Intro

I'm moving away from all things social media, this means Mastodon as well. While I haven't actively used such apps as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc in years I realized a few things that bothered me and more so things that I wish to change overall. This doesn't include things like IRC or Matrix servers I may be a part of, I'll elaborate on that later in this post as well.

Privacy

One thing that I was made aware of during Christmas is that my family have not only been taking my picture without my consent but also posting said pictures to their social media profiles and allowing people who don't have me added to essentially "keep tabs" on me so to speak. Regardless of what you think about privacy it makes me uncomfortable and expect people to show me the same courtesy as I do for them in regards to sharing information, or in this case taking pictures they don't consent to.

Instead of going on and on about what these platforms do with your data I'll just provide links at the end of the post

Meaningful Interactions

I realize that people tend to still contact me through these old social media accounts and I don't think they care that I haven't logged on in years or that they could just give me a call. That being said, I'm trying to make more meaningful interactions in my life, meaning that if I want to let someone know that I care I let them know with a phone conversation or seeing them in person (covid precautions and all) and talking to them.

I consider human interaction important, therefore I make an effort in creating positive experiences with people face-to-face and not wasting time on my phone - that of which I rarely have on me unless work requires or I'm expecting a call. I don't expect others in my life to follow the same anti-tech/anti-antisocial sentiment as myself but I hope they at least see that you don't need to be connected 24/7 to the internet and be so heavily dependent on technology.

Offline Alternatives

Offline alternative for updates and communication with people would be, Email, RSS Feeds, and Calling or Texting People, the same as people did years ago.

What I'll Be Doing?

I've gone ahead and deleted all social media other than Mastodon that isn't attached to my company and doing a dopamine purge (sort of) by getting all my content via RSS much like I was earlier in 2020. It wasn't that I was using social media at all, but rather I see myself still being burdened by it just existing and want to purge all these unnecessary things from my life.

I will be following people I enjoy via RSS and if I want to talk to people I will make a better attempt to reach out and talk either via email or whatever method is appropriate.

I will continue to post on my blog for updates to all I'm working on as well as updates to anything else I wish to share.

I find that I'm happier when I don't hear notifications go off and don't have the anxiety from having to worry about what others think.

What Should You Do?

Do whatever sparks joy in your life and remove the things that don't. Don't let others make you feel like your happiness, security, and well-being are invalid.

Resources