My new year’s resolution? To detoxify my social media

Social media is designed for conflict. Anger is engagement, and engagement is money. And that ecosystem has elevated some people from being mere annoyances to main characters. There are TV presenters and newspaper columnists who could once easily be ignored by switching channels or closing the newspaper.

But now they fill our Twitter feeds even if we don’t follow them, having figured out that tapping out a low-value controversial take will boost their profile for a few more days and lead to a couple of additional panel show bookings.

I’m editor of Indy100 in the US, and our site’s focus is on internet culture. As well as the established names who’ve pivoted to exploiting social media’s outrage network, there’s an entire new generation of internet-made provocateurs who’ve gamed the algorithms and their readers’ dopamine receptors to make it big.

But even if you’re not trying to provoke – the system is designed to sow discord. I posted a political opinion on Twitter a few weeks ago. It wasn’t hugely controversial, but it was far enough from the median line of discourse that it caught the attention of a much bigger account. He quote-tweeted it with his own interpretation of what I’d said – and within seconds my feed was filled with his fans furiously echoing his sentiments.

He’d done nothing wrong. He’d seen an opinion that he didn’t like. Framed it. And shared it. That’s how Twitter is designed. But the nature of the platform – and the gulf between large accounts and small ones – leads to that kind of toxic environment. I eventually deleted the tweet, I was again at peace.

The sadness of the current situation is that the early internet held so much promise. I’m 36 and remember the half-finished Geocities sites of the late 1990s. But I also remember the RSS feeds filled with thoughtful political debate, the forums that remained largely troll-free and productive, and news sites without rage-filled comment sections.

I’ve tried going cold turkey on the web in the past. Turning off my iPhone, picking up a book. But it’s not a long-term solution. Most office jobs require some form of internet use. But that old internet hasn’t gone; it’s just been drowned out. Over the next year, one of my resolutions is to use Indy100 to help highlight some of the places that fulfill the promise of the early internet.

It exists even on sites we now view as toxic. On Reddit, for example, the politics forums are hellscapes. So instead, I joined the cooking, Scotch whisky, fitness and board game subreddits. They’re sedate, wholesome affairs with little of the anger and resentment of current affairs forums.

On YouTube, I’ve unsubscribed from drama-loving influencers and focused on the people doing niche, relaxing things: building cabins, wild camping and hitch-hiking across Europe. Twitter is still a tough one – but creating a stress-free list of high-value accounts to check in on outside of work hours has really improved the experience.

Highlighting the other side of the web is not only a way to help improve our relationship with technology, it’s also a great opportunity to highlight voices who are too often drowned out by the noise.

Yours,

Dave MacLean

US indy100 editor