After reading this I threw out my phone and am now publishing physical Substack articles on a bulletin board that I wheel around town. Iām done with screaming into the digital abyss. Iām going to FORCE people to put their eyeballs on my shit!
I feel zero desire to join Threads. Not because I'm so strong... I just... barely find time as it is. I never got into Twitter and left years ago. Notes gives me mild anxiety... only because I feel like I *should* be participating in Notes. I've actually written this twice on my to-do list: "promote other newsletters on Notes!" but I've only once remembered to do it š . As you mention... IT DOESN'T MATTER EITHER WAY!
Also, this made me laugh: "(Take over humanity? In this economy?)" š
My god this is so well written. āLike, this canāt be how weāre all spending our lives, right?ā I still weep for my beloved Twitter: the archaeologists, historians, and niche peeps I learned so much from. The only thing I like about Threads is the pain itās causing Elon who broke my beloved addiction. At least it was as expensive for him as it was stupid.
I kid you not, I read the NYT article about Threads this weekend and immediately felt every fiber of my being want to join Threads. Note: I've only tweeted like four times in the eon that Twitter has existed. So yeah, wtf is up with these mental games, let me off this ride!!! So I will vacation in Frankl's Freedom spot where I currently reside ā wondering if I should or shouldn't "Thread." Maybe I'll be there permanently.
Also this --> "From the vantage point of the future, all of this - you, me, and even Jay-Z, we're all prologue, grainy tiktoks of a bygone time." Coziest and most liberating shit ever (take that, Mark Manson!)
A new social media app from two that are already extortionate and music-hostile is not gonna send me running for the entrance. I'd sooner stick with this one, even tho' it runs like a hamster pooping a peach pit most of the time.
I logged in on the first day, squillions of people posting, didn't see a single corporate Thread, only ordinary people, except for our prime minister and premier, who made it a priority in their busy day to be on Threads on day one. That's leadership!
Canceled Twitter when Trump got elected. Did some Instagram briefly during the early lockdown but then abandoned it. Rarely on FB. Never doing Tik Tok and will probably never do Threads or Bluesky. Iām old and not a media figure. I donāt need to live a performative life, either directly or vicariously. Social media has no hold on me.
But Substack and the chance to continuously argue anonymously in comments and Notes with people who are so very very WRONG about shit that matters - like Trumpās criminality or how delightful Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is? That is fucking crack.
I have enormous fingers and a tiny phone and threads doesnāt have a desktop app but I too feel a pull into the depths...
I also remember back when I was just on Google reader and I got my first taste of gamified interaction when friends commented on my shares. That was the moment that I started believing that any of this mattered. But as you say, Threads is helping me see the world more clearly. Great post.
You know what's sad? I probably just need one additional extremely funny friend who is totally addicted to texting and we text back & forth all day long. I am 3/4 of the way there as I have a few crazies to chitchat with I am just 25% short.
Great article, had me laughing the whole way through. Iām not on Threads, and my never be, but today at this very moment Iām perfectly okay with that.
After reading this I threw out my phone and am now publishing physical Substack articles on a bulletin board that I wheel around town. Iām done with screaming into the digital abyss. Iām going to FORCE people to put their eyeballs on my shit!
I feel zero desire to join Threads. Not because I'm so strong... I just... barely find time as it is. I never got into Twitter and left years ago. Notes gives me mild anxiety... only because I feel like I *should* be participating in Notes. I've actually written this twice on my to-do list: "promote other newsletters on Notes!" but I've only once remembered to do it š . As you mention... IT DOESN'T MATTER EITHER WAY!
Also, this made me laugh: "(Take over humanity? In this economy?)" š
My god this is so well written. āLike, this canāt be how weāre all spending our lives, right?ā I still weep for my beloved Twitter: the archaeologists, historians, and niche peeps I learned so much from. The only thing I like about Threads is the pain itās causing Elon who broke my beloved addiction. At least it was as expensive for him as it was stupid.
I kid you not, I read the NYT article about Threads this weekend and immediately felt every fiber of my being want to join Threads. Note: I've only tweeted like four times in the eon that Twitter has existed. So yeah, wtf is up with these mental games, let me off this ride!!! So I will vacation in Frankl's Freedom spot where I currently reside ā wondering if I should or shouldn't "Thread." Maybe I'll be there permanently.
Also this --> "From the vantage point of the future, all of this - you, me, and even Jay-Z, we're all prologue, grainy tiktoks of a bygone time." Coziest and most liberating shit ever (take that, Mark Manson!)
Thanks for scouting out threads so I donāt have to joinš
Alex, I have two things to say to you: 1. I respect you and your work. 2. Get away from me with this āthreadsā BS.
A new social media app from two that are already extortionate and music-hostile is not gonna send me running for the entrance. I'd sooner stick with this one, even tho' it runs like a hamster pooping a peach pit most of the time.
I logged in on the first day, squillions of people posting, didn't see a single corporate Thread, only ordinary people, except for our prime minister and premier, who made it a priority in their busy day to be on Threads on day one. That's leadership!
You mean you don't want to try to hoard Threads followers by being the first comment on every celebrity and brand's thread? You monster.
Canceled Twitter when Trump got elected. Did some Instagram briefly during the early lockdown but then abandoned it. Rarely on FB. Never doing Tik Tok and will probably never do Threads or Bluesky. Iām old and not a media figure. I donāt need to live a performative life, either directly or vicariously. Social media has no hold on me.
But Substack and the chance to continuously argue anonymously in comments and Notes with people who are so very very WRONG about shit that matters - like Trumpās criminality or how delightful Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is? That is fucking crack.
I have enormous fingers and a tiny phone and threads doesnāt have a desktop app but I too feel a pull into the depths...
I also remember back when I was just on Google reader and I got my first taste of gamified interaction when friends commented on my shares. That was the moment that I started believing that any of this mattered. But as you say, Threads is helping me see the world more clearly. Great post.
You know what's sad? I probably just need one additional extremely funny friend who is totally addicted to texting and we text back & forth all day long. I am 3/4 of the way there as I have a few crazies to chitchat with I am just 25% short.
...they should rebrand it as deadheads and only allow grateful dead memes (and ben gazzara quotes)...
Yeah you did! Youāre a thread master and Iām here for it
Great article, had me laughing the whole way through. Iām not on Threads, and my never be, but today at this very moment Iām perfectly okay with that.
You seem to have missed discussing how much more holistic social media can be when combined with wheat grass juice enemas.