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- cross-posted to:
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“[For] people who live in the country or in remote areas or minority groups or [who have] small businesses, that is a really good way for them to communicate and reach other people,” she says.
“It’s just not possible to set up an alternative at this point in time. So, to put it bluntly, we’re in a bit of deep shit, to be honest.”
No mention of Pixelfed, but I can understand why. Will it only be seen as an alternative once a critical mass of users move there? And can that happen if they don’t see it as an alternative? Chicken and egg. I’m trying out, but it’s a little vapid when everyone I know is on Instagram.
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… just don’t use instagram?
I never have, and I don’t feel like I’m missing out
I asked a younger coworker something similar about Facebook and facebook messenger a few years ago in relation to cyber bullying. I asked her why the younger generation doesn’t just get off social media if they’re being bullied, and her response was that these platforms are how people communicate now. Without them, you don’t find out about parties, trips, events, etc. Without them you get left out. If you abandon them, you’re essentially ostracizing yourself.
After hearing that I understood why just giving them up is difficult.
It’s not just younger people. A lot of my fellow GenXers only communicate via Facebook messenger.
It’s why nobody left Whatsapp when Meta bought it.
i hate it, but we are gonna be slow boiled into having meta read everything we say over there if we aint already
I’m betting you are.
Why wouldn’t they?
As soon as they’re forced to allow interoperability with other apps, I’ll be deleting WhatsApp. Had a Facebook from the beginning but deleted it when the Cambridge Analytica scandal happened. Have never had an Instagram. Fuck Meta and its horrible owner.
The thing is that Whatsapp was a godsend in Europe because we used to communicate through SMS’s and we used to pay for them, where is WhatsApp requires a single yearly payment.
Some tech illiterate people didn’t even know how to download apps but WhatsApp came pre installed on their phones so they used it
Can confirm. I’m a bit older, but when I stopped using social media it was like my aquaintances forgot I existed. Sure, close friends would usually still invite me to social events, but even that tapered off after a while. When I’d call someone out for not inviting me, their response was always “but you never shiw up to anything”. It’s not like they don’t know that I’m not on Facebook. What, you think that when you don’t invite me that I’ll just magically know it’s happening? I’m finally getting some people to use Signal groups but that has been an uphill battle.
I’ll just magically know it’s happening?
You’re not alone in not being on Facebook. Most of the younger generations aren’t on their either. I wish we had some form of P2P social network that just carried events, group chat and status updates and could just hoover everyone into it.
I agree up to the point that someone could use Facebook for the parties and stuff, and then not use any of the main page stuff. I have Messenger because that’s the prime option for those I know, but I don’t use it for anything but messaging and don’t have a Facebook.
I’ve had a facebook account since it was first unleashed on the world, but these days I only use it for messenger and marketplace. I’ve changed all my privacy settings to as strict as they can possibly be, and I never browse or post anything.
Facebook is only useful for the ancillary stuff. The main page and status updates have been monetized and engagement hacked to death.
Without them, you don’t find out about parties, trips, events, etc.
Ding ding
Getting info on events and businesses is so much tougher now that I don’t regularly use Facebook. I missed both holiday garbage pickups because my county waste management company ONLY posts schedules on Facebook.
I’d bitch to the county commissioners about that.
One thing about the town I’m in, they do a fairly good job of keeping the services running, and most of the normal stuff is fairly easy to find on the town’s website. Stuff like “Who do I talk to about installing a detached garage on my property” is an act of open heart dentistry…
Okay and on the topic of garbage I will bitch about one thing: they posted a map of the town with some teal area and some purple area, and it said “Teal is Schedule A, Purple is Schedule B.” And then didn’t say what that meant. I’m sure it was discussed verbally in the meeting that map was presented in.
I understand that logic, but “being the product” must not really be that bad for them. They might complain, but if it was truly distasteful, they’d do something about it.
And being exploited for profit and explicitly knowing it is about the saddest thing I can think of for my fellow humans. It’s no wonder the billionaires just take and take, because people let them.
I understand that logic, but “being the product” must not really be that bad for them. They might complain, but if it was truly distasteful, they’d do something about it.
And being exploited for profit and explicitly knowing it is about the saddest thing I can think of for my fellow humans. It’s no wonder the billionaires just take and take, because people let them.
One may as well have said the same things about cigarettes up through the 1960s. Sometimes we do things against our best interests. Sometimes it’s really, really bad for us. Sometimes it’s painful and deadly.
Humans aren’t rational creatures.
The desire to belong is primal, and strong.
And it served us well for millennia. In a lot of ways, it made us who we are.
Bootlickers in a need of herd ruled by a strong daddy?
Civilizations, societies, communities. The Apollo program. The National Park Service. Emancipation. Everything good we’re capable of as a species comes from working together.
The mass weaponization of it is, of course, a problem.
Humans aren’t rational creatures.
That’s a truism, but it’s not justification for allowing it to happen. People being naturally irrational is not an excuse to continue being irrational.
And if it makes people feel uncomfortable to be reminded that they’re choosing to be abused by billionaires for free, then good. Get uncomfortable. I hope they feel uncomfortable every time they scroll Facebook. I hope they feel a little shame every time they complain about housing prices on Instagram, because clearly, knowingly having their worst impulses monetized for the benefit of the absurdly wealthy isn’t enough.
It is a justification, actually, because other people are using it against them to extract value for themselves. Users of corporate social media are no more responsible for their addictions than alcoholics are. Some people break it, sure. And some people use it without developing an addiction. But those aren’t the people we’re talking about here.
Exactly. I’m not trying to victim blame here, but I do want to point out that you can leave social media and still have a social life. It takes a lot of effort, but it can be done a little at a time.
For example, tell people you don’t check Messenger or WhatsApp or whatever very often, but you do check Matrix or Signal or whatever a lot more. If they ask, tell them why you prefer the other platform (e.g. less SM noise), and if they try it out, reward them by being super active on it. If you get enough people on it, try organizing your own events or whatever and communicate about it on your preferred platform as a sort of reverse network effect.
My SO is still on Instagram and sends me links occasionally, but neither of us use Facebook or WhatsApp (granted, WhatsApp isn’t very popular here in the US).
I don’t use anything besides discord and my phone number. People that care enough know how to get in touch with me.
This stuff was happening even in the early days of Facebook let alone now so I get it.
Rather than tell bullying victims to get off social media, why not tell people to stop bullying people?
I dunno. But you didn’t say it.
“Hey bully, stop being so mean” generally gets laughed at and an aggressive response.
For a while, it was full of pictures. Only pictures. That “lunch” thing was trendy but not at all the main content. Whatever you wanted, it was there. It was no different than any other platform. Some great content, some bullshit. Now it’s shitty “reels”, ads, and fraud. You’d have to sift through a lot of forced garbage to find your subscribed content.
If you are interested in photography there are alternatives.
and just like FB, reddit, xitter, tiktok, et al, you’re not. it’s just another place for the vainest, most vapid, self-absorbed fucktards to post pictures of their lunch (in between selfies)
-post pictures of their lunch
That was Instagram 5-7 years ago.
It’s just american TikTok now
Yep I was thinking the same. I guess it’s a generational thing. Instagram is maybe like water to some young people, can’t be without it or life is sad.
No, it’s not because life without Instagram is sad. Read the other reply for a real reason. People stay on platforms to keep in touch with others and those others do the same.
It’s only “generational” because half the world didn’t grow up with the Internet as their primary form of communication. But I’m against that label because it’s true for anyone who uses a service a lot.
I would LOVE to stop using Discord but there’s no way I’m convincing all my friends to run two chat programs (Matrix for me, Discord for their other friends)
Can’t you set up a Discord bridge on Matrix, so you can still participate at least in text convos? I did that years ago and it worked pretty well.
If that works, you can convince them one at a time since the switching cost would be lower.
Sure, but then I’m still using discord’s servers. And it’s very unlikely I’d be convincing anyone until Discord screws up bad on something that affects them
Surely you could convince a couple. Find some cool rooms on Matrix and maybe you’ll get a couple more to join.
How else am i supposed to get in touch with the sexy babes?
Just turn off your ad blocker, they’re already trying to get in touch with you
They’re in the area!
when it’s your main place to see friends photos, and where all your friends already are its difficult to just not use it.
you don’t use it and never have, so naturally you won’t feel left out. but those that use it frequently absolutely will.
the old curmudgeon “These dern kids and thur instagrams!” isn’t really all that helpful, I feel.
i was addicted to facebook. i started getting away by just not looking at it for longer periods of time: 1 day, 1 week, month, etc. it stayed like that for a long time. then i went through and deleted everything i ever posted, replied, commented-- yes it took forever, but it ended up as just a blank profile with my name on it. finally i deactivated the account, then deleted it
time wasted on facebook: way too fucking much
time spent regretting deleting it: absolute zeroi’ve seen enough vacation/cat/baby photos to last 10 lifetimes, and if my friends can’t talk to me through texting, then i guess they must not have anything important to say
fuck facebook
i’m just glad i immediately found insta, twitter, tiktok, all the other bullshits boring and pointless right off the bat, so never dealt with thoseYeah, I also thought leaving Facebook would be a big deal, but honestly, it wasn’t. My family and friends send eachother texts and emails now, no big deal.
Will it only be seen as an alternative once a critical mass of users move there?
I mean, yeah? That’s how social media works.
Facebook/meta should never have been allowed to buy Instagram.
Not sure if you realize how long ago that was. Meta was not a thing. IG was barely a thing. They were a shadow of the monolith they’ve become.
Its easy to say in hindsight.
Most knew Facebook at the time and many knew what they were like…
Meta seemed partly a rebrand because of that unpopularity.
“what’s your alternative?” the answer is always lemmy am i right guys 😎
Always has been
Pixelfed is a federated image-sharing network.
Flickr, Tumblr and Hipstamatic
What virtue signal. These don’t have fact-checking either lmao
Gotta hop on that pixelfed!
I love Pixelfed and the federated versions of it.
Talk to people?
They don‘t talk back. Too busy browsing their phone.
Take their phone away. Power move.
“But all the other lemmings are there! I can’t leave or I’ll be left at the top of the cliff by myself!” 🙄 Guess what, there’s more of us up here who aren’t jumping than you realize.
Sorry to be harsh, but that’s how I feel about it when people say they have no choice but to enrich these social media oligarchs by participating in their exploitation machines. By contributing their “content” to be collected, sold, used for training their generative AIs, by viewing their ads, and by making themselves targets to be manipulated by propaganda of all kinds.
They already exploit us enough in ways we can’t control, without us willingly participating in their schemes.
Amen
Just… Don’t use it. It’s easy. I don’t even know what Instagram actually is.
It’s Tumblr with most of the features removed.
As someone who only used Tumblr for porn, this sounds awful. Especially because they banned porn forever ago. IG must be like a black hole or something.
the fact that people are so obsessed with social media that they cant even realize the simple option of just stopping all together really says how toxic and addictive social media is.
Yup, not everything needs to be replaced like for like. Some options:
- spend time on a hobby (video games, exercise, etc)
- in person relationships
- learn something new
Tons of options.
The Guardian cannot spell “Mastodon”, it seems from this “article”.
It is nicknamed The Grauniad for a reason.
Instagram is like 15 different things at once.
Its a messaging service with a TikTok like video service and a pixelfed like photo sharing service.
I use Instagram only to follow my friends, does pixelfed have private accounts ?
Yes it does! Check out pixelfed! It’s a lovely supportive community, in my experience.
