TWITTER IS INCREASING YOUR ANXIETY
Twitter is a great means of communicating with other people, so let’s get that out of the way first it is not without value. Unfortunately Twitter has devolved into a running gun battle of shouting, negativity and mental anguish. You really don’t have to go for into the twitter verse to see it either. Maybe you don’t use Twitter, then disregard. If you do use Twitter then you know exactly what I mean. If you suffer from anxiety and use twitter? You’re a glutton for punishment I guess.
Here is a quick synopsis of what a normal day on twitter is like:
Random Twitter user: “I had a great Orange today, I prefer Oranges over Apples”
5-10 Random Twitter users reply: “So what your saying is you hate Apples…. You are a racist/every other ist they can think of”
Random Twitter user replies: “I didn’t say I hate Apples, I said I prefer Oranges over them”
5-10 Random Twitter users reply: “It’s the same thing, you can’t hide your “ist” we know who you are and we know what you stand for”
Meantime the peanut gallery shows up. Hundreds of replies later lines are drawn, you are either for Apples or against. Names have been called, threats have been made, tears have been shed, and yelling has occurred, anger is abound.
You? You’ve lost your appetite and will likely not eat an orange again and your anxiety is off the charts. Why? Because you prefer oranges over apples.
Perhaps you use Twitter for affirmation, perhaps for you it’s a comfortable environment because you happen to fall in line with the current popular narrative. That’s fine for you, remember every time you pile on, someone else is on the other side of the screen. You might be contributing to their declining mental health, conversely they may be contributing to your declining mental health by disagreeing with you.
At the end of the day all of us who have some form of Anxiety have to take hard looks at what is contributing to our condition. Twitter is a cesspool of negativity and an echo chamber. It’s a constant drumbeat of self-righteousness and that can be extremely exhausting. Anxiety is horrible and Twitter is making it worse for you. If you continue to engage in Twitter you are ensuring that anxiety thrives, stop enabling your anxiety and shut twitter off.
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