The paradox of "social media" is that it exposes you to too many people.

Even sticking to tech and avoiding more contentious subjects such as politics, the odds are very high, given the numbers, that someone online will say something that pisses you off. Even about tech.

You're not surrounded by friends here. You're mostly surrounded by strangers. Despite the fact that you get to choose who to "follow". (Mostly strangers.)

The vast majority of people on social media are not here to support you personally, or to be friends with you personally.

Social media is inherently an anger generating machine, whether it wants to be or not. Whether you want it to be or not.

Some people seem to be very good at avoiding that. Who knows how they feel inside, but they're good at keeping up appearances at least. I applaud them, but

but it's hard. It's hard for me. I can't just shrug it all off. I get pissed. I'm part of the anger generating machine. And I contribute to it, without really wanting to. That's how a "Skinner Box" works.

The odds of becoming friends in person with people you "meet" on worldwide social media are very small. Especially when you live in Wisconsin and not in SF or NYC.

It's not like the old BBS days. The number of participants was smaller, and they were mostly local. You could meet.

I can only think of 1 person I ever became friends with IRL as a direct result of meeting them on social media.

(We're not friends anymore, but that's for different reasons.)

Social media is a poor substitute for socialization. It's almost antisocial.

Just too many randos?

The anger generating machine also gets in the way of becoming friends or friendly online, I think. Because if you're constantly bickering and ranting online, that tends to drive other people away, regardless or whether they're the target of it.

Twitter is a cacophony. Everyone talking all at once, about different subjects. It's worse than trying to have a conversation at a very loud bar. It's like trying to have a conversation at a very loud bar *fight*.

The irony is that a significant chunk of my followers *want* me to be a bar fighter. People enjoy a good fight. They hope I'm the "Rocky" of the Mac or something.

(Reminder that Rocky lost in the first and only good film.)