💾 Archived View for dfdn.info › dfdn › non-corporate-internet.gmi captured on 2024-06-16 at 12:52:15. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2024-03-21)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
From my point of view, the Internet as a whole is a magical place filled with great information and interesting people. I grew up in the 1980's before the Internet existed in its present form (later I might write about the 'ARPANET', so I can compare life before the Internet to life after. Believe me, I am very happy to have the Internet. This point of view causes me to question why so many people are now so critical of the Internet. Sure, I recognise it has become worse in general as crass commercial enterprises have done their best to destroy it for all of us. I share the anger of many about that. I also realise that not so nice places exist on the Internet, just like not so nice places exist in the real world. But, if you want a fun exciting vacation, do you go to the arm pit of the world? So, why are hundreds of millions of people spending their free time in the arm pit of the Internet?
We are all now well aware that many large social media sites are designed by psychopathic billionaires and their minions. These walled gardens exist solely to extract the maximum amount of data from captive users to sell to profit-fixated advertisers. We know the owners of these sites intentionally make them toxic, in part to whip up users into angry frenzies to increase engagement. At this point, this is not even debatable. So, why do so many ordinary people play their twisted, toxic, depressing game--especially, when so many other peaceful and inherently engaging places exist on the Internet? Why insist on eating the moldy cheese in the mouse trap under the sink, when a hot steak dinner awaits on the dining-room table?
This issue has once again been brought into the ADHD consciousness of the mainstream by Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter and what many see as his destruction of it, but this is not a new phenomenon. We have been seeing this pattern for decades, and certainly more clearly over the past few years as one Facebook scandal after another has been splashed across the front pages of news sites across the Internet. So, why do users continue populating these social media toxic dumps?
Even though I am sure I will be criticised for saying this, I will throw caution to the wind and tell the plain truth. This situation exists because users tolerate it. Like captive sheep to the herder's pen, they prefer the false security of the fold to the wild unknowns on the rest of the Internet. This means the only real long-term solution for those who are discontent in their pens is to stop being timid and go out and explore the wider Internet. Unfortunately, I will not be able to deliver this message widely enough for it to reach the sheep because they don't read the between the lines. Only those who are already exploring the wider Internet venture as far as Gopher or Gemini where the light rarely shines because the major search engines only support HTTP(S) and the corporate dominated web! There is far more to the internet (network of interconnected networks) than the web alone, and other protocols besides HTTP(S).
Fortunately, thanks mostly to Musk's takeover of Twitter, many of its users appear to be learning of at least one alternative. Mastodon is now in the news in a big way. If I could, I would say to those who have learned of Mastodon, take this opportunity to explore it. Find a Mastodon client.
Here are seventeen open-source clients to chose from, but others exist.
Install one on your computer or phone, open an account on a Mastodon server, and begin exploring Mastodon and the Fediverse. Or, if you choose, simply spend less time on Twitter and more time elsewhere. The point is to choose instead of simply resigning yourself to the sheep pen that Musk is preparing for you as he fires half the Twitter staff, forces the rest to work ridiculously long hours, and even installs bedrooms in their office buildings so they don't have to go home to sleep.
Believe it or not, a whole Internet "world" exists beyond Zuckerberg's and Musk's walled gardens. In fact, social media is only a part of the Internet. Extensive exploration will reveal uncounted personal blogs, many of which are informative, thought-provoking, and in many ways superior places to spend one's online time than the social media walled gardens. I am sure you know about other sources of entertainment like Netflix, YouTube, and the many YouTube alternatives. Were you aware that hundreds of free documentary films exist on websites like Top Documentary Films, Documentary Heaven, and Open Culture? Are you aware of the free books that can be found on line? Have you visited the Gutenberg project lately, or ever? I trust you have heard of podcasts. Many unpaywalled online newspapers still exist. Have you heard of RSS feed readers for delivering content of your choosing instead of content chosen for you by an algorithm designed to addict you? My point is that social media walled gardens are actually only a small part of the Internet, and believe it or not, you can live without them.
If you have an unsatisfied need for better social media experiences, leave the slums of Facebook, Twitter, and similar billionaire-created, vermin-infested areas of the Internet and search for better places to be social. If you have been restrained in one of those pens for many years, you may not be aware of the wide variety of alternatives available. Smaller Internet communities are always springing up. Unfortunately, many are also dying, but those on the Fediverse allow you to take your data with you when they do. So, if social media is what you crave, go find better sites than the ones billionaires offer.
Thanks to the lingering effects of Covid-19, if you are still afraid to search out like-minded people in the real world, find others on the Internet who share your passions. If you love obscure role-playing games, look for sites where others gather who do too. If your passion is writing, locate those sites. If you are an artist, join a site designed for artists. If you are a Star Trek fan, seek out and explore new worlds, new life, and new civilizations on the Internet. If you love techy things, the Internet is your oyster! Find a small community that suits you. Join it and make online friends in an atmosphere that is not intended to drive you crazy because crazy makes the platform owners rich.
Perhaps the best thing about smaller social media sites is that their users know each other. Not only that, but when they have a question about or an issue with the platform, they actually have someone to talk to who they can be reasonably assured will respond. Small social sites have formed actual communities beyond the reach of billionaires who sometimes seem bent on stomping out that type of behaviour at all costs. Those who run smaller sites take the time to solve problems rather than pretending they don't exist while ignoring users' reasonable complaints. The reason for this is that those running small sites are not focused on wasting their lives playing the so-you-want-to-be-a-billionaire game. They are focused on creating places where they too can enjoy socialising. Yes Virginia, many of these sites still exist.
Where can you find these small social media oases amid the desert wastelands of larger sites built for no purpose other than making billions on advertising? Some of them are on Wikipedia's list of social networking sites. But, thanks to Wikipedia's increasingly restrictive rules about what is allowed to be on it these days, most small social media sites are excluded. I discovered that first hand when I tried to get my own tiny social media site listed, only to learn that would not happen unless multiple news stories have already featured it prominently. So, look for small sites that do not make Wikipedia's list by exploring the Internet on your own. My article on alternative forums is one place to begin your search. Avoid the toxic walled gardens. Seek out better social media sites with people you can identify with and with whom you can enjoy interacting.
Some of the newer social media is decentralised. That means no one owns these online communities, so no one sets rules or de-platforms users for the sake of attracting advertising dollars. Learn the difference between centralised and decentralised social networks. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of both. Also learn to spot the wolves in sheep's clothing that pretend to be decentralised but are actually centralised in every way that matters. Go experience some decentralised sites for yourself. See if they offer something you have been missing.
I have written several articles about the benefits of searching even farther than the farthest reaches of the web. If you have spent your time locked in a walled garden, you may not even realise that the web is not the only network on the Internet. Alternative networks are especially great places to explore if you crave anonymity and free speech. If you are weary of worrying about corporate and governmental rules about what you are allowed to say on the web, leave the over-commercialised over-regulated web behind. Try other networks like ZeroNet, Gopher, Gemini, I2P, and Tor. Alternative networks may seem like foreign lands with their different cultures and rules, but isn't experiencing that part of the fun of traveling?
You don't need a passport or visa to visit these networks. All that is required is the right client software running on your computer or phone. Sometimes that takes some technical skills, but not always. The Tor browser is a derivative of the Firefox Internet browser, so it is fairly easy to use. The Gemini network can be visited via the beautiful and beautifully user friendly Lagrange browser, which can be downloaded onto your phone or computer as an AppImage. So, don't confine yourself just to the web. Explore beyond it.
I think those who are willing to spend a substantial amount of time exploring beyond the walled gardens of Facebook, Twitter, and the other large social media sites will eventually learn for themselves that parts of the Internet remain unmarred by crass commercialism. Non-toxic, non-addictive, and non-depressing social media sites still exist in many hidden corners of the web and on other networks not visited by the large search engines. Valuable knowledge can still be gleaned from a large part of the Internet. Interesting conversations can still be engaged in. Online friends can still be made far beyond the control of the money-motivated gatekeepers, toxic social media networks, and psychopathic billionaires.