banned for saying that TWANW.

They invited me to 'correct my thinking'. I invited them to 'Fuck Off To The Other Side Of Fuck And Then Fuck Off Some More!

It's a vile, stinking cesspit of misogyny!

This is chilling. "Correct your thinking" sounds like something from a dystopian despotic regime.

[NewlyGranny]

I had to have a Twitter account for work but have not used it since retiring and only peep in through links on here, mostly! It is indeed a cesspit but it is not the world!

I think of it as the nasty accumulations under the fridge in an otherwise hygienic kitchen. You don't have to look but every now and then it needs a deep clean. That time is long overdue.

[Aesopfable]

I should have stayed to fight, but I just feel like I'm too old and too weary to be waging war with little twits on social media.

No point. They are deaf to all argument or logic and do not apply any thought to anything.