Twitter is not real life.
Here are a few tips for dealing with a Twitter mob directed at you by the comms team of a venture backed technology company, in case that sort of thing should ever happen to you.
- Don't respond to the randoms who suddenly show up in your mentions. They are not engaging in good faith. Do not take the bait.
- The mute button is your friend. Most people you can ignore. Persistent people you can mute. If you block someone they can see you did that and declare victory. If you mute them they are yelling into the void. Make them yell into the void.
- Reach out to people who care about you. Say hi. Ask how they're doing. Talk to people who know you, and love you, instead of people who do not and will not.
- Uninstall Twitter from your phone. You don't need realtime updates about the shitshow when you're away from your desk. Remove the reflex to look at your mentions constantly. There's nothing for you there.
- Go for a walk or something. Twitter is not the real world. The real world is outside, which you should visit. Go there, grab your mail, maybe talk to your neighbors. Get some coffee, or beer, or both. Site on your porch and read a book.
- Pet your cat, or put your cat in a box. Cats love being in boxes.
- Get a friend to handle the onslaught for you, if you can't handle it. This stuff is exhausting because it's designed to be—the intention is to make your feel isolated. So don't face it alone. Give someone you trust access to your Twitter account and let them do the muting, or blocking, until the storm dies down. Failing that look into tools like Block Party, which allow you to block trolls en masse.
I hope this is all helpful. It would be for me, should such a thing ever hypothetically ever happen to me.
Stuff I wrote
- Windows has a hidden clipboard manager, here's how to find it. PopSci. Features like this can really make your life better, which is why I love finding them. You can browse everything you copied recently and even sync your clipboard history with other computers or even your phone.
- Loom review. PC Mag It feels good to be reviewing software again! Loom is a luxury product your business can probably do without, unless you have like unlimited money. If your company has unlimited money you could maybe pay for Loom. You could also pay me a full time salary just to hang out in Slack with your employees. (I'm really fun to hang out with on Slack.)
- Microsoft Whiteboard review. PC Mag It's free. It's fine. I don't have much else to say, but I said it in this review anyway because that's my job. Please enjoy this screenshot, which my editor removed:
Stuff I did
- Brewed a clone of Bell's Oberon, the ultimate midwestern summer beer. I deeply respect Bells for putting the recipe right on their website, especially because you can't really buy it here in Oregon.
- Watched Station 11, possibly the most compelling TV show I've ever seen. I'm going to be thinking about this show, which features a traveling theater troupe in a post apocalyptic North America, for a long long time.
- Started reading Seen, Heard, and Paid by my friend and WIRED editor Alan Henry. It's all about thriving at work when you're part of a disadvantaged group. I highly recommend it and Alan's newsletter.
I mentioned last week that I tested positive for COVID. Since then I've been wondering for two weeks whether increased anxiety is a symptom of COVID for me. Well, yesterday I ran two miles for the first time since and felt less anxious pretty much immediately. It turns out I just feel that way when I don't exercise. Just a small reminder that mental and physical health are connected.
I wish this wasn't the case because running is the worst. I'd like to not do it, with all of my heart, but I always feel so much better having done it. Ideally I would always be in a state of having run without actually having to have run, but my research team informs me that's not possible. Which means I have to keep running, which is terrible, but it's also wonderful because I can make the experience of existing in my brain better. So I'm going to keep doing this thing that I hate because it makes it easier for me to love other things. I reserve the right to complain, though.
I hope you have a good week! Let me know what's going on out there in the world, which I think I can finally start visiting again now that my quarantine is up. Maybe I'll see you out there?