After Twitter

I spend a lot of time on Twitter; I post maybe 5 times a day on average. Just little observations in the main. I don't know how many followers I have, but I have good friends I met there and in most cases have never met in real life. The ones I have met; Josh and Sean and John and Craig and Dugald and Andy and Andy and Cheryl and Sue and Christine and Belinda and John and Dave and very briefly Ryan – all lovely people. All add value and meaning to my day.

It's a last day of Grade 12 vibe in there at the moment as everyone exchanges addresses, and we’re nervous and excited and sad. Elon Musk has purchased Twitter and rapidly driven it out into a paddock where it’s got four flats, smoke coming from the engine and the diff ripped out on a tree stump. Who saw that coming?! [Everyone].

The good thing if Twitter dies is I will maybe spend more time here expanding thoughts into larger forms and getting more practice actually communicating an idea in writing. The bad thing is communities will fracture, many people and groups and organisations and movements will lose their main or only voice.

Australia's soft plastics recycling industry has just gone public with the fact that they stopped recycling 6 to 9 months ago and have just stockpiled every bread bag I have given them since. This is dreadful news but it has also made me look at yesterday-me from before the news broke and say to him "oh you thought it was that easy eh? Buying everything in plastic is fine because the recycling fairies will turn it into park benches for old fellows to sit and play chess".

Similarly this rapid disintegration of something I had come to rely on too much for news, friendship, ideas and novelties has got me thinking "Oh you thought it was that easy eh? One website for touching farewells to beloved pets and news snark? And interacting with your favourite musos? And jokes?

A lot of us are going to have to work a lot harder to stay connected, stay informed, stay amused. But hard work is good, right? And Elon Musk, who in many ways is a world-historical idiot, is down $44 billion. Worse things happen.