Twitter’s Echo Chamber of Pretentiousness

26 Aug 2022 | ~3 minute read

I had a look around Twitter the other day. It really is a dumpster fire of people desperate for attention.

Right up front I want to say that I’m not talking about all people on Twitter. There are obviously lots of great folks on there, but the pretentious humble bragging is so prevalent. Particularly in tech.

During my perusal of the Twattersphere, I saw the following threads (and we all know how I feel about threads):

• “How I was able to grow my newsletter to 10k subs in a year, and you can too! 🧵👇“
• “I earn 6 figures WITHOUT A DEGREE. Here’s how I did it…🧵“
• “People often ask me how I get so many of my posts to the top of #HackerNews. Here’s how. 🧵👇“

The humble brag

I can’t describe how much these useless, attention-seeking threads annoy me. And yes, I know they shouldn’t, and I should just ignore them and move on. But I can’t.

The irony of these posts is that they’re not helping a lot of people. For many, these “I’m doing great ner ner ne-ner nerrr” posts do nothing but kick people when they’re down.

I’m sure many people who post these threads think they’re adding some good to the world. But in my opinion they’re not; they just look like a humble bragging dicks.

Worse still, when these people post their drivel, their followers rally round to gush and opine on how these people are an inspiration.

Fuck. Off.

A developer earning 6 figures at some tech giant in San Fransisco is NOT an inspiration.

The soldiers laying down their lives for a pittance, thousand of miles away from home are an inspiration.

The nurses and doctors who risk their own health and safety. Every. Single. Day. They’re the inspiration.

The single mums and dads who struggle to make ends meet every week, who go without to ensure their kids are fed and watered. They’re the inspiration.

How can we fix it?

We can’t. There is no fixing it, and I have no good ideas. I just wanted to voice my opinion. I think Twitter is an utter, utter shit show and it’s only getting worse.

That’s why I much prefer Mastodon. There’s real people there who aren’t out to build massive followings, or share their nuggets of life changing bullshit. They just want to connect with other humans and have good, interesting conversations.

Maybe one day Mastodon will go the same way. I don’t know. But if it does, you can bet your bottom dollar that it will piss me off just as much there and I’ll probably leave.

There’s no point to this post really. There’s no final thought, like I normally have. No question for you. It’s just a pointless rant.

Fuck Twitter.

</rant>

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