(originally posted on facebook)

I've tried to be more vocal and socially active a few times in my life. I've found that I can do it for a couple days and then I'm ready to hide in the dark somewhere for the rest of the month. My reset is the 30th, so march can be rough if I try to be social in early february...

Since I'm getting a cramp in my angry-scrolling-and-clicking-finger, I thought I'd share some options for anyone that might interested in ditching or minimizing use of their social media accounts with the companies like facebook and twitter.

I will add the caveat that I have left various social media platforms over the years, and facebook has been the hardest one to kick permanently because its is the only singular overlap for many of the people that I know. It's one of those situations where it's gotten so big that most people don't consider going to anything else. So, when I've made the jump to other social media, I didn't know anyone using those platforms.

Currently I have accounts on facebook, instagram, bluesky, dice.camp (mastodon), and I guess I can throw linkedin and discord in there. I'm not going to delete my facebook account again at this time, but it is one that I would jump off in a heartbeat if there were viable alternatives where the people I know were.

Mastodon

"Mastodon is the best way to keep up with what's happening.

"Follow anyone across the fediverse and see it all in chronological order. No algorithms, ads, or clickbait in sight."

dice.camp

"We're a Mastodon server for RPG folks to hang out and talk. Not owned by a billionaire.

"We don't want your attention or your clicks. We're not the One TTRPG Network To Rule Them All. Just a place for people who enjoy tabletop RPGs to talk about stuff, not at all limited to games."

*UpScrolled

"UpScrolled is a social media platform designed to empower users worldwide — a space to freely express thoughts, share moments, and connect with others. We built it because people are asking for more transparency, authenticity, and trust in the platforms they use every day."

Bluesky

"Bluesky is a social app that is designed to not be controlled by a single company. We're creating a version of social media where it's built by many people, and it still comes together as a cohesive, easy-to-use experience. We've done this by building Bluesky on the AT Protocol, an open source toolbox for building social apps that can all talk to each other."

*note that I am not familiar with upscrolled, having just learned about it today. I heard it was a good alternative to instagram, but I can't verify that yet.

Discord

"Discord is great for playing games and chilling with friends, or even building a worldwide community. Customize your own space to talk, play, and hang out."

I'm kind of hesitant to include this one because they have been very in-your-face with paid features lately, but discord will let you create "private servers" and you can control who you let in. I have a private server that I use for gaming, and I've stayed active with a couple different friend-groups across a couple other servers.

qobuz

"When we formed Qobuz in 2008, our goal was to offer the digital world the aspects of music fandom that audiophiles, those who love music best, have always cherished. For us, this meant quality sound, quality editorial, and a freedom of choice that wholly excludes bias. As a result of our diverse collective culture and our musical education, our business catered to artists old and new. We wanted to design a service that catered to highly specialized music lovers, all over the world."

If you've got other social media or digital platform alternatives that you're using, I'd be interested in learning about them. I mostly listen to music that I self host from my CD collection rips, but youtube is another thing I haven't found a good alternative for yet. If you pay for spotify premium and are looking for an alternative, I've heard that qobuz is a decent choice that pays artists more per listen.

Obsidian.md

"Your thoughts are yours.
Obsidian stores notes privately on your device, so you can access them quickly, even offline. No one else can read them, not even us.

"Your mind is unique.
With thousands of plugins and themes, you can shape Obsidian to fit your way of thinking.

"Your knowledge should last.
Obsidian uses open file formats, so you're never locked in. You own your data for the long term."

I ditched pinterest a while back because it was turning into nothing but ads and AI-content. I haven't found an alternative I'm completely happy with yet, but I've been using obsidian.md for a lot of the things I was doing with pinterest. obsidian is primarily a text editor, but it can handle images, and you can do some amazing things with plugins and a little CSS. Obsidian is free to use, and because at its heart it is a text editor, if the program ever stops being supported, your files are still accessible as plain text.

Technology is what I know and follow, so that's what I have to share. If you've got alternatives to mega-corporataions like amazon, or environmentally-friendly choices like powdered soap vs. liquid detergents that you use, I'd love to hear them.