I originally had signed up for a few social media platforms in their early days but over time I felt that I wasn’t seeing what I thought I wanted to see. As companies started tailoring their algorithms things started to get less relevant to my interests. As a result I left behind those platforms for a couple of years before discovering Mastodon instances.
It was basically everything I thought social media should be, I would again get updates from people I followed and in a chronological order without a mess of advertisements. There was no push to show me content I hadn’t even asked to see, so that was really refreshing. I only recently realized that federated content platforms and their protocols were so versatile, given what we’re on now feels very different from Mastodon. I can’t help it but I am more than a bit excited about the potential!
What’s your story? Do you use anything that could be considered social media or have you in the past?
I have bad social anxiety and the internet used to be my go-to for making friends, but that experience has been ruined for me. I totally understand what you mean about feeling skittish and burnt out, you just never know if someone is going to be hostile. There were always trolls, but it’s on another level now. It’s just pure hate.