Remember when logging sabotage was a thing?

I'm currently in the post-intense-socialization state of getting annoyed anytime I log into social media. I don't want to talk to anyone, I dont want to respond to anyone, and I keep getting irritated and saying "why am I doing this? I could be playing video games instead."

There's a lot to be said about the state of the modern internet. It doesn't really matter if you believe in the "dead internet theory" or not (I don't really have an opinion personally), it's become so much more commercialized and we increasingly forced to use so much of this clunky, greedy, messy and irritating internet in order to access information or because our jobs demand it.



However.



When I read this post, I thought about algorithms and people complaining about what the algorithm "feeds" them and I feel the need to say that *social media is not the only thing that exists.*

I know people don't want to hear "touch grass," and I most certaintly cannot advocate for laying one's holy fingers upon the sin of lawns, but sometimes you really gotta go outside.

But it doesn't even have to be going outside and doing something, lord knows many people are isolated in suburban hell. Don't want to be annoyed by social media? Play a video game instead. Free ones still exist. Download Flashpoint.

Want to learn about something, but the "algorithm" isn't showing you it? Google being a pain? We still have wikipedia. We still have libraries.

Why doomscroll reddit when you know there's nothing there?

There's so much about this era of internet that makes me sad but its...also not my entire life. It can't be.

okay I'll take it

In case you're curious, companies I don't buy from personally:

Amazon
X
Google
Coca-Cola
Nestlé
Chick-fil-a
Target
Disney
Working toward cutting out Meta stuff

There are others, but these are the biggest names. Not buying from these has been completely manageable and, at worst, a minor inconvenience.

I'm saying this because these big "no-buy" days are largely ineffective. Singular, targeted boycotting is demonstrably more effective and more sustainable too. I've been boycotting Amazon since, like, 2016 and it's had 0 effect on my life.

And that's not to say I've never messed up, either! I spent literal years buying Perrier on roadtrips before I realized they were owned by Nestlé. I get that this shit is hard, but it's worth trying.