Day 7 - A picture of something that has made the biggest impact on you
I joined Twitter in October of 2008 (under a different name). It was mostly out of a desire to follow Philip DeFranco and see if he would go back on his word to never tweet that he's pooping.
I cannot stress enough that I am an odd duck.
I don't know if he ever did. I've gone back and forth on following him, and being subscribed to his various channels on YouTube, because Philly D and I don't always agree on things. For a little while, I was pissed off at him because I wasn't actually listening to the things he was saying. And rather than accept that as long as I'm on the internet, I will be confronted by people with differing opinions, I decided to put myself squarely in a bubble of people who (mostly) agreed with me.
That was dumb. And it proved to be more stress than it was worth. Because when you live in an echo chamber, and you realize that you don't agree with everyone in that echo chamber, and you decide to express your differing opinions, people you thought were your friends will happily shut you out because you don't agree with them.
That is fucked up, Daisy.
Twitter has done a lot for me. It gave me an outlet for my unpopular opinions. It allowed me to quickly check up on the news and things I cared about. It got me a job in the industry I thought I wanted to be in (but have since decided I'm okay with being on the periphery). It introduced me to people I've stayed friends with for years.
But most of all, Twitter has allowed me to listen to voices I never would have heard without it. People from all walks of life, all over the world speak their minds on Twitter. It gives a person a level of accessibility that wasn't really possible before. There were chatrooms, and instant messages before Twitter, but for the most part, people (who weren't hackers) stuck to chatrooms that related to their interests.
On Twitter, unless you have a private account, everyone can see what you tweet. Anyone can like or retweet your tweets, which means your tweets often end up seen by people you probably don't know and wouldn't have met otherwise. This, in turn, can prompt responses that expose you to opinions and experiences you wouldn't have considered previously.
I've learned a lot because of Twitter's open platform. I've learned that people can't always be taken at face value. I've learned that I don't have to like or be friends with someone who's a shitty person just because everyone else likes them. I've learned that not everyone who has been branded a shitty person actually is. I've learned that there are some genuinely fucked up people out there, and they're not all criminals. In fact, some are really good at pretending to be decent people.
I used to be really naive. Heh.
I've also learned that it's okay to have and be open about unpopular opinions.
Because of Twitter, who I am as a person has changed quite a bit. Especially in the past couple of years.
I try to be less belligerent with my opinions. I try to listen to others before I open my mouth. I try to get all the facts before I formulate an opinion.
I'm still painfully blunt, and I don't really fault myself for it, because I'm pretty firm in my belief that if everyone said what they meant, and meant what they said, the world would be a much better place. We're always lying to each other to protect feelings, or hide differences of opinions, or avoid influencing someone else, and I hate everything about that. But these days, I try not to be a dick about it, and that's pretty much thanks to Twitter.
Besides that, Twitter has allowed me to bump elbows with famous people. Somewhere around here, I have a whole list of things that never would have happened to me if it weren't for Twitter. Maybe one day I'll post it.
This series inspired by a writing challenge from Living Off Love and Coffee. Find the full list here.
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