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Comment by nradov | Hacker News Reader

There hasn't been any damage. No one has been hurt. Calm down and stop being overly dramatic. Twitter is not a real place, it's just a social network. Anyone who doesn't like it is free to use other communication tools, or even build their own.

And I'm not defending Elon Musk here. I don't care about him one way or another. This isn't an issue that rational, educated people should get agitated about.

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Twitter is how a failed game show host and real estate promoter became the president of the United States.

It matters.

> There hasn't been any damage. No one has been hurt. Calm down and stop being overly dramatic.

We are literally talking about a posting from the CEO of a company that has been essentially shutdown by this change. Other companies have also been placed in this predicament. People will probably lose jobs, at least, and these companies may go bankrupt.

"Twitter is not a real place, it's just a social network"

The idea that what happens on the internet is unimportant compared to what happens "in real life" hadn't made sense for over a decade now.

The internet is real life.

This is so utterly wrong it hurts. The internet is real life the same way that evening news is real life. It’s a self-referential funhouse mirror that’s useful exactly for understanding what people who post on the internet think, and “people who post on the internet” is a tiny, profoundly idiosyncratic group. Conflating their opinions with “real life” is a powerful solvent for rationality, empathy, and mental health.

Depending on demographics, including stage of life, many people talk to their real life friends online more than than they do in person.

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