balances flickr photo by EN NOIR & BLANC shared into the public domain using Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication (CC0)
Perhaps it took me longer than others in my networks to finally pull the plug on what was once Twitter. I had reduced my presence significantly since Musk bought it and ruined it with his ego and money, and turned it into a right wing spigotry funnel of bs and disinformation.
But I still had some connections that I was worried about losing, via CLMOOC and the National Writing Project and the DS106 crew, and so kept my toes in.
I took my toes out this week. Enough is enough.
If Musk wants X to be a megaphone for the incoming disaster, I am all out. I downloaded all of my data (about 2 gigs, so lots there from the years I was posting regularly, for whatever good that will do me) and I went to hit the delete button, only to find out there is no delete button. It’s a 30 day pause button. Then my account gets deleted. It had better.
I don’t have it in me right now to write a long elegy to what Twitter meant for many years. I will just say, it was meaningful for many projects and connections. I learned from many others how to become a better educator. My work there enriched my life. It was meaningful. And then it wasn’t.
Now it’s not at all.
I have been active on Mastodon for some time during this transitional period, although it is not nearly the same atmosphere as the good Twitter years. It’s less educational-oriented, as far as I can see, but I do enjoy the writing community and the makers who are there, and the activists from around the world, and the open technology folks, and some of my DS106 friends are active. It’s been a good place to be, overall. Here is my account on Mastodon, if you want to connect: https://mastodon.social/deck/@dogtrax
Meanwhile, I just jumped into BlueSky, which feels like it could be more like the old Twitter, and so I am working to get myself established with old friends and new connections, and we’ll see where that goes. There’s clearly an active and growing circle of educators there. Check out the #edusky hashtag. Here is my account on BlueSky, if you are there and want to connect: https://bsky.app/profile/dogtrax.bsky.social
I’m trying to find the right beam on which to balance (which hopefully explains the image I chose for this post!)
Peace (out),
Kevin