Tag: Bsky

#Mainstreaming social media: Digital drugs, not social connection

We still have not found our way out of the mess of stepping away from the #mainstreaming #dotcons. For meany people, the current #dotcons social media isn’t about genuine communication or community, it’s about delivering digital drugs. Platforms like #Facebook, #Instagram, and #TikTok thrive by exploiting addictive design patterns, keeping people and communities hooked with endless dopamine hits to fill the holes in their empty lives.

This addiction is why many people struggle to stay on native #openweb social media platforms. These alternatives, built with #4opens, lack the engineered “highs” of the #dotcons. Without the “fix” of notifications, likes, and algorithmically curated content, people feel withdrawal and gravitate back to the platforms designed to exploit learned dysfunctional impulses.

The challenge of needed real meaningful outreach on the #openweb, is to address this addiction cycle. As a first step, it’s not enough to offer better tools or ethical platforms; we need to actively incorporate digital drug detox into the user experience (#UX). This means, designing for intentional use, replacing infinite scrolling, endless notifications with features that encourage creative and mindful engagement. Rebuilding reward systems on genuine connections, creativity, and learning instead of shallow metrics like likes and shares. Educating people to recognize and break free from the addictive patterns that hold the #dotcons in place.

A detox-focused UX for the #openweb is shifting focus from passive content consumption to active participation in meaningful communities. This path is core to breaking free from digital addiction, it is no small task, but it’s needed for any sustainable future. Our outreach of the #openweb can lead to this shift, offering not just an alternative, but a detox from the digital drug cycle that defines #mainstreaming social media mess.

A detox-focused UX for the #openweb isn’t about another shiny platform. It’s about breaking addiction. The #dotcons are digital drugs: infinite scroll, dopamine loops, algorithmic junk food.

#Bsky is digital methadone – a softer addiction, but still dependency.

The #Fediverse is cold turkey – messy, uncomfortable, but the only real way out.

The shift is from passive consumption, to active participation. From being fed content, to tending relationships, building meaning, and shaping our own media environment. Detox is not easy, but it’s the only path to collective social and environmental health.

The importance of words and ideology

The importance of words and ideology

Words shape our thoughts, and common understandings of these words are essential for any coherent and effective communication. Ideologies form the basis of all thinking, whether unspoken and #mainstreaming or articulated and minority. The challenge is to #KISS transition minority ideologies to the mainstreaming thinking.

There is a plan: Using Common Hashtags and Syndication

To achieve this transition, we need to utilize common hashtags and syndication through platforms like #activertypub and #OMN (Open Media Network, looking for funding). This strategy creates a real-world mainstreaming challenge that remains resilient against co-optation by #fashionistas while still catering to their egos so they might embrace the needed change and challenge.

Actionable Steps

  • Common Hashtags: Establish a set of common hashtags that encapsulate core principles and ideas. Examples include #4opens, #openweb, #DIY, #techchurn, and #activertypub etc.
  • Promote Usage: Encourage the use of these hashtags across social media and other communication platforms to create a unifying language and community.
  • Educate: Create guides and resources explaining the importance and meaning of these hashtags to ensure widespread understanding and adoption.
  • Encourage Participation: Invite grassroots and alternative media projects to join these syndication networks, ensuring a diverse range of voices and perspectives. Use tools like the #OMN to automate the syndication process, making it easier for participants to share and distribute content.
  • Grow Collaboration: Encourage collaboration and linking between different projects and communities to build a robust and supportive ecosystem.
  • Maintain Open Standards: Ensure that all participating projects adhere to the #4opens principles (open source, open data, open standards, open processes) to focus on transparency and inclusivity.
  • Monitor and Adapt: Regularly assess the network’s effectiveness and build feedback to make adjustments to improve reach and impact.

    Engaging the #Fashionistas
  • Initial Outreach is about identifying key #influencers and early adopters within the alternative and grassroots tech communities.
  • Appeal to Egos: Recognize the need for recognition and validation among #fashionistas, to sustain and create opportunities for them to showcase their contributions within the network. Highlight their success stories: Share these stories and case studies that demonstrate the value and impact of participating in the network, encouraging more to join.

By leveraging common hashtags and syndication through #activertypub and #OMN, we create a resilient and impactful story that brings “native” ideologies into the #mainstreaming paths. This active path not only challenges the status quo but also changes its flow. Providing a sustainable path for grassroots and alternative projects to grow and thrive. The key to this is to maintain the #4opens and foster collaboration on the stories we tell #KISS

All language is metaphor, and the metaphors we choose shape how people think about problems and solutions. The “digital drugs” metaphor works because it makes the addictive design clear, but it can also push people into a moral panic frame (“users are addicts”), which risks oversimplifying.

A few metaphors you might find less #blocking of the #hashtag story:

  • Food & Nutrition
    #Dotcons = junk food (engineered to keep you consuming, empty calories).
    #Bsky = diet soda (feels lighter, but still unhealthy).
    #Fediverse = a community kitchen (messy, you have to cook and wash up, but nourishing and shared).
  • Urban Space
    #Dotcons = shopping malls (bright, controlled, profit-driven).
    #Bsky = curated boutique arcade (less harsh, but still enclosed).
    #Fediverse = the street commons (chaotic, noisy, sometimes rough, but free and collectively shaped).
  • Agriculture/Gardening

    #Dotcons = monoculture agribusiness (neat rows, efficient, but sterile and toxic).
    #Bsky = organic supermarket (nicer branding, but still transactional).
    #Fediverse/#OMN = messy permaculture garden (takes effort, community labour, but self-sustaining and alive).

These metaphors keep the critique, from individual pathology to collective space.