I never wanted a Twitter account. During our designated phone time, I would glance at my boyfriend’s phone and watch him scroll through Twitter. Just looking from afar, Twitter appeared to be the most scattered social media site I had ever seen. As someone who genuinely loves organization, Twitter just didn’t seem like the app for me.

In my first semester of college, I took an English class where the main topic of our writing had to be social media. My teacher advised us to get Twitter so we could grasp how the app worked so we could effectively analyze it in our writing. I begrudgingly downloaded Twitter for the class.

I remember the first time I personally scrolled through Twitter. I hated it. It just seemed like endless chatter to me. I was also very confused by likes and retweets. The app just worked so differently than Instagram and Facebook. I really couldn’t see why so many people used the app. I spent very little time on Twitter during the semester even though I had downloaded it because nothing caught my attention. I’d scroll for a few minutes and find myself bored, so I would quickly log off.

In my second semester of college, I took my first journalism class which stressed the importance of Twitter in the field of journalism. Now that physical newspapers are disappearing, journalists alert their readers of new material through social media, mainly on Twitter. My teacher said Twitter was so important that we had to Tweet for a grade.

I hated that two of my college classes had asked (or required) me to get this app that I really didn’t like. I truly believe that social media is a powerful marketing tool, but Twitter still seems so pointless to me. I struggled to tweet twice a week even though it was for a grade. 

Because I was required to be on Twitter for my class, I started scrolling more frequently. I followed reputable news sources like The New York Times and The Washington Post so consequently, I was bombarded with news anytime I visited the app. 

In recent years, I have decreased how often I read news articles purely because the news has been very depressing and disturbing lately. Every time I opened the app, there was a new shooting or racist event that had occurred. That’s the thing about Twitter, most people use it to be “social”, but it just might be the fastest way you could possibly receive your news. 

When these kinds of sickening articles popped up, I would feel so anxious and angry. Because I hit my 5 article limit from The New York Times, I wouldn’t be able to read the article, but I would look at the comments out of curiosity. When looking at comments on Twitter, especially when its political, it’s easy to get sucked reading an entire thread of fights.

The comments people exchange are some of the most hateful things I’ve ever read. These comments were from both sides of the political spectrum. People wishing death or rape for someone they had never met made me so sad. With this kind of faceless online interaction, hateful speech easily makes its way onto users’ feeds.

I would get so worked up in the few minutes I spent scrolling through Twitter. Even when I would get off my phone, I was left with a lingering sadness and anger that would take hours to go away.

The other content that would show up on my feed was the random thoughts of people I followed or the things they liked. There were some jokes in there, but a great deal of the tweets were complaints. Complaints about people walking slowly, being broke, being single, etc. Between the anxiety provoking news and the complaining, Twitter was a very negative space.

I tweeted the occasional joke on Twitter. I have to admit, it was a little fun when people would like my joke, but in the end, nothing compares to hearing someone physically laugh when you make a joke. There’s no endorphin rush from a “like”.

When my semester ended and I was no longer graded for Twitter engagement, I didn’t delete the app. Over the summer, I would hit my social media pattern while I was looking at my phone to procrastinate. I’d start with Instagram, move to my email, Pinterest, sometimes Facebook, and then I would scroll through Twitter. 

As a blogger, my time on Instagram and Pinterest is justified. I am very strict about being off my phone when I’m with loved ones and I am posting pictures I worked hard on.

There was no reason for me to be spending time on Twitter. I still felt the same feelings of boredom and anxiety. Because I didn’t market on Twitter and I didn’t enjoy using the app, my scrolling was pointless.

Finally one scrolling session pushed me over the edge. It was some random guy saying that women should have babies before careers because babies are women’s purpose. I believe that women have the right to have babies or not have babies whenever they want so this proposition was ridiculous to me. Women were obviously very angry in the comments and then it happened. Men began mocking women’s fight against sexual harassment and rape.

I was astounded. I couldn’t stop reading the comments because I was just so shocked that people could be so blatantly hateful and sexist. I know people like that exist, but it was a different experience to read their words. The man who published the original comment on women having babies had also posted a youtube video titled something like, “Why Women Are Evil”.

I immediately closed the app and deleted it. I just didn’t want to waste my time and energy on an app that I truly hated with hateful people. I haven’t regretted my decision once and it’s been about 3 months.

I know there are a lot of powerful moments that have taken place on Twitter like #blacklivesmatter and #metoo, but those movements are large groups of people who bring the action they’ve started online into the real world to create change. 

I truly believe an individual complaining about politics or retweeting something political will not create change. To participate in this democratic society, I believe that real change starts with a vote, not on Twitter. I also don’t think there is anything to gain from arguing with people on Twitter. People are so set in their opinions online, a 280 character tweet is never going to change someone’s mind like a real life conversation might.

If you’re experiencing any kind of anxiety while using any kind of social media app, I highly encourage you to set some healthy boundaries around your social media use or quit whatever app is making you anxious altogether. I haven’t regretted deleting Twitter or been tempted to re-download it. I can truly say my life is better without it.

Do you use Twitter? Do you experience anxiety while scrolling through any social media?

A book to read for more information on the detrimental effects of Twitter:

In my English class last year, we read a book called, “So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed” by Jon Ronson. The book describes several accounts of social media shaming when people making an unfortunate joke or were misunderstood. People with small private accounts posted things they shouldn’t have, got retweeted, and their lives were completely ruined. They were publicly shamed offline, fired from jobs, etc. While these people shouldn’t have made the comments that they did, it is utterly terrifying to me that an app could truly ruin someone’s life like this.