Are Twitter Users in Danger of Losing Touch with their Embodied, Offline Lives?

I use Twitter/X regularly to stay informed about world events, and share my opinion and perspective with whoever happens to be listening. It can be fun, educational, and satisfying. But Twitter also has an ugly underbelly, because in subtle ways, it can morph from being a useful tool to being a capricious master, that traps its clients in a hall of mirrors, where they lose track of time, and frankly, may lose a grip on the tangible reality of their social, embodied lives.

Twitter is more than just a bit of fun. It is also, arguably, a way to “make a difference” by sharing thoughtful perspective and arguments in the public sphere that do not show up much in mainstream sources. It is also a useful source of perspectives on reality that are not enslaved to the dictates of political correctness or filtered by the guardians of mainstream media. Last but not least, Twitter can connect like-minded people and open the door to lasting cooperation and friendship, in unexpected ways.

But none of this exempts those who wander around in the Twittersphere from the danger of becoming unwitting victims of the algorithms that seek to hold our attention for as long as possible. Because Twitter useage is not necessarily tied to a very specific task or a very tangible social context, it can easily become a sort of socially deracinated “game” that we play in a semin-mindless way, egged on by the approval and attention it gives us, without quite grasping its contribution to our broader life projects and relationships.

This game can be incredibly appealing, because it feeds into our primordial desire for social approval and affirmation.