Leaving Twitter

I'll never think of it as anything but Twitter.

X was the worst rebranding I've ever seen, and I was there for "New Coke."

So late on November 5th, 2024, when it became clear that Trump was going to win in some bizarre landslide that saw swing states vote blue down-ballot but Trump at the top I knew it was time to leave the platform I'd fallen in love with. 

So what, it's just a social media account, right?

Over my 13 years on Twitter, I'd gained a large following. At its largest, just before the election, it came within a dozen people of 138,000. George Lopez, who I have loved for years, had just followed me. So did Mark Hamill. John Cena, Heather Thomas, Kathy Ireland, Stephanie Ruhle, and a bunch of others who might or might not care that I left them off this list. 

I was followed by dozens of politicos whom I respected, as well as former and current members of the House of Representatives and even a sitting Senator. 

I was also followed by thousands of people who became my friends. People who I interacted with on a daily basis for 13 years. I knew about their lives and they knew about mine. 

Twitter gave me this oversized platform and the courage to use it. I spoke about my fight with MDD and my miraculous recovery due to dTMS. I spoke about living and teaching with ADHD and Dyscalculia. I spoke about teaching in general and my love for FIRST robotics. But most importantly, I spoke about my wife and how rewarding  a healthy marriage can be. I also spoke out about politics… lots and lots of politics. 

My tweets got millions of impressions. Well over 300,000,000 while I was active. That's staggering for someone who just spoke their mind and did not try and do what influencers did for attention. 

In my last year, I received about 40,000,000 alone. That was with the ridiculous throttling that Elon was imposing on accounts that didn't pay and supported the Left. 

In the end, I decided to try premium and over the five months I had it, I made back my $8.00 at lest 50 times over, it felt like blood money. 

The final straw was the lifting of blocking. Oh, sure, you could still block people, but they could go to your feed, screenshot your posts, and post about them. They just could not follow you or comment. That's not safe. It's an invitation to harass, stalk, and bully others. 

My wife no longer felt safe with Trump back in power and my voice calling him out so publicly. Even though I was anonymous, at least as much as you can be when you give Elon your information, she asked me to leave the platform. I requested my data that evening and within 48 hours, I was gone.

My final hurried moments on the platform felt like I was rushing through my house grabbing valuables as disaster raced at my heels. 

I tried to tell folks where to find me, and a core group of those friends I had made did. On here, on Threads, on BlueSky. But in the end, I lost something that was emotionally valuable to me, something I had built over years of conversations, posts, and confrontations with the clueless. 

Twitter was going to be part of my platform post retirement. Why do I need a platform? Because there are books sitting on my computer waiting to be published and having that audience would have been an ace up my sleeve. That Ace is now gone, thanks to Elon Musk. 

So, what now? 

I've never had the massive audience or name recognition of folks like Hoarse Whisperer or Liam Nissan. When I join a new platform, I get a couple hundred people who are very happy to see me and the rest are like "oh, I remember you... sorta."

So I’ll rebuild it from scratch. I'm getting good at that. I just wish we had one place to focus our efforts instead of the dozen shards of the public square that was once Twitter

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