Thank God for Twitter

“The qualities that make Twitter seem insane and half-baked are what makes it so powerful.”

Jonathan Zittrain, Professor of Law at Harvard

Twelve years ago, I created my Twitter and it has been a crazy whirlwind. Let me tell you about it. 

Let us start this off with a story. 

I remember the day I came out very, very vividly. I was sitting in a Starbucks, looking at cuts on my wrists and thought that the pain I was suffering would be helped if my parents knew about it (it wasn’t). So I told my friend I was with that I wanted to do it. I called all my siblings, a couple cousins, and a few friends. I asked 2 more of my friends to come to the Starbucks and it looked like a fucking coming out party lol. So then I did it, I called them and told them. Told my Conservative Evangelical parents that I was gay. I told my parents my boyfriend had just broken up with me, twice. I wanted some sympathy and had a little bit of hope that they would sympathize with me. One of the first things I did after I came out was, well I threw up, but after that I tweeted about it. Thats what I do, I tweeted about things when they happen to me. Over 200 people liked it and 33 people replied with their support. I knew I had the support of so many people, almost all of them whom I had never met.

I just celebrated my 12 year Twitter anniversary, why I had Twitter at the age of 11 I am not sure of. And while I’m well aware this whole post may seem weird, I wanted to share with y’all why I’m thankful for Twitter. 

Twitter allows me to see my growth: physically, spiritually, and personally. I love being able to look back at my past tweets and see how much better of a person I have become. I have become more loving, more accepting, and more vulnerable. And lots of this is thanks to to Twitter, Twitter has allowed me to see views from all along the spectrum and has helped me rethink the way I look at things, whether that be politics or religion. One the greatest places that has helped me grow is exvangelical Twitter. 

Exvangelical Twitter is one of my favorite Twitter niches, which is full queer people who have deconstructed Christianity and have found their part in it or found their lives better without it and ally’s of the queer community who see us as our full God given selves. These people are some of the most loving and supportive people in the world, and most of them I have never even met in my life. Exvangelical twitter, I so so appreciate you. 

Twitter allows me to let others in on my life, maybe sometimes a little too much, but isn’t that the point? It keeps my in touch with friends from home, keeps me connected with family around the world, and allows me to make new friends around the country that I would never have been able to meet. It allows me to connect with others who have similar stories and life experiences. It allows me to tweet a thread about the boy I’m crushing on. It allows me to share with people that I’m baking while drunk or that I had a shitty day at work. It allows me to share with people that I hope will care. Hell this blog post will show up on Twitter and thats probably how some of you will read this. Twitter allows me to be vulnerable with people I want to be vulnerable with, that I choose to be vulnerable with. 

Twitter allows me to see the world, literally. I did not watch a single Olympic event, but I know exactly what happened because of Twitter. I know about how Simone Biles chose her mental health over her sport, I know that the US had the highest medal count, I know that Suni Lee got a bronze medal on bars, I know these things all from Twitter. On November 7th, 2020 I was at work and got a notification from Twitter saying that Joe Biden won the election. All throughout COVID Twitter has kept me up to date with notifications or tweets about: positivity rates, vaccine availability, vaccine statuses, death counts, celebrity COVID cases. Twitter is where, literally yesterday I found out that former Governor Andrew Cuomo resigned. Yesterday I got a notification that California would require teachers to be vaccinated or tested regularly. Twitter is my news headquarters and I think much of my generation would say the same. It’s so much easier to consume news on my phone while also consuming information about my friend lives. 

Twitter is my safe space. Twitter is where I want to celebrate the good things in my life and talk about the bad. Twitter is where I celebrated my coming out (while also acknowledging the sucky parts), I tweeted when I got promoted at work, I tweeted when my ex broke up with me… twice, I tweeted a whole thread about a boy I have a crush on. Twitter is like a journal for me that I want people to read. Twitter allows me to vent without being judged or worried that I’m going to get in some kind of trouble. 

All of these words to say, I love Twitter. And I thank Jack, Biz, Noah, and Evan for their creation of it. I don’t think they realized the impact they would have on the world when they made it.