Yeah I spend a lot less time on Twitter these days because of it.

Regular people who buy check marks do it because they aren’t actually funny or interesting enough for their posts to get traction on their own. So when the platform boosts check mark people over regular users, the app is less enjoyable to be on.

You have to be a special kind of desperate to spend money on the check mark, people see it and immediately start making fun of you for it. It’s either boring people who want more attention or journalists who need it for professional purposes.

Same exact experience here. When I read it in highschool, I found him whiny and annoying. It wasn’t until I re-read it as an adult that I was able to empathize with him.

It also helped that as a highschooler, I viewed him as a peer while as an adult I viewed him as the traumatized kid he is.