Tyler is a gay man who lives in a conservative state. Even though he says Larry isn’t one of them, there are people in his Twitter world who Tyler says post homophobic and racist things. And he’s sick of it. Like a lot of Americans, Tyler says he feels the stakes are high right now. And maybe it’s just not the time to be civil on Twitter.
“If we stop talking about racism,” he says, “if we stop talking about homophobia, hate towards gays, everything under the sun, then it goes [untaken] care of.”
But Tyler says this constant fighting takes a toll. “You find yourself thinking and feeling about the thread even if you are not on your phone. It’s to where you’re having panic attacks, or you’re hyperventilating.”
Larry, the conservative, says he doesn’t take Twitter so personally, but he ‘s been thinking about quitting. He doesn’t always like the way he behaves online. But he has trouble breaking away. He’ll be at a restaurant and on his phone and have an urge. “I just gotta send this one last [tweet]! And it’s like taking 10 minutes and the waitress is tapping her pencil.”
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