WBUR decides to follow NPR and leave Twitter

Interaction with a group that happens best when facilitated by a certain tool is valuable. Dropping the tool and therefore eliminating the interaction, just reduces value. Imagine if the topic were telephones, rather than social media. Would you argue that the telephone should be dropped, because if the connection really matters, they will communicate by pen and paper?

There are many problems created by social media, the fact that some types of positive communication happen best within that medium, is not one of those problems.

Regarding the topic: Musk can piss off and die, for all I care, but Twitter still provides a certain level of value to me that I haven't yet found on any of the nascent alternatives.

A sadly narrow minded one too. I’m genuinely sorry if your experiences with social media didn’t meet your expectations because you seem like a well meaning person. Mine have to my satisfaction. And a little beyond. I’m not an idealist or a cynic about any type of relationship.

You seem to have missed all my points. The commenter above beat me to a well said rebuttal.

Even the experiences I learned needed lessons from were worth it. We aren’t all the same.

“But to say "well facebook connected me to old friends and this how we communicate", I mean if they meant that much to you “

Looks like you are attributing this to me.
Don’t do that.

@cybah - many of us use FB quite differently from the way it seems you did. I'm only FB friends w/people I want to be in contact with - <300. There are many of us who want to know what's going on in each other's lives even if there are reasons we aren't in contact by phone (not enough time for everyone, time zone differences especially with friends overseas, etc.) I have a few dear friends I've met online, some of whom I'll likely never meet in person (like the ones in Malaysia and Australia). I also enjoy seeing some friends' travelogues, nature photography, pictures of kids and grandkids - stuff that isn't doable by phone.

There have been times in my life where being able to set up a small private group for support has been invaluable - when my kid studying abroad had a medical crisis and I had to make an emergency trip overseas, when I was going through cancer treatment - or where I've been part of a similar small group for another friend. It provides an easy, quick way to create an urgently needed support network.

What I don't do, for the most part, are FB groups. Main exception is Mary Ellen's Boston Nature Group, which gives me wonderful pictures to start my day.

tl;dr - FB can be horrible or wonderful or somewhere in between. It's all a matter of how you use it, as is true with any other tool.

Ill gotten gains.
I’m all for the USPS taking over Facebook.
You can call me Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Saunders or Satan for that, anon.

… at them. Seriously. They usually smell good, by the way. Or have nice smelling food to share.

I also don’t like my field of vision determined by someone else. Video calls are draining. Everyone interrupting or long empty pauses. Regular conversation doesn’t need much structure. It usually takes off naturally on its own. How do you hug hello and goodby on those?

Disembodied voices on phones have always disturbed me since I was a non phone addicted teenager and later when I had jobs that required use of a phone. My hearing is better in the real world. People mumble, breathe heavy, eat and drink and sometimes act like they are in a screened confessional on the phone. Worst of all they butt into real conversations or disrupt concentration by making your phone ring.

Just never ever call me, robo, from your (let’s hope) hands free phone. Just roll down your window. I’m right there passing by you in traffic on my bike. Toss me one of those donuts.

I have disabilities, as do many of my friends. Some are hearing impaired. Some have language difficulties that mean they do much better interacting with time to formulate their responses rather than instantaneously. Some live enough time zones away that it's very difficult to find a time that works for both of us. Multiply the problem when wanting a group visit. Some have disabilities that limit our energy or make everything take more time & energy than it does for most people, so that by the time we're done with jobs and necessary non-job work we have no time or energy left for long calls with friends.

When I was single parenting and most of my friends also had kids, finding uninterrupted free time when both of us were able to talk was next to impossible. Back in the day, I was part of a few parenting email lists and made some lifelong friendships with people scattered all over the world.

Just because something doesn't work for you doesn't make it bad. Just because something works for you doesn't mean it can work for everyone.