When Twitter Goes Down

Ok so this happened AGAIN last night — I’m scrolling through my feed, coffee in hand, half paying attention to some Netflix show I’ve seen twice already, when suddenly… the dreaded spinning wheel of doom. Twitter’s down. Again.

And you know what? I’m embarrassed to admit how quickly I went through the five stages of social media grief:

1. Denial (furiously refreshing)

2. Anger (cursing under my breath)

3. Bargaining (maybe if I restart my phone?)

4. Depression (staring blankly at my dark screen)

5. Acceptance (fine, I’ll actually watch this show)

Sound familiar? Yeah, thought so.

The “Is This Just Me?” Moment

Last month’s massive outage hit while I was at my kid’s soccer practice. There I was, half-watching 8-year-olds chase a ball, half-scrolling Twitter, when everything froze. My first thought wasn’t about the adorable goal my daughter just scored (sorry, Emma) — it was “is my phone broken or is Twitter down?”

I glanced around the field and spotted at least three other parents with that same confused look, thumbs frantically tapping their screens. We caught each other’s eyes and just knew. The universal “Twitter’s down” nod was exchanged across the sidelines. Modern parenting at its finest, folks! 😂

Why Does Twitter Keep Going Down? Simple Explanation

So why does Twitter keep breaking? I asked my friend Steve who works in tech (you know, that friend we ALL have who we call when our printer won’t connect to WiFi). Here’s his explanation, minus the jargon he initially tried to impress me with:

• Too many people showing up to the party — When everyone rushes to Twitter during the Superbowl/election/celebrity meltdown, it’s like 500 people trying to squeeze through one door.

• Someone messed with the settings — Some poor engineer changed one tiny thing that broke everything else. We’ve all been there (flashback to when I “fixed” our home WiFi and nobody could connect for two days).

• The internet equivalent of a traffic jam — Sometimes malicious actors deliberately flood Twitter with fake traffic. Like those jerks who slow down in the fast lane for no reason.

• Just plain old bad luck — Sometimes technology breaks because… it just does. Like my toaster that works perfectly fine for months then suddenly decides bread is optional.

The Weird Twitter Withdrawal Symptoms

I’ve noticed something strange happens to me during Twitter outages — I keep checking my phone even KNOWING the app is down. It’s like phantom limb syndrome but for social media.

My colleague Tom actually times himself during outages to see how long he can go without checking. His record is 7 minutes. SEVEN. MINUTES.

And I’m not much better! During the great Twitter blackout of October ’23 (3 hours and 42 minutes, but who’s counting?), I found myself opening and closing apps aimlessly, like opening the fridge repeatedly hoping food will magically appear.

When Twitter Goes Down: The Real-World Impact

These outages aren’t just annoying — they’ve got real consequences:

When Your Job Depends On It

My friend Jess runs social media for a pretty big retail brand. She was launching a huge campaign when Twitter died last spring. $30k in ad spend, influencers on standby, and suddenly… nothing. She ended up stress-eating an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s while refreshing DownDetector every 30 seconds.

“It was like planning a party where the venue locked everyone out,” she told me over drinks later. “Except the venue doesn’t answer calls and won’t tell you when you can get back in.”

News Deserts When We Need It Most

Remember when that small earthquake hit LA last year? Twitter went down minutes after, exactly when everyone needed real-time updates. My brother lives there and couldn’t get info anywhere else as quickly. He ended up walking to his neighbor’s house — first time they’d spoken in 3 years! — to ask if they felt it too.

Kinda crazy how we’ve come to depend on this one platform for emergency info, isn’t it?