Funeral For A Friend: An Ode To Twitter.

Let me start things off by pouring one out for my homie.

I joined Twitter in March 2009. At the time, I was just curious to learn more about this app that all of the tech writers I followed online were having fun with (by followed, I mean I subscribed to their blogs).

At first, I didn't really get it: I'd post these short little text message-style "tweets" and – occasionally – things would happen. Sometimes those things were likes (née "Favourites"), other times mentions, sometimes someone would copy my tweet and post it themselves with an "RT" in front of it, and sometimes I'd have conversations (like that time I connected with a fashion blogger over our shared affinity for Weezer and almost got a date out of it... which I bailed on because I am still convinced I was going to be the subject of a "How to Lose a Guy I Met on Twitter in 10 Days" post.)

Whatever Twitter was, it was fun. It was also fast. When Michael Jackson died, I learned about it on Twitter. When the "Miracle on the Hudson" took place, I got to follow it on Twitter. Twitter became my home on the Internet. It was where I got to experience the world through the tweets of others. It's where I crafted my online voice.

Most importantly, Twitter was where I found my people.

I often joke that finding fellow physical educators on Twitter in those early days was like finding a unicorn, but it really was. The first PE teachers I remember connecting with were Australians. Jarrod Robison, Brendan Jones, Ben Jones. Following their accounts opened my eyes to what should have been obvious: that there were PE teachers around the world that were passionate about teaching, who were striving to innovate, and who were excited to share what they were doing.

I started to realize that all of the digital dots were in place, they just needed to be connected.

I made it my mission to try to help get more PE teachers online. I wrote blog posts on how Twitter could be used as a tool for professional development. I started offering "Twitter 101" PD the local and provincial level.

Eventually, I got to connect with someone by the name of Artie Kamiya, who invited me to his National PE Institute event in Asheville, North Carolina to spread the good word on Twitter. Later, Artie and I went to Seattle to present at the SHAPE America National Convention to a room PACKED with teachers who wanted to figure out this Twitter thing.

Through Twitter, I was able to meet teachers I never would have had the opportunity to learn and grow from. Through Twitter, I made friendships that persist to this day. Through Twitter, I was able to live experiences that have enriched my life and challenged my way of thinking about teaching.

Through Twitter, I grew up as a physical educator.

My Twitter journey lasted nearly 15 years. Over that time, I was blessed to earn the "following" status of 46.4K people. I am very proud of how I was able to contribute to the online #physed community and I will forever be grateful for the role that Twitter has played in my life.

Twitter is dead. It died the day Elon killed that little blue bird that I loved (who – in the early days – was known as Larry) and ate it for supper. The ugly monstrosity known as X is what emerged from Twitter's ashes and I cannot bring myself to recommend the platform to teachers anymore, which breaks my heart.

It is a hard thing to recognize that the waters you swim in are poisoned. It took self-imposing a Twitter hiatus for me to realize that the platform – once so fun, fast, and hilarious – had become negative and borderline hateful. Logging back in left me feeling miserable, so I stopped doing it. I am keeping my Twitter accounts in the hope that, one day, a hero will come along and rescue the platform from Musk's dystopian version of it. However, I think that's a pipe dream and I need to move on.

RIP Twitter. Thanks for everything.

🥳 You're awesome!

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