Every hour spent arguing with a stranger online is an hour you’ll never spend with someone you like.

Time spent is time gone, and the accounting rarely gets done. An hour in a thread with someone you will never meet comes out of the same budget as an hour with someone you love, except one of them leaves you agitated. The argument feels urgent because it is unfinished, not because it is important. Unfinished is a feeling the format is built to produce.

When you notice you are ten replies deep, close it and message somebody you actually like. Nothing is conceded by leaving. The thread continues without you and settles nothing either way.