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3 Reasons to be Like Ed Sheeran and Take a Twitter Break

The fiery-haired British singer is quitting Twitter, and that's not a bad idea.

By Liberty McArtor Published on July 8, 2017

Fiery-haired British singer Ed Sheeran is quitting Twitter, Fox News reports.

“I go on it and there’s nothing but people saying mean things,” the “Shape of You” artist told The Sun. “Twitter’s a platform for that.”

In the interest of “Thinking Out Loud,” I say he’s right. In fact, I think we should all adopt a version of the 26-year-old’s policy. Here are three reasons why.

1. Twitter Makes us Forget There are People Behind the @

I get it. Twitter’s like a herd of goats, with everybody running around bleating bloody murder, gobbling up all the idiotic material they can find. It can be oh-so-tempting to respond not only with the bark of reason such idiocy merits, but the bite of insults that are too delightfully satisfying.

But Twitter users are people — with faces and feelings and eternal souls, whatever their views. (Unless they’re bots, in which case why bother?) When the only thing connecting us to the username we’re arguing with is a screen and some wifi, it’s easy to forget that fact.

In February, I asked myself this: “If I were face to face with the person who made that snarky comment, would I reply so sarcastically? Wouldn’t I be more polite?” The convicting truth is that in person, I’d probably be a lot more polite than I am online. But on Twitter, basic social checks vanish.

As Proverbs tells us, “death and life are in the power of the tongue.” Will your words, delivered via tweet, give life or death? And don’t think that another’s bad behavior justifies your own — no matter how rude, hateful, or downright stupid you think they are.

Perhaps we should all keep this little meme handy as a self-reminder:

2. Too Much Boiling is Bad for the Blood

Twitter gives us an incessant flow of potentially infuriating blurbs from thousands of people all over the world. Whether it’s the president hurling insults, or CNN bragging about how they apparently blackmailed an internet troll (talk about needing a Twitter break!), there’s plenty to get riled up about — including much more serious things, like little Charlie Gard’s plight or North Korea’s latest missile test.

There’s nothing wrong with a dash of righteous indignation or a pinch of healthy outrage. After all, what says I’m alive! more than an old-fashioned blood-boil? But if you’re like me and you stare at Twitter too long, you get sucked in. You start to turn very green, and very angry. Like the Hulk. Except it’s not cool, because superheroes are fake and Twitter rage is real.

I don’t really like being the Hulk. It’s not a good feeling. My chest gets tight. My face gets hot. My eyes roll so far into their sockets I fear they’ll get stuck there. And roaring, even in justified frustration, is not very attractive (sorry, Katy Perry).

Oh, and doesn’t the Bible say something about anger, like not being a “fool” who gives “full vent to their rage”? Perhaps extended Twitter time isn’t the most conducive to such directives.

3. Twitterverse Skews Our Universe

On Twitter it can feel like the whole world is obsessing over the exact same scandal, headline or controversy. It’s probably not.

Did you know that only 24 percent of online Americans use Twitter? That’s just when you consider the 86 percent of Americans who have an online presence at all. When you take all Americans into account, that number drops to 21: Only twenty-one percent of Americans are on Twitter.

So is it really worth getting into a Twitter war that probably won’t make a difference or that the vast majority of Americans will never even see? Is it worth your own time to engage with strangers on Twitter, rather than engaging in your own surroundings?

Be Like Ed Sheeran

I’m not saying we should stick our heads in the sand. We have to counter bad ideas with the truth. That requires interacting with the bad, including on Twitter. But at the end of the day, the costs and benefits of too much Twitter must be weighed. At worst, you’ll:

  • Tweet something uncharitable
  • Get unnecessarily angry
  • Lose perspective about what really matters.

At best, you’ll:

  • Get some likes and retweets
  • Charitably share truth that gets someone to think
  • Encourage someone with life-giving words.

These benefits are actually pretty sweet. But most of us will need careful self-control to prevent tumbling down the low road, where the wings of that little blue bird try so often to carry us.

That’s why I commend Sheeran for quitting Twitter altogether. While it’s impractical for some of us to log out long-term like him — after all, Twitter is a great source of cute animal videos — setting some regular boundaries is a good idea.

Maybe step back from the fray on evenings and weekends. Give yourself a daily time limit for looking at tweets. Or go on a Twitter fast for a month — you’ll soon realize that, like most Americans, you manage just fine without.

The result of such discipline could be more respect for fellow humans, fewer angry outbursts and a better perspective on life and what matters. At a time when violent rhetoric (and acts) abound, the world could greatly use all three.