How Twitter got me through my studies

Twitter. If you had asked me about this app about six months ago, I would have described it as the pits of social media. This was a place where meanness, trolls and bullies resided – the epicentre of fake news where gossip spreads like wildfire.

I considered it a “negative space” and, after some exposure to it in the past, I wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

Nothing.

I cannot remember exactly what caused me return to Twitter since my last post in 2016, but I am so glad that I did.

These past four months, Twitter has been my sanctuary. I’m sure you are, like, “HOW?” Well, this is after I found out about #AcademicTwitter. My entire perspective has since changed.

I started following people and pages that actually have a positive impact, especially with respect to my academic career.

I have realised that pursuing postgraduate studies can be a daunting and isolating task. There are so many moments you hit a brick wall. You feel frustrated. Your mental health is tested and you struggle to find a place to turn to. I felt this so many times over during my own journey.

Recently, I learned that there is a very interesting part of the brain called the reticular activating system or RAS. This is a bundle of nerves at our brainstem that filters out unnecessary information so the important stuff gets through. The RAS acts like our brain’s own “algorithm” – it takes what you focus on and creates a filter for it.

Tobias van Schneider wrote: “It [RAS] then sifts through the data and presents only the pieces that are important to you.” So this means that if you are going through a hard time during your studies and you think perhaps you are not going to do well, when you log on to a social media site like Twitter, you will find evidence for that position. All of this happens without you noticing, of course.

However, there is also another way.

Scrolling through the @AcademicChatter feed on Twitter one day, I saw how many people from around the world were communicating about problems to which I could relate. One day, I finally got the courage to share my own struggles. My goodness … the amount of love, advice, motivation and sharing of opportunities that lives there is wonderful.

Here in South Africa I also follow another amazing community called @past3amsquad. This hashtag was initially started by Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, the vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The #past3amsquad has connected many academics in and around South Africa to create another place filled with motivation and encouragement.

As explained earlier, the brain, using RAS, has this amazing ability to seek information that validates your beliefs. It filters the world through the parameters you give it, and your beliefs shape those parameters. While this can feed negative thoughts, it can also feed positive ones. Therefore, if you believe you work efficiently, you most likely do. The RAS helps you see what you want to see and in doing so, influences your actions.

Unbeknown to me until very recently, this was the function of my Twitter feed.

Twitter has allowed me to be inspired and motivated. It has given me the opportunity to connect to fellow students, professors and lecturers all over the world. How mind-blowing it is that using your phone can produce such positivity. I truly would never have believed this a few months back.

Now, I am sure there are many who still feel the way that I did: wary. Maybe you just prefer to observe? I urge you to reach out. Give it a try.

If used properly, I believe that social media has a powerful role to play in connecting scientists and other academics and can create a positive and encouraging platform.

On a personal note, by putting myself out there, as a black female scientist, I feel this platform has the ability to encourage and inspire young minds by showing them what scientists look like. In the process we are also redefining the modern scientist.

Malawi-born Anne Chisa is an aspiring blogger and MSc (Crop Science) student at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. She is also a Black Women in Science (BWIS) Fellow for 2019. BWIS is a South African based non-profit company that aims to deliver capacity development interventions targeting young black women scientists and researchers.