How I’m filling the Twitter-size hole in my life

Back in early 2015, I hit a personal Twitter verbosity record by tweeting an average of 25 times a day. Last month, on the service now known as X, I posted a mere 49 times in total. No wonder I’m less engaged: Of the six people I tweeted with most often in 2016, only one shows up more than very occasionally nowadays—mostly to promote his projects elsewhere, he told me.

Almost 15 years ago, TechCrunch published a leaked tranche of internal documents from Twitter that revealed the company’s overarching goal: to reach 1 billion users and thereby become “the pulse of the planet.” Instead, the company peaked at around 300 million members. But even at that scale, it came far closer to feeling like a global nervous system than any other social network. Moreover, it unquestionably became the pulse of my digital life.

You could write a book about how Elon Musk broke Twitter—actually, at least three people already have. So I’m not going to detail why my eagerness to hang out on the platform has plummeted since Musk walked into Twitter HQ brandishing a sink on October 26, 2022. In fact, this newsletter is about an unexpected bright side of Twitter/X’s diminished state: The less time I spend tweeting, the more time I have to do other stuff.

Here’s where I’ve been investing the hours I’ve freed up:

Other Twitter-like services

Early in Musk’s tenure, a bunch of roughly comparable microblogging services jockeyed for the attention of the disaffected Twitterati. I’m on Mastodon, Threads, and Bluesky, and have had largely pleasant experiences on each. Still, the wannabes add up to a minor part of my day. I’ve concluded that none of them are going to rekindle the precise vibe that once made Twitter fun: Mastodon and Bluesky are just too clique-ish, and Threads is actively avoiding being a place to discuss news. I’d love to talk to all my friends without remembering where they’ve decamped, so here’s hoping that decentralized social networking protocols—which would build bridges between all the services that support them—really take off.

Small, focused online communities

If a social network can’t be the pulse of the planet, the next best thing might be to be the pulse of a particular quorum of people who care deeply about something. Many Facebook groups do just that, thanks to the dedicated moderators who run them; I’m particularly fond of a comics group called Hogan’s Alley and one for owners of Gazelle e-bikes. I’ve also been spending more time on Reddit and Discord—mostly lurking, but I plan to become a more active participant. Reddit has already provided me with something that Twitter, even at its peak, never could have: expert advice on what to do about my balky garage door opener.

Newsletters

For years, I subscribed to scads of newsletters but had trouble finding a moment to read them. (Thank you for opening this one, by the way.) That’s changed lately, in part because I’m making a point of allocating sufficient mental bandwidth, but also because of a nifty app called Matter. Instead of forcing me to peruse newsletters in my e-mail app—a place I have no particular desire to linger—Matter offers a reading-centric experience focused on newsletters, online items I’ve bookmarked using Pocket-like tools, and recommended articles. I check in with it toward the end of the day—you know, when I might otherwise be idly scrolling through Twitter/X.

Life itself!

I swear I’m not a Luddite. I don’t even assume the hours I spend online are inherently inferior to those out in the physical world. But as Twitter/X’s siren call fades away, I’m trying to remember to switch off my screens and disconnect. I’m startled at how much time that creates for wholly analog activities, and how good it feels to tackle something as mundane as yard work instead of reflexively gluing my eyeballs to an app.

As you already know, I’m far from the only person gradually moving on from Twitter/X. According to one recent report, the service’s daily user count is down nearly 25% since Musk’s takeover. Imagine how many millions of minutes that makes available for more rewarding pursuits! Lemme know what you’re doing instead of tweeting. Or, if you’re loving Twitter/X at least as much as ever, tell me why.

You’ve been reading Plugged In, Fast Company’s weekly tech newsletter from me, global technology editor Harry McCracken. If a friend or colleague forwarded this edition to you—or you’re reading it on FastCompany.com—you can check out previous issues and sign up to get it yourself every Wednesday morning. I love hearing from you: Ping me at hmccracken@fastcompany.com with your feedback and ideas for future newsletters.

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