The end of the scroll

Social media is fun, I understand, and to be honest it is one of those things I was slow to adopt, and then embraced. It is one of many things that seemed "good" to start with and then "went to shit". There are so many things like that, even the "US constitution", it seems.

But, like everyone else, I embraced the infinite scroll, reading the "feed".

But recently I made a conscious decisions to step back. I ditched Twitter years ago, and with FaceBook's latest terms, I ditched (and deleted) them too.

This has some implications...

I am no longer have any social media interaction with "locals", i.e. people in Abergavenny. To be fair I was somehow blocked from "Abergavenny Voice" (and I literally have no clue why, and was not told). I was in one of the many alternative local groups on Facebook (there are always some). In the past I have been a major contributor (like when I decided to repaint the old iron cast road sign on my road). This I miss, to be honest. I'd like some way to be in a local community chat, somehow.

I am no longer on any family chat on social media, but that is not an issue as I am on the iMessage groups with friends and family (and for one person, WhatsApp, for now). So that is no loss, good. My wife is not on Facebook nor Twitter so they (the family) sort of cope. Good.

I do see news, from many of the 1100 people I follow on Mastodon, but much less in terms of "fake news", and no adverts. What I see is often "interesting". It is not some algorithm to feed me, it is real people, and I control who I follow.

But the most noticeable thing is the "end of the scroll".

This will be something unheard of by the users of most social media - but it happens on Mastodon. I read the feed, and get to the end of new posts. That is it. The end! No algorithm finding new "engagement" for me. No adverts. Just the end! I can reload and see one or two more, but not close to how fast i can read them.

So what now - well - it means, when at coffee in the morning, I get to the point of "put my phone down", and actually talk to my wife. We have apparently been married nearly 36 years, crazy.

I do recommend it, and I also welcome some way to make a "local community" chat that is not a shit-show, somehow. That is the one thing missing.