Working toward a healthier timeline

Last month I wrote about plagiarism and confessed to adapting a story written by someone from my writers' group.  I occasionally use the material of others for inspiration, and when I do, I try to make a habit of crediting the original source.

Sometimes, however, like when you 'misplace' the source, that's just not possible.  What's especially irritating, is when you plan to write a newsletter on the subject that you're now unable to find.

A few weeks ago, I saw a great Thread about the motivation behind the algorithms that social media companies use.  Although I can't find the piece I first saw, I have found something that echoes those sentiments.

I believe the moments like these to which Simu Liu referred was Charlie Kirk's assassination.  At the time, my timeline was full of vitriol from both the left and right of the political divide, each faction warring against the other.

That in turn propagated a spew of hate-filled messaging causing a form of cerebral indigestion that no amount of Rennie could resolve.

I then experienced a moment of epiphany better than any antacid.  If, I reasoned, my timeline is full of bile because I'm consuming other people's anger, what happens if I choose to indulge in little pockets of joy?  The answer, it transpires, are pockets full of happiness.

To achieve that, I first had to rid my timeline of the nastiness, which is surprisingly easy to achieve.  At the top of each Thread are three dots, give them a click and the option to express a lack of interest pops up.

By repeatedly clicking on the dots and 'Not interested' whenever unsavoury messages appeared, the health of my timeline improved.  With a little judicious liking, reposting, and quoting, that health also morphed into something much more entertaining.

My timeline is now full of lunatic cats and dogs, toddlers toddling, and terrible Dad jokes.  For your delectation, I've added one of each below which I hope will serve to improve the content that finds its way into your socials.  Give them a click, I hope it works.  If it does, you're welcome!

Before I go, I need to add that it's not enough to do this just once; vigilance is required.  About a week after we learnt of Kirk's death, Jimmy Kimmel, the host of ABC's late night show, was suspended following a threat from the US Federal Communications Commission that it may revoke ABC's broadcasting license.  This followed Kimmel's comments about the MAGA crowd trying to characterise Kirk's assassin as 'anything other than one of them'.

It probably didn't help that Kimmel routinely mocks President Trump who, suffering from the battering of his fragile ego, also called for two other late night hosts, Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers to be fired.

When the Kimmel business hit my timeline, the messiness once more started to infiltrate.  I'm working on ridding it again of its toxicity (arguably at the expense of ignoring the creeping authoritarianism that is subsuming the United States) but then, watching pandas perform their shenanigans is such a tonic.

That's it from me.  Stay happy, stay safe, and cheerio for now.

Craig

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Craig Brown is an author living in Newbury.  To follow his work visit craigbrownauthor.com

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30 October 2025