Recently, I decided to delete Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok from my phone. It was a conscious choice I had to make after experiencing an anxious meltdown last week. Reddit wasn’t any better for me, and we all know where that place is headed. I haven’t deleted my accounts yet, but prioritizing the loss of easy access to those sites was important.

As usual, I feel better now. A lot of the content on those platforms brings me hateful and unpleasant feelings. It’s addicting, like a mess you just can’t seem to take your eyes off of. I had to be honest with myself and accept the truth that profit-driven social media has a net-negative impact on my life.

I’m glad I’m here now. I’ll never stop repeating this until it becomes untrue (hopefully not), but I enjoy being here. I don’t see this place as an alternative to anywhere else. It’s helping me break the habit of skipping long paragraphs of text and only relying on article titles at face value. The nuance present in several discussions feels more human.

Anyway, enough about me. How have your experiences been with other social media platforms? How do they compare to Beehaw?

  • Dan_Rachevaski@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    currently have a FB, Twitter, Instagram and Reddit account. The first three is basically my first delve into the art world of drawing animes and stuff, and Reddit…well, for Reddit stuff, niche communities, hobbies, etc. FB is actually pretty nice and cool and good tho…at the beginning. You play games, you delve into groups about your hobbies, you like your friend’s pictures and lifes. Nice.

    Until recently, when for profit social media gone mainstream. Suddenly it’s not just your connections and hobbies, now everything is filled with ads, suggestions, influencers, all mining our data. Not to mention the outside bigotry, racism, religious intolerance, homophobia, hard and extreme politics slowly creeping first in FB, Twitter, and now or soon, Reddit. Yeah there you’re “technically” able to express yourself, but be prepared to be brigaded by those people that are now a majority in current mainstream social medias.

    Also, including Reddit, all now becomes just another dick-measuring contest. Who’s more popular? Who’s more funny? Who’s more edgy? Who’s more based? Who’s more Chad? Who’s more liberal? Who’s more homophobic? Upvotes, likes, shares, all of that is just another dopamine effect to further the dick-measuring contest. Needless to say, I am happy to find Mastodon and now, Beehaw. A relaxed, nice community that isn’t just yet another popularity rat race.