Was Twitter designed to cause division, strife, and hatred among people? Who designed this platform and what purpose does it serve? The most toxic human behaviors bleed out for the entire world to see, right on Twitter. Toxic behavior is reinforced on Twitter, not reprimanded. Anyone who has a Twitter account can shout people down online – people they don’t know, people they don’t understand. In real life, if someone acted this way, there is the possibility they could be punched right in the mouth. Twitter, like other social media platforms, acts as a shield. Anyone can sit behind their computer, slander, and not worry about the real life repercussions. This social media platform is ruining reputations, destroying civil discourse, bolstering mob mentality, and empowering bullying behavior online.

What is it that Twitter users are seeking? When a Twitter user wants to say something out loud online, they are restricted to using a set amount of words to describe their thoughts and emotions. It’s almost as if Twitter was engineered in a way to bring out the worst in people. With limited speech, a Twitter user is confined to speak in short bursts. This destroys civil discourse and intelligent conversation from the onset. This format also causes users to blurt out grandiose statements; Twitter trains people to be narcissistic and self-centered. The format is also designed to cause users to make quick retorts toward one another, making it hard for people to understand one another. This causes further separation in real life. (Related: Former Facebook exec: Social media is “ripping society apart”.)

Twitter is a very divisive tool that serves no purpose for human connection or human empathy. It is setup in a way to exacerbate the most toxic behaviors of humanity. Twitter’s short-term feedback loops are designed to drive up dopamine levels in user’s brains, therefore addicting users to short bursts of satisfaction and short-lived feelings of acceptance, admiration, and a sense of being “right.”

In a democracy, Twitter is like a cancer. Emotionally-charged statements garner a following and this groupthink drives the narrative, no matter whose reputation is wrongfully tarnished along the way. When people embrace this mob mentality culture of Twitter, human interaction suffers. Real problems cannot be solved in our communities if people adopt the mentality of impressing Twitter followers and using them to make their own ideas more popular. A Twitter following only emboldens one’s sense of self-importance, causing one to act and say things that are out of character. It’s these narcissistic and bully-like methods of communication that are driving us apart. A real thought leader doesn’t need to be reassured of their importance by the number of followers they have on Twitter. A real thought leader doesn’t disparage others for sharing their own ideas.

Twitter cannot fix the problem of hate and toxic behavior on its platform because the very design of Twitter is setup to pull these emotions out of people. When one deletes their Twitter account, they become more human, more willing to interact with people in a positive, friendly, and understanding manner. Now, more than ever, is an important time to pull our faces out of our screens and communicate emotions, ideas, and experiences in a way that challenges our souls and fosters real human connection.

Sources include:

TheHill.com

NaturalNews.com