💾 Archived View for gem.saayaa.space › gemlog › 2022-11-11-exercise-in-frustration.gmi captured on 2023-06-16 at 16:14:45. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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In my circle of friends and family, I stand alone when it comes to using or even trying alternatives to proprietary silos and privacy-oriented apps and services. I'm the only one off social media, which isn't surprising. I even deleted WhatsApp! However, it's been nearly impossible to bring people over to any alternative I suggest, even just to try.
Don't even get me started on trying to shift from iOS or Windows. Any time I even bring up Linux I immediately get eye-rolls and dismissals. On top of that I'm sometimes chided for making my life, and somehow there's, more difficult. They get irritated that they can't add me on WhatsApp or that my email isn't a "normal" Gmail. In turn I myself get extremely frustrated and disheartened.
Yet, I continue to prattle on. I have another blog where I write about more privacy-oriented topics with practical tools and guides "regular people" can use to make small changes in their online lives. It's the one blog a lot of people in my circle know about, and I try my best to write as simplistically as possible, skimping on most of the technical side of whatever it is I'm sharing. I've even written about gemini a few times!
I'm currently trying to figure out how to share my posts more widely in "mainstream" spheres without social media. I used to have a mastodon account, but it's like preaching to the choir over there. I'm sure I'll figure something out though.
I want desperately to share this part of my life with my people, but I know it's an exercise in futility. Most people truly do not care. They're comfortable and as such unwilling to budge even an inch.
Maybe one day I'll accept defeat. And to be honest, I probably already have. But I will continue to write to them, sharing with them. If anything, it gives me a sliver of the satisfaction of sharing this part of myself with them.