Hello everyone. If you are reading this, you may have followed me on Mastodon via social.linux.pizza. I’m writing this blog post as I can’t shove it all into a few post, so bare with me.
I’ve come to a decision that I’m leaving the Fediverse for good and I want to give a small explaination why to those who care.
First and foremost, I want to thank everyone I’ve met over the last 2-3 years for being my “online friends” and sharing your life with me. I’ve really enjoyed all of the posts, links to great articles, and of course, contributions to amazing projects. Plus, it’s been nice for people to read my comments and deal with my madness and nonsense.
If you haven’t noticed, I’ve taken a break from the Fediverse over the last month because I started to notice some things about the community that really put me in a negative place. To put it bluntly, the Fediverse started to have a cult-like mentality to it and I can’t believe it took me this long to notice. It’s like if you aren’t head over heels in love with Linux/FOSS, dedicated to a cause like environmentalism, anti-capitalism, or veganism, sold to the idea that anything Microsoft or Apple is straight up evil and deserves to be hated (regardless if it’s a great idea or that it works better than other alternatives), obsessed with politics and protests, convinced you are a furry, or can’t stop talking about LGBT or drag, you simply don’t fit in. Want to talk about a topic that doesn’t fall into those categories? Good luck finding people to talk with.
It’s pretty bad when you spend so much time organizing and creating new filters in Mastodon because of all this type of trash constantly showing in your feed. I don’t know how people on other social media platforms do it, dealing with all of the negativity, but my hat is off to you sir/ma’am. Some people are just stronger than me.
I’ve tried so hard over the last year or so to find the good and positive things on the Fediverse but there is very, very little to be found. There have been so many times that I follow someone new because of one or two comments or that they have similar interest via their profile, but it takes less than a day to find that they are constantly on their soapbox about politics, some group of people’s rights being taken away, or that I’m a terrible human being because I use Windows or Apple products over Linux/FOSS. Instant unfollow, hence why my list of people I followed became pretty slim.
All of this really got to me earlier in the year and I’m just done. I’m just trying to make better decisions of how I spend my time. I’m so tired of the negativity. I’m also tired of a lot of the mentalities we have in the world today. The hustle culture, the “branding” culture, influencers, worship of companies and celebrities, the popularity of protesting, etc.
And don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that I’ve been any better over the years. I’ve spread negativity of my own and I’m just as much to blame. But I realize now how toxic it is, and how much it can affect people and their mental health. Social media should be an amazing tool to connect people but we’ve ruined it with selfishness, greed, and hatred. It’s just not for me and I won’t take part any longer.
I’m still lurking on Reddit to keep up with tech news, but that’s about it. Even Reddit gets out of hand, but at least things are on topic. Also, I’m keeping my Matrix account around for chatting but even that might go away if I don’t use it much.
I hope that if you are still reading this, I’m just calling it like I see it. I also hope that you understand and see that if anything is causing you harm, to cut it out.
If you’d like to keep in touch, reach out to me on Matrix at @teamtuck:matrix.org or keep an eye out on my blog.
TL;DR: I’m not a mentally strong enough person to deal with what social media has become and I’m deciding not to partake in it. It’s a great idea on paper, but people ruin it.