This week the war of the short form content giants begun in earnest - Meta's 'Threads' versus Twitter, Zuckerberg vs Musk, disgruntled Twitter fans vs social media hopefuls. Drawn into the excitement of the first day, I threaded to experiment, along with everyone else, getting drawn into the promise of a new way of social-ing online, just as I did when Leo Threads was announced.

Of course, I had to put aside my shock at the fact it was called 'Threads'. How could they do this? Did they even know Leo Finance's Hive based Twitter equivalent, rewarded with second layer tokens on the Hive blockchain, existed? Could they even do that? I felt disgruntled and outraged. It didn't seem right. What also feels wierd is that no one is really talking about it. Are we really that unknown in the wider world? That small? I felt rather protective of our Threads, ever loyal to the Hive Blockchain.

Then I thought about my experience on Instagram Threads versus my experience on Leo Threads and I have to say I got bored quickly of both. A handful of short form posts on either platform got me very little response. Was I that boring? That incapable of writing witty reportoire or hilarious memes to get responses from - well, anyone?

Was I just being drawn into Threads on either platform because of FOMO?

Many IG Threaders were laughing at how their socials were now Tik Tok, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook (rare), Whatsapp, and now Threads. Digital addiction, anyone? Others wondered about the past - about Myspace and Vines, similiar concepts that got swallowed by what came next. Others, like me, felt cyncial. Whilst the app for now feels fresh and unencumbered by advertising and trolls, how could anyone think it wasn't going to happen? No way was Zucks going to create something like this and not find a way to monetise it. Whilst Musk has gained no fans for what he's done to Twitter, it seemed to me people were just choosing the other evil, thinking Zuckerberg was for sure creating something amazing with Threads that was somehow going to be different to all other social media before it.

Which brings us full circle to the hopium we've all felt with Web 3 and the great things being built on HIVE. There was certainly buckets - truckloads - of hopium on IG Threads in the first 24 hours.

What really struck me as I threaded was how beholden we are to the internet Gods. Rather than reject the newest way to suck us in and consume our time, we bow down and kiss it's golden feet, knowingly allowing our brains to sizzle on the hot plates of disinformation, propaganda, superficiality and advertising - both political and otherwise. We know about trolls and how it can influence our mental health, about the bubbles we get trapped in, the desire to be approved of, the way it consumes our time, the way it influences us individually and collectively. We know it's dangerous but we don't care. We'd sign up for anything.

I was talking to a young woman the other day who's a self professed Tik Tok die hard fan. Like many others, she spends hours on the app every day. She knows it's bad for her brain but she does it anyway. I feel like one of those old people saying 'why don't kids read books anymore, like I did when I was a kid?'. It's all entertainment, as we are too scared to be alone, too scared to face inward in silence, too preoccupied with what others are doing to create a meaningful life of our own. I imagine what that young woman could achive if her days weren't scrolling Tik Tok with its endless inanity.

I am aware of the irony, of course. Here I am on HIVE blogging every day, as if it is important. As if it means something. I certainly find it more fulfilling than short 'tweets' or 'threads' on any platform. I'm a longform girl. We all have our different interests - I know many Threaders would never get through this wordy and likely verbose article.

One day I will cut the threads entirely and refuse to even look.

For now I'm not sure Threading - on either Leo Finance or Instagram - is my thing.

Maybe I'll even cut the ropes that bind me to this online world. Now wouldn't that be something?

Images by me and Midjourney.