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Why I left social media.

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KitLily
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17 Jun 2023, 6:32 am

I've really found that since I joined Mastodon, my brain has changed. I suppose I used to be addicted to the constant notifications and the fast moving, constant cut and thrust of aggressive comments. You always have to get ready to defend yourself on big, corporate social media sites because any comment can be taken out of context and picked apart, argued about, made fun of.

But I got really tired of that a few years ago and I'm so glad I moved to Mastodon. There is no algorithm shoving arguments in my face there.

I joined last autumn when there was hardly anyone there. The local inhabitants there pointed out how traumatised the migrants from Twitter were and we all realised that we were. It took a while to relax and feel safe there. It was noticeable when a wave of bird-site people joined, they were all spoiling for a fight and took time to calm down. Some people have even complained that Mastodon is 'too nice' and stormed off in a huff.

Social media has affected our brains IMO and it's taking time to learn to converse politely again. Whenever I go back to Twitter it's noticeable how feisty everyone is, arguing with strangers, ranting and raving. It's too tiring for me.


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PhosphorusDecree
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17 Jun 2023, 1:09 pm

KitLily wrote:
I've really found that since I joined Mastodon, my brain has changed. I suppose I used to be addicted to the constant notifications and the fast moving, constant cut and thrust of aggressive comments. You always have to get ready to defend yourself on big, corporate social media sites because any comment can be taken out of context and picked apart, argued about, made fun of.

But I got really tired of that a few years ago and I'm so glad I moved to Mastodon. There is no algorithm shoving arguments in my face there.

I joined last autumn when there was hardly anyone there. The local inhabitants there pointed out how traumatised the migrants from Twitter were and we all realised that we were. It took a while to relax and feel safe there. It was noticeable when a wave of bird-site people joined, they were all spoiling for a fight and took time to calm down. Some people have even complained that Mastodon is 'too nice' and stormed off in a huff.

Social media has affected our brains IMO and it's taking time to learn to converse politely again. Whenever I go back to Twitter it's noticeable how feisty everyone is, arguing with strangers, ranting and raving. It's too tiring for me.


Heh, that reminds me of the February Album Writing Month seasonal website. It has a culture of relentless encouragement, which freaked me out a bit when I first joined it. Pretty much every year you'll see someone go "aaaaagh I can't stand it! Someone please rip my songs to shreds!"


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KitLily
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20 Jun 2023, 6:16 am

PhosphorusDecree wrote:
Heh, that reminds me of the February Album Writing Month seasonal website. It has a culture of relentless encouragement, which freaked me out a bit when I first joined it. Pretty much every year you'll see someone go "aaaaagh I can't stand it! Someone please rip my songs to shreds!"


That sounds nice. I'm fed up with being torn to shreds in real life.

I wouldn't say Mastodon is a culture of relentless encouragement. It's more that you can ask a question or comment on a stranger's post knowing that it's very unlikely they'll get offended or snap at you or start an argument. It's like communicating with people again and not trolls. I've seen arguments there but I keep away from them.


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Weight Of Memory
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20 Jun 2023, 7:19 am

KitLily wrote:
You always have to get ready to defend yourself on big, corporate social media sites because any comment can be taken out of context and picked apart, argued about, made fun of.


For me, people not understanding what I'm trying to say was normalized offline before social media was a thing.



KitLily
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20 Jun 2023, 12:33 pm

Weight Of Memory wrote:
KitLily wrote:
You always have to get ready to defend yourself on big, corporate social media sites because any comment can be taken out of context and picked apart, argued about, made fun of.


For me, people not understanding what I'm trying to say was normalized offline before social media was a thing.


Yes...but hopefully a hundred people or more didn't lay into you with insults, arguments, trollish things like that, and cause pile-ons attacking you. Hopefully there were things you could say without every single thing being attacked? The sheer numbers of attackers online is horrendous.


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PhosphorusDecree
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20 Jun 2023, 4:07 pm

Plus, every so often Facebook decides to vomit crappy alt-right memes in my face as it did today. I think it's looking for "engagement"?


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