Happy new year! Last month I decided to mostly quit social media. I noticed I spend time on it on autopilot. Also I was not really enjoying myself anymore while engaging with it so it made sense.
The thing that made me dislike it the most is that these companies who control these media don't have their users best interests in mind. For them it's about money and power over us. This became very apparent lately. Like with the reddit API debacle for example. I notice this now on most online platforms owned by silicon valley companies. They make something easy and convenient — and for media add attention sucking to that — and they optimise for their best interests. Not for the user. In the beginning these interests seem to align but when the platform effect becomes powerful enough they engage in practices that are limiting the user. For example: try to migrate from one to the other platform. They make you jump through hoops. See: WhatsApp, Google photos, Apple's walled garden, etc. They hold your data hostage.
But what I miss is the social connection that is provided. I also obviously have been exploring the indie web. And that made me realize, the web IS a social medium. And you don't need a social media platform on top of that. The problem (for most) is that the (raw) web is not convenient enough. How to solve?
Sometimes I have energy and sometimes I don't and I feel useless. I don't really know why or if there is a pattern to it. Of course sometimes the reason is evident, for example if I slept poorly or drank too much, but just as often there doesn't seem to be a clear explanation.
And then I get a boost at 1 in the morning...
I've been going trough my photo library the last few days and it made me think about the amount of pictures that I keep. Just because I can. They aren't all good but making a selection is hard and it takes a lot of time. The wasn't really a problem in the analog time because you were more selective up front — that's one of the reasons I sometimes still shoot analog — but I love digital too but I want to be able to look at pictures of my past sometimes without all the almost duplicates or mediocre pictures mixed up with the good ones. So, I thought of a cool photo project for my capsule.
I am going to try to make a selection of a specific limited amount of pictures each year since I've had a camera. Maybe twelve? for each month 1? Maybe a bit more or even less? I'll have to see what works but I think giving myself a constraint will make it more interesting and make it easier fully complete. I'll try to start tomorrow.
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