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The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

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Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#81
post #48
post #16

Did anyone successfully move away from instagram? I have an account and sharing photos to a community there (people who I know irl and random strangers) brings me joy. I also have a pixelfed account but I know no people there and I was unsuccessful in switching. I’d love to hear what others used or did that worked for them.

It’s really easy. You replace Instagrams and all other social media with NOTHING. Delete all doomscrolling apps. They are not a necessity. You will live your life just fine without them. Just don’t use anything at all. If there are people you wish to keep in touch with, contact them using a direct method. If you have work you wish to publish, use a normal old website with an RSS feed.

I also switched to Nothing(tm). Being slightly out of the loop with friends and current events is jarring at first, but also markedly less stressful. Over time, the jarring part went away. I have to make more of an effort to keep up with friends, but this means I have been having actual conversations with people and making plans to do stuff again, whereas before I felt I had nothing to talk about and already knew what everyone was up to because I was effectively just monitoring them.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#82
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s really easy. You replace Instagrams and all other social media with NOTHING. Delete all doomscrolling apps. They are not a necessity. You will live your life just fine without them. Just don’t use anything at all. If there are people you wish to keep in touch with, contact them using a direct method. If you have work you wish to publish, use a normal old website with an RSS feed.

I also switched to Nothing(tm). Being slightly out of the loop with friends and current events is jarring at first, but also markedly less stressful. Over time, the jarring part went away. I have to make more of an effort to keep up with friends, but this means I have been having actual conversations with people and making plans to do stuff again, whereas before I felt I had nothing to talk about and already knew wha…

I love being unplugged from friends like that. Then when I see them I have something to talk about and catch up on.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#83

Why has this been flagged and removed from the front-page?

It seems like a standard practice on HN nowadays. I am afraid some mods may be politically charged. See the following thread for example https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42716926

dang is about as politically neutral as it gets, but it's become very apparent that anything that points to something negative that may loosely relate to Conservatives or the Republican party will get flagged by users.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#84
To be honest, they aren't the ones that started it. I remember sites like reddit removing subs with fans of Donald Trump and Twitter censorships was very prevalent as well. You might disagree that liking Trump is a good choice, I cannot dispute that, but nevertheless people fell over themselves to ban it everywhere.

I don't think this kind of revanchist behavior is sensible, but it also isn't "blocking democracy" either. Or at least someone would need an honest attempt explaining why such removals are unjustified and in a way that addresses shortcomings here for all platforms and political directions.

Government influence on online discourse is a negative, you could argue that voting for an idiot is then the next best compromise.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#85
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's early days for pixelfed, it will take time for people to move, but you can be part of the change Mastodon is fine for photo sharing too

Are you an active pixelfed user? If yes, how are you enjoying it?

Fairly new as a user so my impresson is of limited value. It seems nice so far. Similar to mastodon, but more focused on photos. Finding people to follow early on is a challenge but so far I sometimes look at the global feed and follow people who post something I like

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#86
post #16

Did anyone successfully move away from instagram? I have an account and sharing photos to a community there (people who I know irl and random strangers) brings me joy. I also have a pixelfed account but I know no people there and I was unsuccessful in switching. I’d love to hear what others used or did that worked for them.

My number one rule for using Instagram is: ignore everything on the app that's not from a real-life friend or acquaintance.

Do not engage with force-fed Reels from strangers. I only watch Reels posted by friends. I also only watch and react to Stories posted by friends. This gives me real human connection with none of the algorithmic crap. My account is private and I do not get any joy when a random stranger likes my photos.

Re: The Day Instagram Blocked Democracy

#87
post #53
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When the Capitol riot happened, Trump was tweeting to demand the protesters act peacefully and within the law. If Trump was truly an insurrectionist, then that’s a very strange way to incite insurrection.

My "favorite" bit of misinformation about the Capitol riot (out of so, so many) is about Donald Trump Jr. For many, many months prosecutors and the media talked about him as being an unindicted co-conspirator, and how that that Nixonesque adjective would/should surely be adjusted any day now. Then ... it turns out that Jr. repeatedly begged his father (via messages to Mark Meadows) to do whatever he could to stop the…

and only once donald realized his insurrection attempt failed did he listen to his son

we know, it was all detailed in the Jan 6th report - confirming trump's anti-American attempt at a coup. He should be in jail.

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