#72: The subtle art of using Twitter

With a little curation, Twitter can become incredibly nourishing

I want to discredit the myth that Twitter is just another crappy social media platform.

Don’t get me wrong — it can be. But, if you are intentional about how you use Twitter, then you can transform doom scrolling into a nourishing and fulfilling experience.

Let me explain…

Twitter is the modern day town square. Anyone anywhere in the world is given access to a microphone. This means that Twitter can be noisy as f***. But with a little curation, you can turn Twitter from lead into gold.

The secret is to follow the right accounts.

Let me demonstrate…

Here are the Tweets that I woke up to this morning:

Rob Hardy, a fellow online writer and Foster DAO team member, tweeted about cultivating a positive self-image.

rob hardy @ungatedcreative

weird thing just happened i woke up, looked in the mirror, and really liked the person i saw staring back at me??

Henneke Duistermaat, an online writer and entrepreneur from the UK, tweeted a beautiful and loving reminder about self-care. I discovered Henneke’s profile after a primary connection retweeted her Tweet.

Henneke Duistermaat @HennekeD

Sending a message of hope and love to anyone feeling exhausted, stressed, or anxious. Let's take June one day, one hour at a time, my friends. I'm sending hugs. 🤗💕🤗

Scott Barry Kaufman, a psychologist and author, tweeted thought provoking research insights about finding yourself, finding your community, and busting guilt and shame.

Scott Barry Kaufman ⛵🛵 @sbkaufman

all cheekiness aside, maybe utopia is a world where like no one feels shame for being who are, not a single person

Scott deeply studied Abraham Maslow’s teachings and created a sailboat metaphor for navigating life’s choppy turf. The sailboat runs against mainstream messaging of how life is a hierarchy with levels like a video game. I have included a visual on my personal website.

• In the below tweet, Scott shares an important lesson: to successfully navigate life’s challenges, we must overcome the barriers of guilt and shame.

Scott Barry Kaufman ⛵🛵 @sbkaufman

Many people who struggle with addiction feel a lot of guilt and shame over their use. A new study suggests that independent of depression, this shame and guilt can be significant barriers to reducing drug use, which has considerations for recovery.

psypost.orgNew study suggests shame and guilt can hamper recovery from stimulant addictionMany people who struggle with addiction feel a lot of guilt and shame over their use. A new study published in PLOS One suggests that independent of depression, this shame and guilt can be significant barriers to reducing drug use, which has considerations for recovery. ...

On a lighter note, ah-ha! something else that runs contrary to mainstream messaging: playing video games can be good for a child’s intelligence!

Scott Barry Kaufman ⛵🛵 @sbkaufman

Here's something positive about video games: "While children who played more video games at ten years were on average no more intelligent than children who didn’t game, they showed the most gains in intelligence after two years, in both boys and girls."

psypost.orgChildren who play more video games show greater gains in intelligence over time, study findsMany parents feel guilty when their children play video games for hours on end. Some even worry it could make their children less clever. And, indeed, that’s a topic scientists have clashed over for years. ...

Rafa, a Web3 entrepreneur, tweeted a reminder about the therapeutic value of writing publicly and sharing. I don’t personally know Rafa but I have used the product that Rafa is building: Mirror, a Web3 publishing platform for writers, to publish my own writing.

rafa0 @rafathebuilder

Convincing people to write publicly about their knowledge is hard - and yet is the single most useful thing (besides therapy and community) that I’ve seen for personal and professional growth.

Sara Campbell, a fellow online writer and Foster DAO team member, tweeted a link to her newsletter where she shares a personal and heartfelt story. She writes about how she was 37 and single and unhappy, trapped in a cycle of hopelessness and cynicism. Now, eight years later, things are different. She writes:

Through practice, patience, curiosity, and surely some great stroke of divine luck, I have gained a much wider scope of vision that’s enabled me to appreciate the shape my life has taken.

Her writing is amazing and I just can’t get enough. Here’s a little more:

Dan Hunt, the co-founder of Foster, a writer’s collective, tweets with humility about an upcoming town hall where he will share with the broader Foster community a path forward —to decentralization and community ownership.

danhunt @dan2hunt

today we set sail and embark on a fundamentally new chapter at @0xFoster and tbh i’m completely losing myself in excitement and nerves right now. town hall @ 1pm EST ✍️✨🧡

Tim Urban, one of the world’s most popular writers, reminds us that seeking external validation is a trap we create in our minds.

Tim Urban @waitbutwhy

We're wired to care deeply about what other people think of us. Worrying about this can influence our life choices and hold us back from living our best lives. Good continual reminder: everyone's actually focused on their own lives and not thinking about yours.

The amazing Anna Gat, founder of Interintellect, reminds us that Twitter can be a gateway to belonging (a prerequisite for experiencing meaningful personal growth).

Anna Gát 🧭 @TheAnnaGat

“I’m so happy I’m not the only weirdo!” - me every day on Twitter ❤️

And, finally, I would like to share one of my own tweets.

Rika is being herself. squishy squishy 🧠 @RikaGoldberg

Be kind. That's the first step to empathy. And empathy is the key to understand and to be understood -- the most basic of human needs.

This reply is spot on.

Fascinating! @AuthenticRisk

@RikaGoldberg I think there is this switch in understanding humanity. Once you gasp that other people feel/behave/think very much like you - are in fact so much like you, you could wake up in their body, you'd prob be sure it's your body if you didn't look in the mirror.

A pragmatic and simple solution to curate Twitter

The simplest way to curate Twitter and cut through the noise is to use a nifty tool called Tweetdeck. It allows you to create columns for individual accounts or for Twitter Lists, a curated group of accounts.

I have a List called “Pay Attention” with a handful of accounts that I actively engage with. I am mindful about not including too many accounts because my attention is limited. Every few weeks or so, I do “list maintenance” where I remove some accounts and add new ones.

In this way, Twitter is a subtle art that requires practice and patience.

You got it. 💪