It’s rare these days for the Badger to travel by train, but recently he journeyed on one into London. Unexpectedly, the journey helped him make a decision, one that he’s been cogitating on more than six months! That decision, in case you’re wondering, doesn’t relate to this form of public transport, the specific journey, the extortionate cost of the ticket, or the quality or reliability of the rail service. It related to whether the Badger continues to have a presence on X, formerly Twitter, or not.
In contrast to when the Badger was a regular commuter into London, a third of the seats in the carriage were empty throughout the journey and no one stood in the aisles or doorways. As the train moved smoothly between stations, the Badger was reminded of how easy it is to overhear the conversations of strangers, and how doing so can influence your own thoughts. The Badger wasn’t thinking about X at all on boarding the train, but by the time he disembarked he’d made a firm decision about retaining a presence on X or not. The train journey had unexpectedly facilitated the taking of the decision, but it was observing and listening to a group of three strangers, two men and a woman in their mid-to-late twenties, which spawned the thoughts that tipped the outcome in one direction.
The group stared at their smartphones throughout the whole journey, and when they conversed with each other they never diverted their attention from their devices. There was no eye contact in their conversations, and their verbal exchanges revolved around reading something on X, drawing each other’s attention to what they’d read, tweeting something critical or provocative in response, and then complaining if someone in the virtual world countered with something they disagreed with. The group were clearly avid X users and seemed like anonymous keyboard warriors rather than thoughtful and objective contributors. The Badger felt that they were really always talking to their devices rather than verbally conversing with each other, and what he observed and overheard surfaced the question that he’d been cogitating on for months, namely ‘Should the Badger retain a presence on X or not?’ The answer he came to is ‘Not’.
A few days later, the Badger withdrew his presence on X. It’s no loss. Life goes on happily without it and the Badger doesn’t feel he’s missing anything. The observation of strangers on the train journey gave the Badger the nudge that he needed. Major brands have since been pausing their advertising on X and the future of the platform looks questionable. Mr Musk and an army of anonymous X keyboard warriors will disagree, but what’s X’s unique selling point for the individual in these days of rampant misinformation, disinformation, scams and abuse? Perhaps the Badger should take the train more often…
