I don’t need to scroll very long in group chat conversations or conversations with people to hear them say something bad about Twitter. It often has to do with how their life improved after they stopped using Twitter, or how their mental health improved since they went off of Twitter, and the fact that I would be better off with my life if I just purged Twitter.

However, I must confess that I actually love being on Twitter. It passes the time very quickly and I can open myself up to a diversity of opinions and emotions, but it’s also a place I get news that is popular and viral (from credible sources). Of course, I understand a lot of the critiques that it can be a hotbed to the most extreme opinions and an echo chamber. It is an outrage machine and brain-hacking addiction device in the words

But if you want the most accurate perception of the human condition, Twitter is the place. If you want a platform that gives a voice and power to the people in a non-traditional form, Twitter is the place. If you want accessibility to popular people, celebrities, politicians, and journalists, then Twitter is the place.

Of course, like any human being, I get overwhelmed by Twitter. I need a break. I get outraged, too, and Twitter is the social media platform I’ve personally found the most difficult to resist. Sarah Jackson, a communications professor at the University of Pennsylvania, defends Twitter as a platform that has made us better.

“As we enter 2020, powerful individuals and societal problems can no longer avoid public scrutiny,” Jackson writes. “Many people who lacked public platforms 10 years ago — the young and members of marginalized groups in particular — are speaking up, insisting on being heard.”

She claims that Twitter has made this decade a better place despite all its flaws of being an outrage machine and echo chamber that lacks the civility of real-life interactions. But the biggest change about Twitter in Jackson’s perspective is that it gives a platform to people who lacked public platforms 10 years ago.

“The young and members of marginalized groups in particular — are speaking up, insisting on being heard,” Jackson says.

Jackson talks about Black Twitter and how its power is changing the world — compared to the overall black population in the U.S. compared to other demographic groups, Twitter is an engine for the advancement of awareness against police brutality and the #OscarsSoWhite movement.

#digital-life #society #politics #social-media #equality