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Stop Walking Through the Capital-D Door
How short stories became my antidote to social media
When Elon Musk took over Twitter in October of 2022, doomscrolling was already a part of the modern vernacular. I’d managed to avoid its siren call by curating my experience as much as possible, using mute and block filters generously. But by the spring of 2023, having a good time on Twitter was all but impossible.
My feed teemed with posts lamenting the platform’s demise, accounts with 8-bit-styled avatars touting NFTs and meme coins, and, above all, a seething stream of angry tirades with almost no discernible substance. The goal of Twitter, it seemed, was to out-meme everyone else. Doomscrolling wasn’t a bug; it was the feature.
Prior to its downfall, Twitter plugged me into a network of tech professionals, helped me find employment, and introduced me to good friends, some of whom I’ve had the pleasure of meeting offline. But the rapid degradation of Twitter into X shocked me into leaving the platform. Not long after, I extended that into a year-long hiatus from all social media.
It was one of the best decisions of my adult life.
As a kid, I was insatiably curious. This quality had, in fact, followed me into adulthood. But just as a diet high in processed foods dulls the palate and…
