Twitter-Free for Six Months! (and better off for the effort)

I used to love love love Twitter. I was an early adopter, getting started in 2007 - while I was in graduate school for history at The University of Virginia. I enthusiastically embraced the social media platform as the great connector. I thought Twitter democratized a discipline that many criticized as aloof, insular, and (at worst) elitist. To me (one among several other early adopters), the possibilities were endless. Most importantly, I saw the unparalleled potential of this platform to connect professional historians with students and lay-persons, encourage the study of history, and foster discourse.

And at first it worked. The level of engagement inspired me to reach out to professionals and the informed public all over the world - fielding questions and engaging in dialogue with the same. I even thanked my Twitter following in the acknowledgments section of my first major publication…a book which, without question, emerged from the many interactions I had on social media.

Thanking my Twitter following in the acknowledgements of Across the Bloody Chasm (LSU Press, 2014)

But then I pulled the plug. I had a decent following too (10,000ish), and my last Tweet (a joke about the caning of Charles Sumner) garnered 650,000 impressions. Hardly Kardashian level but still…not bad for a middle-aged high school history teacher. So why did I leave?

Twitter got gross. I know, I know I am hardly the first person to lament the toxicity of social media. But history Twitter especially descended into a dark place. Daily I found myself disgusted by the puerile behavior of adults - many people who I knew and respected, including prominent historians, who clogged our feeds senselessly arguing with Internet trolls. I found that subjecting myself to other peoples’ performative rage, polemical rants, and insufferably self-righteous, ritualistic attempts to “own” or “dunk” on perpetrators of bad faith arguments (thus giving them a platform) was affecting my mental health in profound ways.

But it got worse. I also witnessed professional historians attacking valid criticism by making baseless accusations of racism/sexism/agism/ableism/nativism/whateverism - with thin or no evidence. And, in the most egregious manner, I observed historians dismissing - even ridiculing and mocking work that had yet to be published because an author did not align with their political agenda. Call me naïve, but I still believe in the free exchange of ideas and diversity of thought. I still believe in respectful debate. And I still believe in evidence.

So let’s just say my life is now infinitely better. For those of you still on Twitter…God bless.

With compliments,

Keith

P.S. I am still on Instagram…I’ve managed to keep this a positive and productive place, for now anyway :)