I first ventured online in the early 1980s via the old dial-up BBSs. Dan Gookin ("DOS for Dummies") met me on one of them, and ended up hiring me to write the "On-Line San Diego" column in ComputorEdge (yes, it was spelled like that) magazine for many years. Then I ventured onto the Usenet in the late '80s, had an Internet account pre-World Wide Web (telnet and FTP and only .edu domains), CompuServe and AOL and even Prodigy. Grudgingly gave the WWW a try.
So I've been online a long time - and I agree with just about all your observations. Twitter and even Facebook have become angry echo chambers where dehumanization is the norm.
Best thing that could happen to not only our nation, but the world, would be for Twitter and Facebook to simply close shop.
Won't happen, of course, but I'd argue that the examples of AOL and MySpace, or even Atari before them, ought to serve as cautionary tales for those who think the current situation will last forever.
Love your writing - seeing your name in my in-box with one of your columns always makes my day.
Oh, and I've quit Twitter, Instagram and my personal Facebook profile over this summer for the reasons you enumerate above - only my Facebook profile for writing about music remains; it's my only point of contact for many musicians.
Re-reading this, would caution that there IS a (semi)-permanent archive: Archive.org (https://archive.org). Snapshots of tons of websites - including most of mine. Facebook stuff SHOULD disappear if you close your account; same with Twitter and Instagram. There, though, the challenge is that the proto-fascists who troll the 'Net looking for people to destroy save screen captures of stuff that may be taken down later.
Interestingly, while the courts have to date held that Facebook, Twitter, etc., are not "publishers" under the law - that they can't be held liable for what is posted on their platforms - the courts have also been somewhat contradictory in holding that items posted on there are now part of the public record, the same as having a letter published in the newspaper. Seems a collision is likely there.
I first ventured online in the early 1980s via the old dial-up BBSs. Dan Gookin ("DOS for Dummies") met me on one of them, and ended up hiring me to write the "On-Line San Diego" column in ComputorEdge (yes, it was spelled like that) magazine for many years. Then I ventured onto the Usenet in the late '80s, had an Internet account pre-World Wide Web (telnet and FTP and only .edu domains), CompuServe and AOL and even Prodigy. Grudgingly gave the WWW a try.
So I've been online a long time - and I agree with just about all your observations. Twitter and even Facebook have become angry echo chambers where dehumanization is the norm.
Best thing that could happen to not only our nation, but the world, would be for Twitter and Facebook to simply close shop.
Won't happen, of course, but I'd argue that the examples of AOL and MySpace, or even Atari before them, ought to serve as cautionary tales for those who think the current situation will last forever.
Love your writing - seeing your name in my in-box with one of your columns always makes my day.
Oh, and I've quit Twitter, Instagram and my personal Facebook profile over this summer for the reasons you enumerate above - only my Facebook profile for writing about music remains; it's my only point of contact for many musicians.
That's nice to hear. Thank you.
Re-reading this, would caution that there IS a (semi)-permanent archive: Archive.org (https://archive.org). Snapshots of tons of websites - including most of mine. Facebook stuff SHOULD disappear if you close your account; same with Twitter and Instagram. There, though, the challenge is that the proto-fascists who troll the 'Net looking for people to destroy save screen captures of stuff that may be taken down later.
Interestingly, while the courts have to date held that Facebook, Twitter, etc., are not "publishers" under the law - that they can't be held liable for what is posted on their platforms - the courts have also been somewhat contradictory in holding that items posted on there are now part of the public record, the same as having a letter published in the newspaper. Seems a collision is likely there.