Every time I log in to Twitter (@heysstef), I get distracted by the 18.4K tweet count glaring at me from the side of my feed. I couldn’t shake off the urge to bring that number down, no matter how senseless and time-consuming the task was.
Did I really post that many tweets? What were those tweets about anyway? When DID I first jump on the blue bird wagon?
Bored with work, I checked for possible ways to go back to the start of my timeline. Turns out you just need to go to https://twitter.com/search-advanced, type in your username and select the date range.
BOOM ? instant shame and embarrassment to scroll through for the next half hour.
As a regular digital consumer + content creator, mindfulness is something I’ve only begun to exercise. There’s just so much junk out on the internet that cleaning up my mess is a responsibility I need to take on.
My personal approach to mindfulness is to create or share what inspires or teaches people. I prefer to keep content that engages me, assuring me that my time was well-spent. While the social media timeline is inherently a personal space, I want to fill it with content that actually helps others one way or another.
Going through my 2009-2012 posts, there were 30-40 Tweets telling the world I’m hungry, sad, bored, or awake. Some of those Tweets had broken links or led to dead websites! So I set out to delete every one of those unworthy updates.
From 18.4K I painstakingly brought it down to 12.4K. It was like I was shedding 6,000 additional unwanted social media fat.
What’s interesting about this funny project was rediscovering old wishful thinking, memories, and dreams that eventually turned into a reality.
Seven years after and I'm still working on this. https://t.co/hKT7dSUWVG
— Stephanie Alexis (@heysstef) September 9, 2017
So it's been 8 years since I switched over to the Mac. Best times of my tech life. ? https://t.co/y0dk5RB2RF
— Stephanie Alexis (@heysstef) September 11, 2017
Five years later, I got to visit Washington DC! ❤️✈️ https://t.co/AWVDRMLcJa
— Stephanie Alexis (@heysstef) September 14, 2017
One of the most meaningful moments of my literary life, and I'm glad I got to share it with you @arabellapaner. https://t.co/3MvaXSMJhK
— Stephanie Alexis (@heysstef) September 26, 2017
Target date: By the end of the year or early 2018. Definitely going for black or red, and 64GB. ✊ https://t.co/SYOfuQGo4J https://t.co/6IPS08DdnA
— Stephanie Alexis (@heysstef) September 26, 2017
My Rachel Green moment. ? https://t.co/qK3TB2G4Du
— Stephanie Alexis (@heysstef) October 16, 2017
So while it sounds like a total waste of time, it was time well-spent. ?
Although…
If it took me a month and a half to scroll through 18.4K Tweets and delete 6K forever, I can only imagine hours of clicking and deleting thousands of useless Facebook posts.
?
Oh man i’ve been thinking of doing this myself, but the mere thought of going through all those old tweets is daunting. I’m currently trimming down all the photos i have in my mac (i had 10k+ from syncing everything on my phone all the time). i’ve been at it for days and I still have 9K+ photos. I mean, what?? i can’t stop now though. 😀
HAH, I JUST TOOK A QUICK LOOK AT MY OLD TWEETS AND WHOA THERE WERE SO MANY TWEETS ABOUT HOW MUCH I HATED MY OLD CORPORATE JOB. MADE ME GRATEFUL AGAIN FOR TAKING THAT LEAP TO GO FREELANCE. I JUST REALIZED I NEED MORE TIME TO DO THIS HAHA. BOOKMARKED YOUR POST SO I CAN DO THIS ANOTHER DAY! I HAVE TO GET BACK TO PURGING PHOTOS! LOL. THANKS FOR THIS POST. 🙂
LOL thanks as well Leah! It’s so good to hear from you again.
Going through my old tweets made me realize how angsty I was as a teenager, so you’re not alone in the walk of shame. ?