Thank you for these thoughts, Judy. As a person who almost never tweets but uses twitter to gain understanding in several fields of interest (the science of reading, child protection in churches, etc), I wonder how I am impacted both similarly and differently. I use twitter exclusively for learning and watching other thinkers, and yet I am confident that I am not immune from its dangers.
It’s hard to know because there’s so much bad stuff mixed in with the good. It’s really good, even virtuous, to actively seek out diverse ideas and perspectives, especially those whose voices have historically been muffled; but it’s important to keep in mind that the majority of information *in the medium* is presented without the benefit of a relational or locational context and in ways that tend to flatten out the inherent complexity of human issues. Having been away from social media for a year now, I can definitely attest to the fact that my perception of reality was quite warped by the outsized educational role I assigned to Twitter. I can only speak for myself, though, and don’t necessarily assume that everyone on the site has been affected in the same way or to the same degree.
Could you give an example of an instance where you have discovered that your perspective was warped by the educational role you had assigned twitter? I believe you - I would just like to understand more deeply.
There are many, but one example that’s quickly accessible is the story of the confrontation between Amy Cooper and Christian Cooper in Central Park. I remember feeling so much certainty about what had transpired and what that situation represented, largely because so many of the people I followed and whose voices I trusted had an identical take on it. But a year after the incident, new evidence came to light, and some good-faith investigative journalism exposed not only the much fuller truth of what happened but a horrible corruption within legacy media and a sinister dynamic within our culture (and in particular the social media platforms) where stories and incidents are publicly adjudicated. I started to recognize how much regular people participated in the spread of propaganda without even knowing it, and I was part of that machine. And it’s not even centrally masterminded propaganda; it’s more of a cultural phenomenon that flows from a technologically driven form of sense-making. Anyway, here’s the story in written form detailing previously undisclosed evidence, but if you have time to listen to the podcast episode, it’s really powerful. https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/the-real-story-of-the-central-park?s=r
I, too, came across both those pieces this week. Thank you for synthesizing them with your own thoughts. I've been off twitter for a few months with no immediate plans to return. Identifying with everything you—and they—express..... especially as a previously very heavy user of it.
Thank you for these thoughts, Judy. As a person who almost never tweets but uses twitter to gain understanding in several fields of interest (the science of reading, child protection in churches, etc), I wonder how I am impacted both similarly and differently. I use twitter exclusively for learning and watching other thinkers, and yet I am confident that I am not immune from its dangers.
It’s hard to know because there’s so much bad stuff mixed in with the good. It’s really good, even virtuous, to actively seek out diverse ideas and perspectives, especially those whose voices have historically been muffled; but it’s important to keep in mind that the majority of information *in the medium* is presented without the benefit of a relational or locational context and in ways that tend to flatten out the inherent complexity of human issues. Having been away from social media for a year now, I can definitely attest to the fact that my perception of reality was quite warped by the outsized educational role I assigned to Twitter. I can only speak for myself, though, and don’t necessarily assume that everyone on the site has been affected in the same way or to the same degree.
Could you give an example of an instance where you have discovered that your perspective was warped by the educational role you had assigned twitter? I believe you - I would just like to understand more deeply.
There are many, but one example that’s quickly accessible is the story of the confrontation between Amy Cooper and Christian Cooper in Central Park. I remember feeling so much certainty about what had transpired and what that situation represented, largely because so many of the people I followed and whose voices I trusted had an identical take on it. But a year after the incident, new evidence came to light, and some good-faith investigative journalism exposed not only the much fuller truth of what happened but a horrible corruption within legacy media and a sinister dynamic within our culture (and in particular the social media platforms) where stories and incidents are publicly adjudicated. I started to recognize how much regular people participated in the spread of propaganda without even knowing it, and I was part of that machine. And it’s not even centrally masterminded propaganda; it’s more of a cultural phenomenon that flows from a technologically driven form of sense-making. Anyway, here’s the story in written form detailing previously undisclosed evidence, but if you have time to listen to the podcast episode, it’s really powerful. https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/the-real-story-of-the-central-park?s=r
This resonates so much.
I, too, came across both those pieces this week. Thank you for synthesizing them with your own thoughts. I've been off twitter for a few months with no immediate plans to return. Identifying with everything you—and they—express..... especially as a previously very heavy user of it.