I have really mixed feelings about Twitter and social media in general, especially after reading a number of critical articles recently about how those sites deliberately work at hooking us. For me, my bad online habits consist of checking email too often and then wasting time on Twitter. Years ago, I left Facebook because I just didn’t like the site that much (and I don’t trust Zuckerberg at all), and I’ve never looked back. I’d probably be happier if I just left Twitter completely, but I have this irrational belief that I need to be on it because of Trannies In Trouble – whether that’s true or not is open to debate. My site did hum along for eleven years just fine before I ever opened a Twitter account.
The big mistake I made when I started using Twitter is that if someone followed me I’d immediately follow them back. This might be a nice thing to do but it’s certainly not wise, as I ended up following way too many accounts that are simply retweeting hardcore porn – plus at one point a bunch of guys from Turkey followed me. Of course I don’t understand Turkish so again it’s nice but kind of pointless for me to be following them back – nothing against any Turkish Trannies in Trouble fans. I love you guys!
I have often thought though that I should just delete my Twitter account and start over, but my friend Delilah pointed out that the downside of only following a small number of sites is that your timeline quickly becomes boring as you only see items from a small number of people over and over – though that might not be a bad thing if it keeps me from frittering away my time. So it’s a dilemma – to delete and start over or not? It’s also a good example of a first-world problem, as if my Twitter experience matters in the least in the scheme of things.
A related concern that I sometimes wonder about is if anyone out there has ever gotten really addicted to Trannies In Trouble and spent hours and hours looking at pics and videos. In a way that would be flattering but I’ve always felt that in looking at naughty images one should probably limit oneself to an hour and then finish it off, if possible. I’ve certainly been caught a few times in that loop of looking at naughty images for way too long and it can definitely leave one with a sense of, “What the hell am I doing?” I hope not too many people have ever done that on my site but I’m sure it must happen – how often, who knows?
Fetlife, on the other hand, is one site that I don’t really have attention problems with. I mostly use it for messaging friends and potential models, but I don’t scroll and click around too much. It feels pretty benign and it’s one site I always recommend. Twitter on the other hand I do have some mild to moderate addictive tendencies with. Strangely enough, I don’t post or comment much, but I do get swept up in the news and reading the comments and looking at naughty images there, though I’ve been much better the last week and a half making a conscious attempt to limit my use.
Again my time on social media isn’t a particularly earth-shattering problem that matters much but it is a source of frustration. I am always curious though about what people think of Twitter if they are on it. Maybe I should go tweet something!
Sandra, you may not speak or understand Turkish, but being a knockout babe, You, is international! Everyone understands beauty and greats legs, pretty face and the perfect derriere!
Being gorgeous with a pretty face, great legs and perfect bum is universal. I am sure your Turkish followers have good taste and like fans in the US just love you for who you are.
Thanks, Spandexman! Always appreciate your comments, have a good one!
Not a fan of Twitter, but I keep an account there. I’ve only been somewhat active the past 6-7 months, but am not looking to follow others. It’s an odd place to me, and it doesn’t help that my account is in my real name. I worry at times that someone in my vanilla life will find out aboot my kink life. With that in mind I might soon need to put the kibosh on my account.
Thanks for posting, @HoseAndRopeLvr! It is a weird site indeed with a real unpleasant side to it, especially regarding the news and the tendency for people to “pile on” around any controversy. I can see the issues with having your account in your real name!
I don’t do socical meida @ all & doing just fine w/out it. People spend to much time on these chat rooms & think they will die w/out them, I say get out & find out what life is really about as on socical meadia these people ARE NOT your real friends. Get out & make real friends.
I tend to agree with you, Doris, to a point. I agree that social media is a huge waste of time and not real life. I would say though that some of the people on it are indeed my friends whom I see in real life too, but I get your point that most of it isn’t real. Like I mention in the blog post I still do wonder if I should still use Twitter to post the samples for my website though if I didn’t have Trannies in Trouble I probably would ditch it completely. I have met models through the platform too, which has been beneficial, but again I agree with much of what you say and I have very mixed feelings about Twitter. Thankfully I haven’t been using it much since I read the book referenced in that link…Thanks for posting!
I hear where you’re coming from Sandra; it seems everyone has to have a full-on online profile these days otherwise they don’t exist. Especially if one’s lifestyle/income whatever depends on it. Fortunately I do not own a business or anything that “requires” an extensive online presence. Consequently I’ve never had to sign up (and never intend to) to social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram et al. Maybe I’m just too old for all that crap: or just too anti-social! Anyway, Flicker and UMD sites are my only online sites I upload to; very infrequently these days sad to say.
Twitter is very hit and miss for me. I had three accounts, one which I abandoned and another I use strictly for read-only. The problem I found with Twitter is that they end up backfilling your feed with a lot of unwanted garbage so I deliberately spend more time blocking accounts (my passive-aggressiveness towards the site coming out) since i really have no desire to read crap that does not interest me. I still turn on my read-only account to check out a few people that I care about or use it for any relevant news. But a lot of it is hot garbage in the end.
My more active account is still used for mostly read-only purposes but once in a while I’ll see something interesting. Sometimes I’ll post but I find myself speaking into the void rather than feeling any meaningful connection, which is what I really would want.
My real hope with Twitter was originally being able to connect to people that I normally would not have a chance to meet “in the real world” because of shyness or other social barriers. While I have interacted with celebrities and some people that fall into “out of my usual social circles” grouping, I only was able to connect to a single person that I’ve continued to have as a friend for a good decade, which isn’t bad.
I think the whole trap of getting into flame wars, etc. was something I’ve been mostly able to avoid because I used to do that back in college when I first discovered usenet and all the newsgroups. I quickly discovered how much time one could waste with people that didn’t matter so I took that attitude with me on most social media. It’s helped with my sanity and I only partake in debates where I can have.a civilized conversation online anymore.