Sir_tWitch_alot’s Death Shows Us That Social Media Smiles Are Only Skin Deep

Thoughts as we mourn the loss of Stephen “tWitch” Boss, 1982–2022

TW: Suicide.

Yesterday morning, as is routine, I scrolled through Instagram while sipping my morning coffee. The first thing to come up was a video of tWitch (or Sir_tWitch_alot as I often refer to his IG handle) and his wife doing some kick-ass dancing. There was nothing unusual about it because they’re regulars on my feed for many years now — I love their casual, coordinated choreos.

Next was Twitter, and I almost swiped past a post with his face on it but not before my eyes registered the words “dead” and “40”.

Oh, tWitch’s playing a dead man in a movie? Cool!

No, wait.

What? No way, it can’t be.

No no no no no.

Going back to the tweet only confirmed what my sinking heart already knew by then: He was dead.

I oscillated between Instagram, Twitter, and the news a million times in the next five minutes, each refresh bringing up a fresh tweet, post, or article reiterating it.