I first got a Twitter account when I was in ninth grade.
While procrastinating studying over the weekend, I decided I’d waste an hour of my life scrolling through my 10,000 archived tweets and retweets to find my first ever tweet.
It reads: “Who needs guys anyway? I have two new guys I love and their names are Ben and Jerry. #icecreamlove.”
While this tweet is severely cringeworthy and makes me regret ever creating a Twitter, I cannot argue that it isn’t still accurate. Ninth-grade Olivia had clearly been through some stuff, and apparently ice cream has always been my favorite coping mechanism.
Thankfully throughout the years the content I’ve shared on Twitter has drastically changed.
My current feed is a mix of song lyrics, concert photos, political content, dank memes and Vine threads.
I don’t know at what age I will stop retweeting Vines of Nick Colletti saying “what’s up Kyle” and the “Miss Keisha?” girl talking to her dolls, but I probably should do that at some point.
Basically my Twitter feed, like that of most other people in my generation, is a confusing hodgepodge of things that most adults wouldn’t find funny, relatable or understandable in the slightest. But that certainly doesn’t stop the adults from creating Twitter accounts.
I think this past weekend was one of the oddest periods of time Twitter has ever seen.
Memes of Kylie Jenner’s pregnancy rumors, heartbreaking images from the destruction in Puerto Rico and numerous political arguments about the debate surrounding players in the NFL taking a knee during the national anthem left me questioning, “What the heck even is Twitter?”
What happened to the simpler times of just retweeting Will Ferrell parody accounts? Where are the egg icons that made it obvious to tell which accounts were made by adults who didn’t understand hashtags? And when did Twitter become so political?
I think it’s safe to say that the demographic of avid Twitter users drastically changed with the most recent presidency.
It’s no secret that President Trump is a fan of sharing his opinions and even legislative plans via Twitter. It’s also no secret that there are a lot of people who aren’t pleased with the frequent use of his Twitter account, myself being one of them.
The problem with Trump’s Twitter account is not in the fact that he has one, but in the way in which he uses it.
I do not believe that 140 characters is an appropriate length of text to announce major legislation, nor is Twitter the appropriate platform to do so on.
The language and behavior that Trump exhibits on Twitter is also unprofessional, and sometimes downright childish.
I also have a hard time comprehending how the President of the United States of America seems to have no editorial staff that advises him when it comes to Twitter, or at least one that he listens to.
Unfortunately, Trump will more than likely continue to use Twitter, more adults will continue to create accounts and people will still attempt to discuss politics in 140 characters or less.
That’s the beauty of the internet and America though — people can say, post or Tweet whatever they choose to because they can. It’s their right.
And it’s also my right to judge them for it — although I can’t really talk much considering the tragedy that is my first tweet.

OLIVIA BURGER
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