Greg Morris

Part Of Me Died When I Left Twitter

I used one platform, almost solely, for 13 years. It’s not as long as some, but on first joining Twitter in 2009 the service felt pretty small, and I didn’t really know what to do with it, but I instantly ‘got it’ and it became my home. I tweeted constantly, shared a large part of my life on it, and met some remarkable people that I am glad to call friends. Leaving it behind was the best decision, but part of my was left behind when I did.

Using Twitter, I didn’t feel that I needed to shape myself to deal with algorithms or trendy topics. I just tweeted what I thought or what I was doing and for some reason people liked it. My followers ballooned during my time hacking iPhones, and later on, Android phones. With many sticking around for years to come. I started and sunsetted two reasonably successful podcasts and owe most of the success to Twitter.

I feel as if I gave Twitter such a massive portion of my life and all of it is now gone. Although, as said before, I am glad I walked away, I feel sad that that time in my life has gone for good. Upon handing over a portion of my personality to Twitter, I expected it to go on forever, but that little package of my life just exists in memory now. No more good times (although to be fair, they stopped in about 2018) but no more stress and worry.

Twitter was the only place on the internet that I hated with all my heart, yet couldn’t help still using it. I felt indebted because I had given it such an important place in my life that my usage had to continue. I hated constantly broke my life down into 280 character bite sized chunks. Thankfully, I was given a big enough push and my mind can now heal. I accept that this part of me is now dead, and long may it stay that way.

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