Just 140 characters. A few images. A GIF is thrown in the mix sometimes. Is it just a social media platform or maybe it’s actually an extension of our lives. We try to hide behind the fact that we are all friends because we sometimes reply to each other’s tweets but the fact is, it’s not just Twitter!
Day after day shade is thrown around on the Twitter timelines but we hide under the guise of it not being ‘deep’. Its tradition especially on Zimbabwean Twitter for Sundays to go left easily. From nudes being dropped to ‘twars’ which to those unacquainted with Twitter is a war of tweets! Do we leave those emotions and threats on the timeline? Is ‘sliding in the DMs’ just a way to pass time and sharpen your flirting skills? Reality disagrees.
A lot of relationships were conceived on Twitter, in fact some married couples met on Twitter. Families are living off those characters so never expect what happens on that Timeline to stay there. Some businesses exist solely on Twitter. Some people a career twelebs, tweeting is all they do. Are we going to turn a blind eye to all this and still lie to ourselves and say ‘its not that deep’. When you have kids with the people you met on the TL and you bring those twars to turnups and turn them into real wars?
Well, here’s the thing. Its not just Twitter, it’s not just social media, these are not just keyboard warriors. It can get real in seconds! In fact it’s always real. There should be respect of people’s social media space. That’s an extension of their lives, you can’t just unplug it. Clearly if you mess with it you have messed with them. That goes for relationships too, if you make a commitment to someone in the DMs it might be just as real. At this rate we might need to stop imagining that social media is just a space where you can live another life.
It’s a very real place where feeling stations are open 24/7!
