Big surprise, Not. But this was all before the new discussions in the USA about censorship. On the other hand, most users are still using tweeter, so why should they leave now?
Any thoughts on this?
Big surprise, Not. But this was all before the new discussions in the USA about censorship. On the other hand, most users are still using tweeter, so why should they leave now?
Any thoughts on this?
At least on Fuckbook you kinda do it voluntarily. Noone forces you. But as far as I can oversee the job-world it’s kinda a necessity nowadays (LI). I guess I would really really really be screwed should I look for a job today. Can’t create an anonymous profile, would not gift my valuable personal info to - especially - a murican company. That would probably kill my chances pretty well. Especially in the IT. Ugh.
And yes, you’re right. Academics isn’t much better. And let me not start about ads or social cancer, err media.
How we got here? From an old far who was there day #1 (when i had to move to another city to personally sign a contract to have internet-access, lol): The more non-geeks explored the web, the more dumbed down (not meant demeaning) it had to become. And the lower the lowest common denominator became, the more everything had to adapt. Then google switched from “don’t be evil!” to being the most evil motherfucker of them all and it all went downhill. Now, after witnessing the rise of search-engines I’m right in the endtimes of their decay. Search SUCKS ASS. AI sucks a lil less ass, but more blows the front. It’s also shit, but faster! And 10yrs from now when 99% of the net is circlejerked AI-junk fed to other AIs that feed other AIs… I could go on for hours but…
At least, we have a buy-european-movement that slowly gains traction. That’s something, right? RIGHT?
Well, the good thing about the current situation is diversity. Nowadays, we have lots of interesting alternatives for many essentials. Take the entire Fediverse for example. Also, the search monopoly is being challenged by alternatives, some of which are based on the distributed self-hosted instance approach we’ve seen with the Fediverse. Mainstream will always stay with the evil corporations, but at least everyone else can choose something better.
The biggest bottle neck I see with all of this is mobile operating systems. Technically, you can run something other than Android or iOS, but then you’re switching on hard mode in your life. With most other things though, the alternatives are surprisingly viable these days.
And speaking of using shitty software voluntarily. It sort of is, but not really. I’ve persistently avoided WhatsApp, but I keep bumping into that stupid spyware all the time. The pressure is growing every year as more and more people and even businesses become increasingly dependent on it. Fortunately though, people have moved on from Facebook, so I can continue to ignore that platform as I have done so far. I’m just hoping that WhatsApp crosses that threshold and people start switching to Signal.
True. Lemmy is a great example of how it could (and damn should) be. Never regretted being forced to leave reddit in the apipocalypse. Yet, search? LaCy is the only one i know and searching is…challenging at best. I’m running an instance and also searXng.
Mobile, oh yes. My next phone will surely be Linux if Google will really fuck up android with killing sideloading. Not that I wouldn’t have expected them to do it sooner or later. Might be also challenging, but luckily I don’t NEED a phone, I just like having it (and for android-auto, i hate being forced into the car’s ecosystem…which now bites me in my ass).
WA is serious cancer, yes. The amount of “what?! why don’t u use WA?!?!”-faces i get saddens me. But fuck you all. My wife is on telegram (yeah, i know, but i need the API!) and that’s all I need. Whomever else wants to chat me? they’re free to do, but i won’t be held hostage on WA. And if people wouldn’t install an app for me (as i’m expected for them, but THEY are those that don’t care for privacy and such), i’m not important enough so screw them anyway. But I’ve often been schooled that in certain countries it’s totally unavoidable. But that probably just depends on your level of achievable freedom, so to speak. Wouldn’t share your optimism that they might cross a threshhold. Majority of users have not the slightest clue about anything or, way more badly, just don’t care (“I have nothing to hide!”).
On some level, I hope that certain companies would sever their ties with me, just like Reddit did. Before switching to Lemmy, I was already thinking of quitting Reddit, and that thought had been brewing in the back of my mind for a few years already. Then the apicalypse happened, and it merely speeded up the process that had already started years before. If the same happens with some other companies too, I’m definitely switching to some mobile Linux that happens to be most viable at the time. Maybe PinePhone, Ubuntu Touch, Librem 5, SailfishOS or whatever.
Currently, things are still easier on this side of the fence, so I’m staying where I am. However when enshittification inevitably gets bad enough, I have only bad options: annoying corporate trash or semi-functional FOSS. Eventually that balance is going to shift in favor of FOSS, and I’m ready to abandon several modern comforts at that point.
In the meanwhile though, several comfort factors are keeping me where I am, and I don’t feel any urgent need to switch just yet. I’ll end up being like a digital hermit, using software 100% incompatible with the rest of the world, totally isolated from everyone and everything. Well, SMS, email and Signal still works, but that’s about it. Don’t expect me to reply to any messages that depend on some creepy spyware.
That means that some people will feel like I’m pretty much impossible to reach, and I’ll feel like some modern comforts are impossible to achieve. I’ll be back in the year 2000, but I guess I’ll be ok with that. I guess I’ll just have to try that out at some point. Many years ago I did just that with LineageOS without GAPPS and oh boy was it a rough ride. Also tried a completely de-googled AOSP, and that was pretty brutal at the time. Perfect for an isolationist digihermit, but I wasn’t quite ready for sacrifices like that at the time.
If I can’t go completely FOSS, I’ll just end up keeping one Android tablet in the bedroom drawer so that I can take care of my bank stuff and other basic necessities. I wonder how viable that sort of life would be these days.