Breaking up is not that hard to do...

Leaving Twitter was one of the cleanest splits Alice Vincent has ever made

WE had a good run, Twitter and I. First thing in the morning, last thing at night, it offered nine years of patience for my pub philosophy, bad jokes and occasional rage. Last year, though, things turned sour: between #MeToo and endless doom-casting, Twitter became a bleak place. Like many at the beginning of the year, I realised I was spending far too much time staring at my phone and so I switched off the app on January 1, and have barely missed it since. It was one of the cleanest break-ups I’ve ever encountered.

Not that I actually deleted my account; I need one for the odd bit of work-based research or direct messaging. But I haven’t had the app on my phone for years and I’ve posted less than 25 times in the past six months – mostly telling people to email me instead.

I’ve sunk into a happy silence. At first I wound up with an extra hour at work every day, which, presumably, was previously filled with Twitter and links shared on it. Now, I just feel a lot more efficient.

I thought I’d miss being part of that unique, smug club that devours internet phenomena hours before anyone else, but now I consider it daft online flotsam; digital clutter I can live without. I do, however, miss reading the pieces that define the cultural climate we live in. As for going back? Well, I’ll tweet if I want to, but it’s far more tempting to leave the dawn chorus to the real birds. —