Mariella Gattini

As Margaret Atwood would say, tweeting is not writing; it is signaling at most. I agree, with all the “handles” and “hashtags” the message gets lost and reduced to a few mismatched, unintelligible, detached words. The worst part is that it becomes a blank canvas for distortion and misinformation. There you have the need for repetition. The more “influencers” repeat their falsehoods, the more legitimacy they seem to imprint in their audience. They are aiming at an audience that is naturally narrow-minded, ignorant, irresponsible, and aloof.

It’s true that Twitter is just a communication tool, and, as such, it can’t be blamed for the use of it. It’s like trying to blame the gun for the shots that kill someone. The culprit is the one aiming the gun, not the gun itself. However, it creates the environment, or provides the ammunition, for such exchange of artificial connection, or, better said, disconnection. Even people who want to buy a gun need to pass a background check. Whereas those with an agenda, who make use of Twitter unscrutinized, can inflict significant damage in people’s psyche, especially when that particular agenda involves narcissistic, greedy, psychopathic behaviors.

Companies like Twitter have a responsibility in the spread of those messages of hatred, misinformation, and falsehoods, because they benefit from that deceitfulness when more and more people tune in to correct those statements and create the “need” for a “conversation” about issues, which is an even bigger false narrative, due to the fact that everything starts from the misrepresentation of the truth.

On the other hand, Twitter, just like Facebook, has the tools and the real experts. They know where those messages are coming from; they don’t need to invest more to conduct a deeper investigation. They ARE the machine, they know how it operates, inside out. In other words, they can’t hide. If anyone using Twitter or Facebook spreads misinformation, it is those companies misinforming people. If some are harassing others, those platforms themselves become the harassers. They are helping the perpetrators to aim even better at their targets.

Besides, like any other publishing company, they also benefit from the celebrity of their clients, called “users”, and who should be really called “used.” The bigger the celebrity, the bigger the number of followers. Therefore, the bigger the number of “users.” This one had a baby, the other one had a sandwich, look at that one, she kissed someone. Really? Hashtag sandwich, hashtag good, hashtag who cares? At me, me, me, and at you, you, and you. Don’t you see how ridiculous it sounds?

The problem doesn’t get solved by increasing the number of words allowed for each entry. They can follow an insight… with another insight… with another insight…. Do you see it now? I doubt it.

Idiocy… plus cretinism… plus hatred… plus more idiocy with capital letters… plus derangement… and never-ending idiocy…. Don’t tell me you don’t see it now. Oh, what the heck. Eat excrement, billions of flies can’t be wrong!

Apps can be a good way to communicate, sell products, and interact with people, who, otherwise, can’t be reached, …absolutely. However, like any other product, it has an obligation to keep the environment safe and healthy, with parameters and business core competences that go beyond the acquisition of money, because we are talking about the interaction of people here, many of them vulnerable because they are young and/or uneducated.

We all have an obligation to protect our public mental health, and the bigger the audience, the bigger the responsibility. Most of human mental health diseases come from poverty, abuse, underlying physical health conditions, self-medication, and, most important, loneliness.

Unfortunately, for those very same reasons, those suffering from mental health issues can also fall easy prey of unscrupulous business models that are nothing more than a facade.

And yet, there those businesses are, making billions taken out of the lives of people who want everybody else to believe they have millions of friends, and are terribly connected. Terrific!

Sorry, don’t buy it. Literally. Hashtag boring, hashtag see through you, hashtag the end.

Celebrities, on the other hand, are not your friends. A familiar face does not translate into a good person necessarily. We tend to believe that anything familiar is comforting, close, and on our side. Not so fast. Celebrities are well paid, and receive a big number of accolades. You don’t need them, on the contrary, they need you. But be aware of the fact that being a follower of someone popular does not make you popular.

I’m not against celebrities. I love many of them, at least I love what I know of them. You know what they say, don’t get too close to the ones you idolize—they most probably are going to disappoint you.

In politics, populism is a tool used to organize big numbers of people, where people are considered just that—numbers. Like in any other big business, numbers are preponderant; not people.

And a good example of that kind of business is what is called “social” media, where their clients/users ARE the product.

Margaret Atwood is right—signaling is not writing. Writing is far more than entries on a page, it is a sincere and a profound approach to people, their triumphs, and their woes. It helps us analyze our hectic lives, our internal and external disconnections—our own nature. It is a way to develop our intellect and discover who we really are and where we need to go from here. We are social creatures, who thrive in a natural, face-to-face interaction with others and with nature. Real friends come in very small numbers; everybody else is an acquaintance. Our human interactions should move beyond tolerance, but also should be aware of the ones trying to take advantage of our natural social networks.

Today is a good day to question who we are, and how much we are contributing to the problem in allowing companies to take over our lives. Now is the moment to be aware of what has been done to us socially, how we need to go about it, and who we want to really be from now on.