Those of you who’ve followed me on social media in the past know I got off of The App Formerly Known as Twitter more than a year ago when it was acquired by a billionaire who decided to completely screw up its functionality–I leapt away when he made account verification meaningless–even as he took it full-on White supremacist. So I moved my account to private–that means if you weren’t following me before, you can’t read any of my posts–but left it active in hopes that I might come back to it some day. And, uh, I don’t think that day’s coming, so I’m likely gonna delete it entirely.
That makes me sad, because I really did enjoy Twitter–in fact, I got to know a lot of you guys there, including some who have become good friends away from the keyboard. But I can no longer in good conscience invest my time, attention, and blood pressure in a place that’s gone so fully and dangerously off the rails and into the hands of the trolls.*
What’s that you say? Engage with them because otherwise you’re conceding the space? Oh dear me . . . they’re not there to engage meaningfully, and never have been; they’re there simply to be an absolute force of chaos, gleefully sucking the joy out of everyone else’s good time. In short, it’s just no fun any more.
I’m struggling similarly with Facebook, both in my personal and public profiles. While I have a well-curated account, I’m seeing more and more MAGA strutting into conversations and spraying their blunderbuss of bullshit into what had, up to that point, been a completely normal conversation about the Muppets or movies or classic television or The Beatles. At this point, those are headaches I don’t need. (What’s that you say? Engage with them? See above, ad infinitum. This is why we can’t have nice things.) So, for the moment, I’ve taken those accounts down, too. Not deleted, but let’s call it sleeping.
So where am I? Around the same time I got off of Twitter in Fall 2023, I moved over to Bluesky, where the vibe is much more chill, and dare I say much more Twitter circa 2008-2012ish. Post-election, there’s been an upswell in the Bluesky ranks since users begin fleeing Twitter/X en masse for more reasonable, more fun, and markedly less fashy environments.
So, if you’ve missed reading me running my mouth on Twitter/X, you can find me doing the same thing over on Bluesky at this account. (Or just search for me on the app at brianjayjones). As always, I’ll keep talking Jim Henson, Muppets, George Lucas, Star Wars, Dr. Seuss, Washington Irving, politics, pop culture, biography, Lobo basketball, and–when there’s news to report–updates on the Latest Project. I’m also on Instagram–yes, also at brianjayjones–where I remain absolutely terrible about posting interesting photos. But I’m trying.
I similarly tried out Threads, but I find the platform clunky, and engagement difficult. So while I still have an account there, it, too, has gone dormant.
Oh, and you might even see me back in this space more often, too. So keep watching.
Thanks, as always, for reading, and look out for each other, okay?
* This is not me telling you how to social media; you do you, no harm, no foul.
Brian Jay Jones 