Mute, Block, Breathe: How to deal with (un)Social Media

Scott Belsky, Adobe’s chief product officer, said something in a 2020 conversation that has stuck with me since.

“Twitter is one of those products where I can see overuse making people have a long term, problem with the product emotionally. And that’s being exacerbated in the day we’re living in now.”

You can extend this to almost all social media, which has become quite unsocial these days. I have been well aware of the rise of conflict culture for over half a decade. It has allowed me to prepare for the detrimental impact on social platforms for a while now. As result, I am better prepared to exert a modicum of control over what comes into my feeds. In addition to limiting my personal exposure to Twitter, Threads, and other social media to less than a couple of hours a week, I have created a series of rules for myself to eliminate any concept of “angertainment” that has become standard on social platforms.

These allow me to avoid people and accounts that are engagement farming and instead focus on higher-value signals.

My social media rule No. 1 for our present rancor-filled times is that I will mute any account (a person or a media outlet) that I think is creating more heat than light.

I asked the question to my followers on Threads, and here are a couple of replies that stood out. I will keep updating the list as more replies come through.

• Block. Hard block. I will also report anyone I think is causing stuff, being cruel or similar. After being on Twitter and FB from fairly early on I am much more selective about who I follow here. I’ve learned. I’m here for my own reasons, I try and be positive, informative and welcoming, but if folks wreck the vibe they go bye bye. Michael Rennick 
• I will resist replying to or reposting armchair quarterbacks. Will be more mindfully focusing on things other than the current election, like sports, tech, product, data/analytics, etc. Romit Mehta 
• Wait 60 seconds before responding. Drafts are great. Blog posts are better. Josh Nguyen
• I mute if you’re just being stupid. I’m tired of stupid. Instant block if you’re spreading hate, racism etc. JMesiter Design

More Context with Essays from My Archives

Social Internet Is Dead. Get Over It.

The Tyranny of Content Algorithms

Conflict Culture is making social Unsocial

What do Instagram & TikTok have to do with Asparagus?