Let’s give Rowling a break. For four years, she has spoken up consistently and courageously in defence of women’s rights – in sport and elsewhere – when politicians and officials were unable to even to define the word ‘woman’.
Now her recent lack of tweeting has led some to suggest that she’s gone quiet because of the lawsuit launched by the boxer, Imane Khelif. This week, the New York Post suggested that ‘J.K. Rowling has gone silent on X since being named in a legal complaint by Algerian boxer Imane Khelif over online harassment she faced during the 2024 Olympics.’ Khelif’s lawsuit named both Rowling as well as Elon Musk – and could lead to criminal sanctions against the pair.
Perhaps the reasons for Rowling’s silence are far more mundane though. During her flurry of social media activity on the Olympic boxing competition, Rowling posted an idyllic photograph of mountains, glacier and lake, and told her 14 million followers that she was ‘in the most beautiful place on earth’ for her birthday.
Good for her, and I hope that she had a happy birthday. There was a time before social media, cell phones and the mobile internet that two weeks in the mountains – or wherever – meant time to get away from it all. If family and friends heard anything, it was on a postcard – often delivered after the sender was back home. The rest of the world, meanwhile, could mind their own business.
Those days are no more, and I think we are worse for it. We benefit from the time to think and reflect, something that social media takes from us. Whenever news breaks – for example a boxer reported to have XY chromosomes faces women in the ring – the pressure to say our piece is strong.
In previous generations, that might have been among a group of friends in the pub. Human instinct means that we want to discuss events, find out what others think, and maybe try and persuade them that we know best. But, crucially, the rest of the world is not listening when we vent to friends – and we get the opportunity to test and refine our opinions.
On X, Facebook, Instagram and the rest, our every utterance is already out there, and possibly screenshotted and filed away, before eyebrows are raised and private messages are sent in reply: ‘Did you really mean to say that so directly?’ If, that is, they come back at all – critical friends online are a rare blessing among the trolling and the baiting. Internet sleuths have alleged that Rowling has recently been deleting some of her tweets. Even if this is true, it really is Rowling’s business what she wants to publish, and what she wants to unpublish once she has had a time to think about it.
More widely, however, the fact remains that human beings do not seem to have evolved for social media. The instant feedback: the likes, the reposts, and the replies can be intoxicating, especially when the app and its built-in notifications are engineered to appeal to our senses and drive our emotions. While our bodies might crave fast food – or certain drugs – our minds can crave social media. Dopamine is released in our brains, and cycles of addition can take hold: profitable for the purveyors of the product; potentially devastating for those who are gripped by it.
Rowling and I are of a generation that managed to grow up free from these temptations. There were others – alcohol and cigarettes come to mind – but access was restricted, and use was frowned upon, certainly until we were of age. Today’s youngsters on the other hand are subject to far fewer controls on social media use. The platforms can set minimum ages (13 years old for X and Facebook) but there is little to protect children from spending every moment of their free time glued to their phones. Sadly, the example set by too many adults does not help.
Rowling’s words have been an inspiration to many people campaigning for a more sensible – and scientific – approach to sex and gender. Her recent silence could be an example of a different kind. Life can and does go on without the incessant use of social media. Perhaps someone could suggest that to Elon Musk?
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