Twitter Can’t Save Us
We can’t rely on a man-made platform to protect us from the human condition.
“Everybody has good and bad forces working with them, against them, and within them.”
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem
It’s a colossal understatement to say that social media platforms have altered our lives. In developed countries especially, the very fabric of how we go about our days, conduct business, and relate to one another has been forever changed by the widespread use of tools like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
In many ways, this can be seen as a positive thing. A platform that thrives on people sharing their diverse thoughts, opinions, and experiences can be a beautiful, harmonious place. At least, that’s what Twitter founder and CEO Jack Dorsey and his small team thought when they were first building the now $32.48 billion company (as of August 28, 2020).
What began as a simple idea — give people a way to communicate where the audience chooses whether or not to engage rather than the sender hand picking who to communicate with — has come with on onslaught of unforeseen issues that seem to have been far from the minds of Dorsey and his team years ago.
