No this article won’t be about how I spent more time with family or valued my friends offline more or managed to achieve a Herculean task I had been postponing because I was spending most of my productive hours on Twitter. No this is not that kind of post (there are 1000’s of those out there , not going to add mine to it )😃.
On the contrary i came to have a deeper appreciation of the virtual /social media world that has become part of our lives . I missed Twitter every single day I was locked out and didn’t for a day say “oh thank God I am not on Twitter.”
I missed the community I had built over the years and the friendship on my timeline I had cultivated from all over the world ! I missed them and do you know what ? They missed me too ! Not a single and I mean not a single day passed when I didn’t receive an email or a message in my Instagram DM from a follower who happens to be someone I have never met telling me they missed me and were checking up on me. My offline friends on Twitter would send me screenshots of people asking where I was and if I was ok , generally strangers who felt a kinship to me were concerned about my welfare and had my interest at heart ! It was just heartwarming and extremely nice .
I appreciated the deep social ties that have been formed with strangers all over the world on social media and how like my friendship online , people were going out of their way to nurture these ties by showing concern.
For people who have difficulty with establishing relationships with persons around them because of varied reasons such as being socially awkward or relocation to a new place , genuine friendship formed on social media can be of great help by keeping them engaged and dealing with loneliness.
People are getting life changing opportunities and deals on Twitter (look at Elsa Majimbo, she’s changed her whole family’s economic trajectory because of Twitter), others have met their life partners on Twitter and raised families from that relationship which started off Twitter !
Life saving medical interventions such as raising funds for medical procedures have been achieved on Twitter amongst so many other awesome stuff.
It’s Just NOT TWITTER! It’s much more ! A whole a community!
A number of social media platforms especially Twitter get bad rep for being toxic , time draining and generally not a real representation of the real life.
Toxicity or living a fake life is not limited to social media. Toxic people existed before social media emerged, what’s different now is that narcissistic traits of people are more amplified due to social media presence.
To summarize this is what being locked out of Twitter for 17 days taught me :
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Social media (Twitter) is a great tool for networking and forming genuine relationships.
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People care about others on Twitter! they care about strangers they’ve never met and might never meet physically .
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In order to get the maximum experience , YOU MUST CAREFULLY CURATE your timeline! How do I mean ? Be intentional about who you follow and what kind of conversations you engage in on the platform. I do understand that there are some people who are just there for fun and nothing serious but this doesn’t matter ! Even for lighthearted engagements, be intentional ! Be deliberate ! We’re in the age where mental health is the new cool thing so be intentional about the new cool thing too.
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Social media/Twitter isn’t that huge distraction monster or time waster we like to paint it to be ; it’s about discipline! I didn’t achieve anything significant because I was locked out of Twitter or made certain life changing discoveries . Whatever I needed to do before the restricting of my account and I hadn’t done it, I didn’t do it during my 17days lock out too. Meaning Twitter wasn’t my distraction, I just lacked the requisite discipline to complete tasks .
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It pays to be nice ! The world still appreciates well mannered, kind, positivity and good humored people. Happy people are still cool people in every part of the world and on social media too ! Nobody likes grumpy , rude , insolent and negative energy persons .
I’m not saying social media (Twitter) is all roses and sunshine , heck no ! I mean I’ve had my fair share of trolls and trolling but I choose to see the positive impact I’ve experienced on that platform and others have had from my TL (timeline ). The positives out-way the negatives for me and that’s what I choose to focus on . I know everyone’s experience is different, not discrediting them but this is mine ! I chose to be deliberate , I chose to be intentional, I chose humanity and it worked for men or has worked for me !
In conclusion, let’s embrace social media for the good it offers and you can’t draw from an empty well, in order to experience the good side, you need to give a good side too. You can’t be a troll , spew vitriol and expect kisses and hugs , it doesn’t work like that .
PS : the warm reception I received when my account was restored felt so real ! The outpouring of love and excitement people expressed on my return felt like I was receiving a congratulatory hug from my family and loved ones , and maybe a weird way that’s how I see some of my Twitter friends- they’re family to me 💜
