RIP @thingles

The steps…

• I deleted my tweet history in 2016. I didn’t want my archive on a site that I didn’t control.
• I left Twitter in 2017. Micro.blog showed up and I knew I wanted to only write on my own site.
• Twitter was a failed company.
• I removed all my connections, destroying my “network” on Twitter.
• I thanked Elon when he dropped the Twitter brand and made it X. I have no brand affinity to X.

When I joined Twitter in December 2006 as user 82,903 it was fun and new. It was an open platform with a lot of experimentation. Twitter clients were super innovative. I remember posting via SMS! The creation of “retweets” by the community before the platform figured it out.

But the fun turned sour over years. I don’t believe there is a good form of social media. It isn’t the logo on the front or who is running it. It is the fundamental thing. It is addictive software patterns and amplification of engaging content with no regard for our health or wellbeing.

I honestly can’t think of an innovative new thing to come from social media in the last several years. It isn’t about the product anymore, it is just marketing.

So in November 2024, it was time to cut the last vestige of social media I had. It was time to delete my Twitter X profile. I had destroyed everything else I had on that site but had left my profile there. The only utility of that was to hold my username. But I don’t want any connection to these networks. It isn’t about the brand. I believe they all end up in the same place. There is no healthy cigarette. No good form of gambling.

By way of this post please be aware that any content or information that may appear on X is absolutely not from me.

I had some fun with ChatGPT and the image this conjured up for me.