💾 Archived View for gem.saayaa.space › gemlog › 2024-07-10-exclusively-books.gmi captured on 2024-09-29 at 00:02:59. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2024-08-18)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
With enshittification only accelerating and venture capital poisoning touching almost all consumer products, I might just stop consuming most video content.
I've been using Freetube and Newpipe to watch youtube for years now, avoiding the absolute dumpster fire that is Youtube's own application. However, I'm noticing more hitches with those apps, and happened to see a post on mastodon where someone said something about Youtube closing their API, so I'm kind of putting two-and-two together. If they pull a Twitter and Reddit, then I'll probably have to stop watching Youtube videos, or, if ytdl still works somehow, figure out how to use that.
I already stopped using Netflix regularly with their password sharing bullshit, and I use other people's accounts to watch other streamers, but I think I'm at the point where I need to start adapting to the changing landscape and stop consuming this media all together.
I pay for dropout.tv which I very much enjoy and so far they've been great, and I'm able to watch Twitch with my ublock configured to block ads. However, I think in the end I'll only be left with Dropout.
This brings me to the title of this post. Books. I love reading and I've started to really appreciate the infinite possibilities of the written word. I already read more than most people my age, in particular men my age, but I think I need to go full-tilt and make reading my go-to form of media consumption.
I'm still able to keep up-to-date on local and world events without video content. I enjoy reading and listening to the news over watching it, and I read plenty of articles. I've already got my own self-hosted RSS feed that I've been using for some time now that I really like.
I even have a pretty seamless system for de-DRMing books bought off Kobo. I don't buy books from Amazon and my ereader is a wonderful older Sony ereader.
I have the infrastructure in place, I just need to take the step of actually cutting myself off from this media. I did it for social media. I did it for Spotify. I did it for Amazon. I think Youtube, Twitch, and a number of streamers is next.
Will this completely torpedo my current and future pop culture knowledge? Most likely. But how much more than my lack of social media? Its been a few years and I still seem to have friends that like me well enough. And frankly, I still hold that it was the best decision for me.
We'll see how long it will take me to actually do it, but I feel the inevitability creeping up. I also have more free time, being unemployed, than I will have when I am working, so the struggle will likely be less dramatic.
If I become a blu-ray/movie theatre and reading guy exclusively, maybe that won't be the worst thing in the world.