The last few weeks have been tough. You could make the argument that all the weeks have been tough since the presidential election.
But lately, Donald Trump had apparently taken his meds and flushed them down the toilet, then taken the toilet and had it demolished. Then there was the mass shooting in Las Vegas that left me sad and bereft of all hope that anything would be done this time. There were the awful allegations about Harvey Weinstein and reading about them made me physically recoil from my computer screen. Bu t really, it might have been Cam Newton that had me running and screaming from social media for the first time.
The chaos that erupted from the realization that the reporter Newton was accused of belittling had sent out racist tweets of her own raised some eye-opening and frustrating discussions among women. And not eye-opening as in enlightening. I watched white women stand up with this reporter when she was targeted by Newton, then poo-poo her past tweets like they were no big deal, and as those discussions escalated on Friday, I decided that was about it for me. I told myself I wasn’t going to go onto Facebook or Twitter for the entire weekend. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that, on account of the fact that I check Twitter roughly 500 times a day, and in my head, I thought it wouldn’t last, but I did it. I told myself that instead of checking those sites, I would do something else. Like what, you ask? I thought you would never ask:
- I read a book. I finished “Misery” by Stephen King, a book I thought I had already read, but I definitely had not. Mini-review: Far more disturbing than the movie. Hobbling was not what it was with Kathy Bates, that is for sure. I had been reading at a measured pace before, but with no real restraints, I finished the book on Saturday, and found at the end that I had finished reading it on the same date that King finished writing it. Creepy! I finally finished “Birth of a Nation,” a book about the making of and the fallout from the eponymous movie from 1915 that I began reading earlier this year. I learned a lot while reading it, including about the relationship between Booker T. Washington and crusading editor Monroe Trotter (who led the unsuccessful fight to get the movie out of theaters). There’s an essay in there somewhere that pertains to today’s current state of affairs, I think.
- I did some writing. I’ve been working on a secret (for now, anyway) project and I had been wondering if it was winding to a close because I didn’t have anything else to say and over the weekend, I found that I had actually quite a bit to say. So it’s going to stay a secret a bit longer.
- I took my kids to the library. Plot twist: They just wanted to be on the computer the whole time.
- I got organized. I have a content calendar for my tennis blog! I have a bullet journal! I came up with freelance project ideas. I also cleaned my house, which is a big one, guys.
The next weekend, I boycotted Twitter after a spontaneous call for one emerged after the company temporarily suspended Rose McGowan, who apparently violated the terms of service while she was sounding the alarm on Weinstein. But mainly, the situation showed that the company has several problems, most significantly its failure to enforce its TOS equally. But what does Twitter do? It gives people more characters with which to tweet. Actually, the boycott was on Friday and I thought I would try the weekend break again. Three days off Twitter and I felt like I had a new brain. Plus, my anxiety levels were down. There really should be some type of scientific study, because I think I got smarter being off social media.
Being off Twitter helped me get at something I’ve been feeling for a while. I used to read stories all the way through, even when I first joined Twitter. I would read it and if I liked it, I would share it. Back in the day, you’d read a story and discuss it at the dinner table or at school (yes, my friends and I were nerds like that). Now, everything is coming at you at the same time, and you know headlines, but little else. This is literally the worst time in history to not be fully informed. And you know what? Old-school as it might seem, maybe going to the main source — a reliable newspaper or TV station — is not such a bad idea and (now clutch the pearls) might be worth the money for a subscription?
One more thing happened: I asked myself why I’m always on Twitter. It started as a way to stay sane after the election because there were millions of other people out there who thought Trump was a bad idea and we could communicate. And the crazier this administration acted, the more I was on social media, getting affirmation that yes, this is absolutely nuts. It’s good to have that, but it’s better to think about and engage in ways to change your community, because change starts locally before it gets a big stage. So I’m thinking the Twitter weekend breaks (and maybe now weeknight breaks) are going to continue for a while.
I think I’ll use that time to get this scientific study going, because seriously, someone should look into the effects of Twitter on your brain.