Vent: A comment on my old tweets made me delete my whole account

Honestly, I used to think people getting 'canceled' online were just whining about facing the music. Then last month, someone dug up tweets I made in 2014 when I was 19 and posted them in a group chat with my current coworkers. The tweets were dumb jokes that felt normal back then but look really bad now. My friend told me, 'It's not about your intent, it's about the impact those words have on people seeing them today.' That hit me hard. I spent a whole weekend reading them and feeling sick. I realized holding onto that old account was like saying those past versions of me were okay. So I deleted my entire Twitter profile, over 8 years of posts gone. It wasn't about being 'canceled' by strangers, it was about holding myself accountable. Has anyone else had to deal with their own old online mess?

3 comments

3 Comments

betty_price141mo ago

Wait, you deleted the whole account? Eight years of posts just gone? That's wild to me. I get deleting the bad tweets but everything? My old tweets are so cringe I can't even look, but they're like a time capsule. I'd be scared to lose all those memories, even the dumb ones.

terry_thomas1mo ago

Man, that time capsule is exactly why I had to nuke mine.

hart.cora1mo ago

Honestly I get the impulse to delete everything. Tbh I went through my old Facebook photos last month and it was a full body cringe. Saw a picture of me with that weird side fringe everyone had and just noped out. Ended up making the whole album private so I don't have to see it but it's still there somewhere. Kind of a half measure I guess.