Even before Elon Musk bought Twitter, I spent a lot of time thinking about my relationship to social media, both as a person and as a writer.
As a writer, there’s a sense that it’s part of your job to be on social media, promoting yourself and your books. Or trying to go viral to get yourself a book deal or onto the bestseller list. It’s exhausting and part of me can’t help but wonder at the coincidence that as publishing has become somewhat more accessible to women and people of color, the demands put on those people as artists has also gone up. Hemingway didn’t have to do book tours, let alone try to amass followers on Twitter or TikTok.
This week, I read Cinelle Barnes essay on why she is not on Twitter. As someone who once worked inside social media, Barnes had this to say:
The web, my tech friends agree, is designed to exploit our digital, social, and psychic vulnerabilities. Algorithms and systems change all the time, and they do so for one reason: to make it seem like you’ve failed and must do more, get more, be more, be faster. You must run, fight.
Right. Women and people of color always have to do more. Be faster. Fight harder. But with social media, this is always a losing battle. The system is designed to make you feel like a failure.
‘Am I Shadow Banned?’ Asks Woman Who Is Just Bad at Social Media
Which was funny at first, even though something felt off about it. It was only after reading Barnes’ essay that I realized what gave me that icky feeling—what does it mean to be “bad at social media”? Is there such a thing? It implies that if you just do it right, you will go viral/get that book deal/become Insta-famous. But if Barnes is right, this is a lie that is suspiciously beneficial to Mark Zuckerberg or, now, Elon Musk. If we all believe that there is a “right way” to do social media, we’ll keep trying, even thought the system is designed to make us fail.
Still, sometimes multiple times a day, I have a thought. Well, okay, I have more thoughts than that, but not all of them are Tweet-worthy. “Oh, yeah, this is hilarious,” I think to myself. Or deep. Or revelatory. Whatever. This thought must be shared.
But, really, must it? What if I kept more of my thoughts to myself? Especially given that there are only about five people on Twitter who pay attention to anything I tweet. When did I become convinced that my insights or jokes or basic functioning as a human being is wasted unless it’s spread across the interwebs? How would it be to stop feeling that way? How would it feel to keep more of my thoughts to myself? Would it make any difference to my success as a writer? To my happiness as a person?
I don’t now, but I think I’ll be giving it a try.
If you missed Monday’s newsletter, check it out here. Thanks for reading and sharing and commenting and liking!
I deleted all my Facebook owned accounts a while back and it's been wonderful. I also stepped back from Twitter in small chunks. First by deleting the app from my phone. Then just deleting my old posts and no longer posting. I've stopped trying to think of pithy short things to say, and instead will save ideas up for conversations with friends or longer writing. Or just let them exist only in my mind, because really, who needs to hear it?
Robyn, your post on Twitter has been on my mind since you wrote it last April. In fact, it inspired me to think about why I'm not on Twitter. I got around to writing about that (in slightly more than 280 characters, he says, with tongue firmly planted-in-cheek) and referenced your post in reason #3. You can find it here: https://moretocome.net/2022/08/01/why-im-not-on-twitter/. And I deleted my FB account almost 10 years ago...so this is part of a pattern.
Don't keep everything to yourself. I enjoy reading your thoughts.
It is thought provoking to read your take on a topic that is always something new and fresh, Robyn. Thank you for this!!!
For me, it is within the confines of your newsletter or one of your books.
After, deactivating my FCB account months and months ago, I have never looked back and never felt better!!;)
I deleted all my Facebook owned accounts a while back and it's been wonderful. I also stepped back from Twitter in small chunks. First by deleting the app from my phone. Then just deleting my old posts and no longer posting. I've stopped trying to think of pithy short things to say, and instead will save ideas up for conversations with friends or longer writing. Or just let them exist only in my mind, because really, who needs to hear it?
Robyn, your post on Twitter has been on my mind since you wrote it last April. In fact, it inspired me to think about why I'm not on Twitter. I got around to writing about that (in slightly more than 280 characters, he says, with tongue firmly planted-in-cheek) and referenced your post in reason #3. You can find it here: https://moretocome.net/2022/08/01/why-im-not-on-twitter/. And I deleted my FB account almost 10 years ago...so this is part of a pattern.
Thanks, as always, for your insightful writing.
David