All of these topics were ones I'd previously asked Twitter not to show anymore, including "Based on your likes." All of them are back again, regardless, as was their "turn on push notifications" plea... which they'd also previously, repeatedly, promised they wouldn't suggest anymore.
This is the thing about Twitter that I dislike most: their continual disregard of my clearly, and repeatedly, expressed wishes. Yes, I know their business model is based on "engagement," and that their algorithms don't care about the nature of that engagement. I know that they're never going to stop asking me to "install the app" (i.e. give them access to my phone's notification system, so that they can continually push themselves forward for my attention, disrupting anything I might be doing at the time). I know all of this.
I still hate it.
I turned on Twitter at the height of the pandemic, so that I could receive real-time updates on the constantly-changing COVID-19 situation in my area, and on the public health measures in my area. Today, my regional government has waved the white flag to COVID for the third time, clearly signalling that they intend to do even less about it now than they had been, and that's saying something; public health measures, going forward, will be none at all.
With my original reason for Twitter no longer being relevant, is it time to quit? Because I'm thinking it might be time to #deleteTwitter, too. Not that they're as bad as Facebook, because nobody's as bad as Facebook, but their constant, insidious, and recidivist attempts to shoehorn their way into more of my life are beginning to really irk me.
UPDATE #1:
I've decided, and yes, I've deactivated my Twitter account. If they change their ways, I may reconsider, but in the here and now, Twitter is adding nothing positive to my life.
UPDATE #2:
Having deleted both Facebook and Twitter from my digital life, I've decided to go all the way and delete Reddit, too, which was my one remaining social media account. I realized that I was just using it to kill time, rather than to actually do anything of value, and that's reason enough to delete any of these services from your digital diet.
I feel so much lighter already, and can seriously recommend that anyone reading this do the same.