Social Media Unpleasant Thoughts
Oct. 21st, 2024 07:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
phormthevixdjinnOf course the loss of CoHost is something some of us, myself included, are still reeling from. It was a unique platform that honestly can't be replaced, no matter how much one tries to. That's something to be accepted, and I think I'm approaching that point slowly. I am, of course, grateful to have this place to host my fiction, at least.
But Cohost's demise paired with the spectacular failure of Twitter has driven people to BlueSky in droves. It's a palpable difference this time, compared to every other blunder that Twitter has made. I've never seen such a literal overnight migration.
On the one hand: good. Twitter delenda est. I have no love for the platform.
On the other hand: I am pulling my hair out screaming as so many people I know and care about, who valued what CoHost offered, are scurrying to BlueSky. The platform is toxic, and has all the issues that Twitter had before the buyout. It's a moderation hellscape, where literal Nazis are allowed to run roughshod over the timeline and users are just told to ignore them.
The platform has a literal slider for how much racism and hate you want to see!! Why not ban those accounts?? Why let them thrive??
Beyond that, the quote-post function and algorithmic behavior mean that it is, once again, a platform that thrives on monetizing rage and baiting engagement. BlueSky IS Twitter, just a few years behind.
I can't bring myself to use the platform. It makes me sad to see so many rush to it and praise it as a wonderful solution, for the reasons I describe above. But what hurts more is that by not participating, I functionally cease to exist to so many people.
I only ever existed to them when they saw my idiot posts float across their timeline. Now that I'm not on the platform of choice, it's as if I've evaporated into the aether. Even if I have alternative methods of communication established, I'm basically meaningless and left behind.
It's not a pleasant feeling, but it is a familiar one.
A reminder that all I have is me, and I'll never have anyone else.
But Cohost's demise paired with the spectacular failure of Twitter has driven people to BlueSky in droves. It's a palpable difference this time, compared to every other blunder that Twitter has made. I've never seen such a literal overnight migration.
On the one hand: good. Twitter delenda est. I have no love for the platform.
On the other hand: I am pulling my hair out screaming as so many people I know and care about, who valued what CoHost offered, are scurrying to BlueSky. The platform is toxic, and has all the issues that Twitter had before the buyout. It's a moderation hellscape, where literal Nazis are allowed to run roughshod over the timeline and users are just told to ignore them.
The platform has a literal slider for how much racism and hate you want to see!! Why not ban those accounts?? Why let them thrive??
Beyond that, the quote-post function and algorithmic behavior mean that it is, once again, a platform that thrives on monetizing rage and baiting engagement. BlueSky IS Twitter, just a few years behind.
I can't bring myself to use the platform. It makes me sad to see so many rush to it and praise it as a wonderful solution, for the reasons I describe above. But what hurts more is that by not participating, I functionally cease to exist to so many people.
I only ever existed to them when they saw my idiot posts float across their timeline. Now that I'm not on the platform of choice, it's as if I've evaporated into the aether. Even if I have alternative methods of communication established, I'm basically meaningless and left behind.
It's not a pleasant feeling, but it is a familiar one.
A reminder that all I have is me, and I'll never have anyone else.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-21 11:01 pm (UTC)I went off social media and networking this year, for six months (except at my own journal). It was a powerful lesson to me on what I need and don't need from the Internet.
What I realized is that, if I want to keep in touch with someone, I can email, phone, snail-mail, and/or meet with them face-to-face. I don't have to depend solely on social networks for my socializing.
(This seems blindingly obvious in retrospect. Boy, have social media sites brainwashed us into thinking they're an utter necessity for socializing.)
Emailing opens up the possibility of staying friends with someone who might not be in a position where they could reveal their offline identity, or who might be more comfortable writing than talking by phone. If I were a texter, that would be on my list too; ditto any other means of one-to-one communication.
But social networks? They're where I get to know likeminded folks whom I might want to get to know privately. Social networking online can be a wonderful thing in itself; it replicates the offline experience of community gatherings, such as clubs. But to me, this is a different thing from a private conversation with a friend.
Which is a long-winded way of saying: If I consider it worthwhile to keep in touch with someone outside a social network (regardless as to whether we remain in the same network), I will now email/DM them (or hope they email/DM me if I'm shy about approaching them, which I often am) and establish a private channel of communication with them. That's a far better way to stay in touch with someone, I've found, than reading their posts that are crafted for the general public, or even for a small group of friends.
As far as public gathering space is concerned, I settled this fall on Dreamwidth as my only remaining social network. This is a wonderful place for in-depth, civilized discussions, and Dreamwidth attracts terrific folks, some of whom I've known now for over two decades, via other social networks that have shut down. I'm looking forward to making more friends here.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-22 02:44 am (UTC)You bring up a very good point. And perhaps my impatience and expectation of having a platform for immediate gratification is really something I ought to re-examine. Or at the very least, look very closely at, very carefully. Keeping in touch at a slower pace, and a more meaningful one at that, is likely preferable to the cacophony of modern social media. An email, or even a snail mail, may be slower and more measured, but it's also more significant and carries more meaning.
I'm certainly grateful to have met you here, as well as many others, already. I certainly hope I can continue to do so for some time to come.
Thanks much, friend. I appreciate your perspective, and your kindness.
no subject
Date: 2024-10-22 03:34 am (UTC)Thank you; I'm honored and delighted to have found you here.
What I said before was as much directed at me as at you; it's far too easy for me to neglect cultivating slower-paced relationships. That's one reason why I had to take a break from social media/networks for a while. I do continue to believe that, if one has a healthy relationship with social networks/media, those sites can be complementary to one-to-one communication (or to offline social gatherings, for that matter). It's just sad that so many folks today treat social media as the only way to socialize.