“You need to get back on Twitter. So many amazing educators to reach out to and learn from.”

It was the beacon from a colleague several years back, urging me to re-join a platform I distanced myself from as it was nothing more than a toxic wasteland of drama. I grew up in a European household and had enough fill of gossip for three lifetimes.

(The original social media was my mother on the phone through the evening sharing “news” with her siblings)

Yet, the foolish part of my nature that felt–perhaps–this time would be different, re-joined.

It was going fine as I kept my distance and monitored my usage, but this past year has been too much.

The yelling.
The complaining.
The screaming.

All to be washed away with the next storm when millions of people worldwide logged in to find something else to scream about. The conversations I once enjoyed were being sidelined for the family get-togethers that ended in a cacophony of excessively loud voices complaining about everything and nothing.

The quiet wisdom once worth seeking is all sucked away by the many attempts of people engaging in a game of brittle popularity: here now, gone the next minute.

It’s time to log off.

Perhaps I’ll try again when the world extricates itself from its current madness.