If someone asked me if I was still on social media, I wouldn’t really know how to answer. I’ve never been on Facebook, I’ve disconnected from X even though I haven’t closed my account yet. My Instagram is lying idle and I despair that threads will ever grow again. I’ve been on social media for the past few months.
Published at 1:22 am. Updated at 9:00 a.m.
I had my addiction phase. I have been on Twitter with passion and hustle since 2010. Almost 10 years of grace, real exchanges, meetings, easy access to resources, relevant content, moments of nameless wit, a highly relevant news outlet. Twitter suited me.
I definitely spent a lot of time there. You start by consulting your news feed and end up taking part in games with movie titles where you have to add the word “orgy” – “The Decline of the American Orgy”, “Mom, I Missed the Orgy” … Screenwriter Daniel Thibault will do Know yourself, the one who started so many crazy challenges that peaked around 1:30 in the morning! Laugh, but laugh! I live-tweeted BazzoTV shows, chatted with viewers, followed topics and guests. Twitter was a big time waster, but with solid compensation.
Little by little the environment became harsher. Already during the student spring of 2012, we saw how tempers were heating up and camps were competing against each other. But the arrival of Donald Trump in 2016 freed the trolls. Bullying has become commonplace. When the pandemic hit, the magic was already gone. The good-natured atmosphere had faded.
In 2020, anti-vaxxers, conspiracy theorists and extremists began undermining the work by grouping together to attack those who didn’t think like them. The pirates were unrestrained. And when Elon Musk bought Twitter, the algorithms went monomaniacal, turning content the disturbing black of X (X, as in soul porn?). The attacks are harsh and disinformation is increasing. Ambushes are commonplace, both on the left and the right. If everyday issues have become divisive, what can we say about serious issues…
I tried other social networks. Threads is an oasis of calm. But because it strays too far from social issues, it lacks substance for those accustomed to Twitter. On Instagram you can see what stars and acquaintances eat, everything is enlarged with the aim of making viewers’ subscribers a little jealous. LinkedIn is a professional network where everyone highlights their good moves and posts articles that make them shine. No, the Twitter agora has not been replaced.
With its disappearance, I initially lost a great news feed, most of which was ruined by reductive algorithms. I saw the opportunity to interact calmly and constructively with strangers disappear. From now on, from the third comment on a publication, a troll intervenes and pollutes the discussion. I’m no longer submitting content on Musk has broken a kind of tacit social contract between the platform and its users. Due to the changes made on The algorithm always returned the same 50 people.
So, I find out another way. Press Reader is my friend who offers me newspapers and magazines from all over the world, where I fish directly for content that interests me. But in reality I find out less. In a fearful, burning world, too much information makes me anxious and tired. That’s why I read a lot more: essays, novels that examine current topics with the necessary perspective so as not to get on your nerves. I also gained some time back. Time for others, outside the virtual world, time to write.
I don’t think I’m the only one who has gradually left social networks without much fuss. This is because they are addictive. They were already real communities and nourished places that developed thanks to the horizontality between subscribers. Times are darker.
Networks have become temples of self-promotion, of gangs shouting at each other, each in their own silo, emboldened by self-referential algorithms. The relationships are much more vertical.
And yet. We need these tools that are social networks so much that they can collaborate, generate fruitful ideas, create links and do much more than just share videos of cute kittens.
My addiction is cured. But there remains a gap. Twitter was so much fun. It’s like a friend cheated on me. But House X is like a poorly maintained address. I should decide to terminate my lease.
P.-S. : From now on, without Twitter, my score on the LaPresse+ Sunday quiz fluctuates between 3 and 6/10
P.-P.-S. : “Away with the orgy”