Antisocial networks | The weekly country

The last few weeks have been the calmest, most relaxed and stress-free in my memory. It hasn’t been due to medication, meditation, or even the Daily Valor hot chocolates (my most recent miracle discovery). All it took was three clicks of my mouse: I closed the door on Twitter and permanently deleted my account.

I always felt that the social media giant was a necessary evil. Like dentists, suppositories or hangovers. But not. They are simply evil. A cesspool full of what the English call cerebral farts and the Spanish mental handjobs, without filters or censorship. It shows us the worst of humanity and also brings it out. I too fell under its spell, tweeting terrible things I would never have said if it weren’t for the lazy immediacy that runs from the frontal cortex to the finger and then straight to the keyboard.

There have been good times, it is true. I have met wonderful people and I have laughed a lot. I have witnessed extraordinary talent and have been moved by stories of heroism and self-denial. But simply scrolling through Twitter is an exhausting, dehumanizing and depressing experience: the fights, doom and sadness, anger and hatred, politics and general tension. The death threats, the constant refrains of “go to your shitty country”, “fag Jew”, Vox deputies calling me “stupid baby” for having been raped or comparing me to a rapist. The straw that broke the camel’s back was when I started getting hundreds of tweets with pictures of gym teachers and comments like, “Don’t you miss sucking his cock?” (I was raped by my PE teacher as a kid). Also photos of me with torture victims: “Rhodes, before and after gym class.”

Much of this has been my fault for daring to talk about politics. But, okay, call me an idiot, but it’s hard to keep quiet when you see a member of Congress furiously demanding that all immigrant children be deported (let alone out!) Or calling for the total elimination of Islam in Europe.

A few days ago my girlfriend had a motorcycle accident and I took her to the emergency room to a private hospital. As a resident, she is obliged to have health insurance so that the State does not have to pay her expenses. We waited together for four hours, someone took a photo without my permission and uploaded it to Twitter. They said he was there for a private consultation. I was trending topic number one in Spain with the extreme right wing rubbing their dirty hands with joy. This is not only reportable and invasive. Also wrong. This is Twitter.

Of course, people will spew up the free speech argument. And yes, freedom of speech is sacrosanct. But it must also be accompanied by responsibility, something that Twitter, a site awash in child pornography, incitement to hatred, racism and xenophobia, does not offer. Try going to work tomorrow and telling your boss you want to sleep with his daughter and see how long you keep your job, while whining about your God-given right to free speech.

Most of those who read this newspaper are, unlike me, too sensible to be attracted to the networks. People who spread hate online mostly read pamphlets full of lies and ridicule, but I am happy to admit that I have finally learned my lesson.

And to tell the truth, my life is immeasurably better for that.

“My life is much better since I left Twitter,” says the pianist.

Illustration with photo by Aydin Aksakal (Getty Images)

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