While I’m absolutely gutted for the people who are and were employed there, this is something else entirely.

It is odd to feel this way, I admit. But with Twitter’s new management, I feel like I’m mourning the loss of something that was near and dear to me. Not just because I worked there and poured a lot of my care and creativity into every day, but because I’m losing something that has in part gotten me to where I am today.

I have an account so old that it has an numeric, incremental ID number attached to it. I was the 766,247^th account signed up on Twitter. I used the platform as a way to connect with my peers, to make friends, to learn.

Twitter has been a part of my life for sixteen years. I’ve been letting that thought sink in and wondering if it will continue to be a place that I frequent, that I learn from, and that I socialize on.

And that’s just it: Twitter was an actual socialization and networking tool for me. My timeline was free of trolls, bigots, spam, and all the negative sides that many others saw. I carefully curated what I wanted to see and learn about over just shy of 16 years. It helped me get to know a few people, to share my work and creativity with the world.

I have truly loved it as a platform.

I don’t want to quit it. But I also don’t want to support what it has and is becoming.