The New Silent Majority: People Who Don't Tweet

[Ron Obvious]

In real life, most people are basically kind and internet social media are distorting that reality, making us all sound stupid and belligerent. I suspected as much, really.

The rising power and prominence of the nation's loudest, meanest voices obscures what most of us personally experience: Most people are sane and generous -- and too busy to tweet. It turns out, you're right. We dug into the data and found that, in fact, most Americans are friendly, donate time or money, and would help you shovel your snow. They are busy, normal and mostly silent. These aren't the people with big Twitter followings or cable-news contracts -- and they don't try to pick fights at school board meetings. So the people who get the clicks and the coverage distort our true reality.

Three stats we find reassuring:

1. 75% of people in the U.S. never tweet.
2. On an average weeknight in January, just 1% of U.S. adults watched primetime Fox News (2.2 million). 0.5% tuned into MSNBC (1.15 million).
3. Nearly three times more Americans (56%) donated to charities during the pandemic than typically give money to politicians and parties (21%).

https://politics.slashdot.org/story/22/03/08/2139228/the-new-silent-majority-people-who-dont-tweet

[NewHendoLib]

1. Not too busy...relieved to be off it.

Felt largely like a cesspool. FB too.

Too much life to live to waste time on them

[hlthe2b]

2. Happy with my decision never to do FB nor register for twitter, but only to bookmark some users

that I like to "follow" (unofficially) on twitter. Folks, like Laurence Tribe and a few other major legal scholars and former DOJ employees, some media outlets, and a few prominent colleagues in medical fields...

That way I get the benefit of some real-time expertise both within and outside my fields, quick notification of hot-button news and issues, but I don't feel compelled to interact, be "fed" garbage, nor register.