Back in the 2000’s, I was decently involved in the tech world, especially privacy and following/using FOSS. I fell off in a major way as the strain of work and college took over and I just didn’t have the energy to devote to the cause and maintenance of my own resources. During the pandemic, I deleted my Facebook account as I watched friends and family become hateful. I stopped using Twitter as well and finally deleted it when the Musky Boy took over. Reddit was still a community I had trust in as it was relatively anonymous and the user experience was customizable so I could avoid the worst parts. With Reddit’s anti-user and especially anti-accessibility moves I woke up. Y’all at startrek.website gave me a safe starting point to the Fediverse, and I dove back into taking control of my computing experience. How has the upheaval of corporate social media changed your online life?
I don’t think my outlook on the big companies has changed much - I quit Facebook around a decade ago, and like you I quit Twitter after the Great Muskening began. I’d been increasingly disillusioned with Reddit over the last few years as well - this recent nonsense was simply the last straw.
What has changed is my determination to continue opting out, and to make a serious attempt at community-building in spaces like this one and Mastodon.
I still remember when Facebook was actually cool and useful, these days it’s only kept around for communication between family abroad otherwise I’d have deleted the account years ago.
Twitter has always been borderline shit from the start but whether Mastadon is a viable replacement I don’t know.
But like you I do think I’m pretty much done with traditional social media, back to forums and trying Lemmy.
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Blast from the past for me. E-mail pen pals from around the world. Personal websites where there was no such thing as too much. Garish color combos. 15+ different fonts in a variety of sizes and colors, and animated glitter fonts. All the text was centered. Midi music blaring as soon as the web site loaded. And, a web counter and guest book. Chat rooms, where I learned that I really did not want to engage in private chats offers. Sometimes I forget about all that.
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For me, its less “Oh my god how could this happen!?” and more “I told you asshats so!”
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My outlook on tech companies, me being a monetized commodity, hasn’t changed. I never liked it. I have an almost unused Twitter account that I opened when Twitter was new. And, quickly realized that it was not my thing. I don’t have accounts with Facebook, TikTok, and whatever else is out there. I got a Reddit account to have discussions with other fans. Being here is refreshing. I’m not a commodity here. I’m a Star Trek fan, chatting up other Star Trek fans. I’m very happy to be here.
