It has been eleven days since I deleted my Twitter account. I had a number of relationships on that platform that I really enjoyed. Included among them were authors of books and blogs (from the Golden Age of blogging) whose work I had consumed going back over 20 years. But after coming to terms with the fact that Facebook had become exclusively an anti-democracy propaganda outlet, I understood what the intention of another undeservedly absurdly wealthy anti-democratic sociopath would be. After Musk’s first statement – which I regarded (probably correctly) as an attempt to manipulate the market – that he would buy Twitter, I stated that I would quit the platform if it were acquired by that mediocre intellect, and on that very day. An assortment of trolls and legitimate users stated something to the effect of “Every person who claims he or she will quit Twitter if Musk buys it is a liar and also [some variant of ‘stupid’].”

The deal was announced.

That day I quit.

Somewhere over a week now, the fog I’d been living in is finally starting to clear. I’m absolutely appalled at the amount of time I must have wasted on that platform over the past several years. I feel like I am free of an infection, and I don’t think I’ll ever miss it.