Something ain't right, by Terry Freedman
If it wasn’t for the fact that Twitter is quite useful for letting people know about useful stuff, and for finding out about useful stuff, I’d stop using it. The reason is that I feel as if my Twitter feed has become -- I can think of no other word --- infested with all manner of nastiness and nuisance. Brace yourself for a bit of a rant.
Beware the ultracrepidarians
It doesn’t matter how many people I mute, block or unfollow, there always seems to be at least one person delivering a lecture on Brexit or President Trump. I’m interested in such topics, but I prefer to choose (note the fact that the word “choose” implies that the impetus comes from myself as opposed to having it thrust upon me) to listen to people who have some authority in the subjects they write and talk about.
Whatever happened to civility?
Disagree with someone’s point of view, or say something they don’t agree with, and there is a good chance they will (a) swear, (b) call you an idiot, (c) ridicule you, (d) attempt to launch a character assassination or (e) make threats against you physically or even against your kids (though I have not personally come across that extreme behaviour). (Just a note on (c), ridicule: This is much harder to deal with than (b), because if you were to try to counter the ridicule you’d come over as ridiculous, thereby confirming their charge against you.) These people are rude and disrespectful to say the least, and if they are intelligent (which is very much an open question) they are almost certainly what Nassim Nicholas Taleb refers to as an I-Y-I: Intellectual-yet-idiot.
“Be silent, unless what you have to say is better than silence.”
Under this heading there is also gratuitous swearing, or implied swearing. I have always taken the view that, unless you are genuinely angry in a particular situation, or you stub your toe on a wall or something, swearing indicates a lack of articulacy. Put simply, if you can’t express yourself without resorting to four letter words or three letter acronyms that mean the same thing, perhaps you should go back to school and learn how to express yourself.
Oh, and by the way. I certainly don’t follow only the people whose views I agree with. I think being able to have a civilised discussion on points of difference is the way to new revelations.
Whatever happened to modesty?
I was brought up to believe that self-praise is no recommendation. It is frankly embarrassing to see adults behaving like three year olds in their quest for attention and praise.
Whatever happened to grit?
There always seems to be at least one person a day tweeting that they feel depressed, and then expressing how much much better they feel having received 200 likes, retweets and replies telling them they’re wonderful. I have to say, I have known a couple of people who suffered from (clinical) depression, and they had a hard time just dragging themselves out of bed. If you really think you’re depressed, either pull yourself together or see a counsellor. (Not that I’ve ever found them much use, after I experienced two bereavements in less than a week. But still, I suppose someone must find them worth bothering with or they would all be unemployed.)
Whatever happened to privacy?
Why do so many people feel the need to share all their activities with the world? It’s just beyond belief. And as for “sharenting”, as a rather private person I was always mortified whenever my mum told anyone anything about me. I feel really sorry for kids today who are like I was then, with their parents sharing every illness, every success, every detail of their lives.
What is the solution?
As a former student and teacher of economics, I weigh up the marginal benefits against the marginal costs. As long as the advantages of Twitter in terms of professional development and quick contact with people I know and respect, and in terms of “meeting” truly wonderful people I didn’t know before, outweigh the annoyances, I will continue using the platform. I will simply resign myself to spending a certain amount of time tediously weeding out the people who continually fall into one or more of the categories above. Fortunately, for the time being there are more people in my Twittersphere who do not than who do -- thank goodness!
But I think there is another aspect to this as well. Although I don’t agree with the kind of rules that teachers had to abide by in bygone centuries, such as this set of rules in the state of Illinois (I especially like rule #8 in the 1872 version), I do think there is something about leading by example, especially given that their online behaviour can easily be seen by their pupils and parents. I mean, if you’re seen bullying someone online, how do you then go about castigating a pupil for doing the same thing?
Finally, as one thing we’ve learnt from innumerable scandals and sackings is that whatever you post online may one day be used against you, it would surely be a good idea to refrain from being intemperate, nasty or just plain obnoxious.