I'm happier when I don't engage with Meta products. Bluesky has become way too overwhelming for me too. Plus, it doesn't feel conducive to engagement when you're just a little fish like me. Any other photo peep I follow on IG, also has Flickr. Which brings me to Flickr...as far as engagement with the photographic community, it still works the best for me. I will say, though, people have gotten out of the habit of actually communicating on any site, really. We've been trained to gulp it all down fast and just hit a heart or a thumbs up...and it takes effort to slow down and talk to people about their work (I'm mostly referring to Flickr here). I will also read long form newsletters and posts on Substack and Patreon.
I've been at this (photo sharing/blogging/even YT) for over twenty years. A long time ago I came to the conclusion I'm doing it mostly for me and if someone actually views/reads/watches/comments that's icing on the cake. What's better than anything are the friends I've made that I now know in person and who have become a part of my life...and I *am* grateful to social media for that.
Thanks for the note, Therese. I often think about this: has social media changed, or have we? It does seem very likely that most of us engage less than we used to. And with more entertainment diversion than ever in our feeds, it's easier to sit back and scroll. I appreciate the note. Thank you for reading!
Social media isn’t social anymore. It’s become passive consumption. In other words, TV. The social part, at least in apps like Instagram, is happening in DMs.
I accidentally performed a social experiment on myself earlier this year when I upgraded my iPhone from the SE 2nd edition to the 16 Pro. My previous cell phone provider could not handle eSIMs, so I left them for another well known provider. In the process I did not download Facebook and Instagram on the new phone.
And I don't miss either one at all, and I think that I'm healthier for not going to each one multiples times a day because they were on my iPhone and both were just a tap away.
I last logged into FB last week after being away from it for several months. No more doomscrolling and avoiding ad after ad after ad to find the several snippets of content in my feed. Same with Instagram, except that was shoving videos at me.
I still have accounts to both. I deleted my LinkedIn account which I hardly accessed - used it mainly to keep in occasional touch with so people I went to school with or worked with in the past. Sometime soon I'll probably dump Facebook and Instagram too.
Been thinking along the same line. Also have a copy of postman’s book which my husband and I love. I wonder if the next step is hybrid of internet+interaction+offline community. And not as huge crowd but more micro community, maybe even within a big umbrella. I think what worked for “human” connection in 2.0 is no longer working and everyone hungry for real connection.
Thanks so much for this, Andy. I have been feeling the exact same way lately! Like, what is happening? Where did the lightness and joy go? It's like this synthetic crawl made its way in and some lights went out. I have been thinking about a newsletter myself. Even if it's smaller. Even if I don't reach as many people, it might be nice to start fresh and have a fun exchange again. I'm looking forward to hearing more about what you're thinking and learning as you keep exploring it. Thanks so much for sharing!
Very thoughtful, I also think similar as well. Community is key to why I use "social media". But when it's full of ads and attention seeking content, it becomes very fatiguing. In person community photo meet ups have been a nice way to connect with other photographers
As you may have seen from an earlier comment on a similar post I’m very much in agreement with you. In fact, your focus on this topic, along with your writing and your interest in community building convinced me to subscribe. So as far as I’m concerned, keep it up.
In a past life I worked in digital marketing and web development during those same days of
I think we all saw the enshittification coming, but probably did not want to believe it. The first inkling for me came when Instagram introduced advertising and suddenly we all realized that the new community we had put so much effort in to build suddenly had a new owner. And even though things still “felt” the same for a while the vibe was gone.
But perhaps the biggest and sneakiest culprit for this loss was the web’s inherent and natural drive to improve and specifically to make things easier and quicker. “Frictionless” was the rather suggestive term we heard for how our new experiences would be. But lately I’ve realized that sometimes our experiences, our ability to connect and build honest meaningful exchanges on the web need a little more friction, not less. It probably makes me sound like a “walk both ways in the snow uphill” Calvinist to say it, but when we had to work harder to make the connections, post the work, find the people whose work resonated with ours, we probably appreciated it more and got more out of it.
Like you I have no idea what the answer can be. But I do think that your efforts to talk about it along with the work that the folks at @foto are doing might be a start.
I think adding friction—and slowing things down—is a great idea. People used to join clubs and meet in small numbers in person. It took time and effort to make friends. We didn’t have many, but we knew them well enough to trust them. Now, “friend” is a verb. We are encouraged to “friend” and “follow” as many strangers as possible, and “share” everything with them. Maybe we should all just join a bowling club instead.
I agree, but I also know that others agree too. There has always been a pocket of people that are down to be social. But I have to make the effort to reach out to them. Like here, I am commenting on your piece. This helps me to get my opinion out there, and it lets you know that I’m here.
Im making it a point to not just like things but to really comment on them.
I also think Social media has kind of made us all unnecessarily wary of one another. Hesitant to reach out. So I’m just jumping back into being “social” on social media and hoping my fellow gonzos find me. 💛💛
Postman’s books were an eerie prediction of what would come in the early 1990s. I read all of them and kind of feel compelled now to go back and reread them. About a year and a half ago, I started intentionally doing some things to break my bad social media and internet habits. I leave my phone at home when I’m going places close by, or meeting friends for lunch or coffee, or other in person activities. I made a personal rule that I can’t look at my phone or tablet for anything other than email, text messages, or phone calls until I’ve eaten breakfast, showered, shaved and gotten ready for the day. I still check the news on a variety of websites, but nothing like CNN, ABC, NYTimes, etc. I run ad blockers on everything and if it’s behind a paywall that I can’t access using my library card I skip it. I make a concerted effort to try and get to the library at least once a week to peruse new book releases, and occasionally skim through the magazines and newspapers. I never use my phone in my car unless it’s for navigation to someplace I don’t know how to get to. It’s been quite freeing. I just started rebuilding my portfolio website and I’m adding a blog section to it that people can subscribe to the early 2000s way, and instead of using a platform like Substack to push the content out, I’m simply going to post the link when I get around to writing something new.
I’m still very much informed and engaged with the world around me, just not filtered through the mechanisms of modern social media and the controlling interest of the parent companies and money that influence them.
Thanks Andy, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" does seem to be an oracle of our time. I hope you follow Douglas Rushkoff and his work at Team Human (which is on substack.) Rushkoff holds the Neil Postman chair at CUNY. Doug is so far ahead of the curve he has long since abandoned most of social media and has been suggesting for a while that capitalism has taken over our digital spaces so it's important for us to reclaim real spaces and community.
I want to write something but I almost fear that by writing it, it speed up it coming true. What I can say is that social media platform owners owning AI along with AI's pivot to porn to generate revenue is a very, very bad combo.
There is barely any social in media anymore. All social is buried by piles of suggested and sponsored content that does not require or promote any social interactions. Any of your friend's content is under unbearable piles of garbage pretty much everywhere.
Thanks Andy for sharing your reflections. You know, the more the world changes the more the world is the same. Mick Jagger couldn’t get satisfaction in 1965 because he didn’t smoke the same cigarettes as me. Still, as with most things, the answer is right there if you look. At least one answer. If you are happy with Substack, and you call that your community, then what’s the problem with dropping everything else?
Like you I grieve for the peak of my blogging joy back around 2011-12 on my New York Times Dot Earth project. Folks cross linked, engaged, challenged, championed. Both algorithms and the need to hold onto readers rather than share them are killing communication as open exchange. But I do still find utility in social platforms when used with intention instead of passivity. Onward into whatever comes next.
I left Facebook/Twitter/Instagram nearly two months ago now because they got so unusable, it was a complete waste of time to be there, and not in a life giving way. It’s been peaceful ever since.
Social media has become asocial with all the trolls & bots, and aversive because of the interruptions. Pop-ups, slide-overs, noises and movies and banners. Swipe this away, click that away, wait for the timer to end and then go back to your reading. Yuk.
Email would work for me. Heck, US mail would be an improvement.
You do wonderful things, so keep on keepin' on somehow. Maybe once our leaders burn all this down we can build it up better.
I'm happier when I don't engage with Meta products. Bluesky has become way too overwhelming for me too. Plus, it doesn't feel conducive to engagement when you're just a little fish like me. Any other photo peep I follow on IG, also has Flickr. Which brings me to Flickr...as far as engagement with the photographic community, it still works the best for me. I will say, though, people have gotten out of the habit of actually communicating on any site, really. We've been trained to gulp it all down fast and just hit a heart or a thumbs up...and it takes effort to slow down and talk to people about their work (I'm mostly referring to Flickr here). I will also read long form newsletters and posts on Substack and Patreon.
I've been at this (photo sharing/blogging/even YT) for over twenty years. A long time ago I came to the conclusion I'm doing it mostly for me and if someone actually views/reads/watches/comments that's icing on the cake. What's better than anything are the friends I've made that I now know in person and who have become a part of my life...and I *am* grateful to social media for that.
Thanks for the note, Therese. I often think about this: has social media changed, or have we? It does seem very likely that most of us engage less than we used to. And with more entertainment diversion than ever in our feeds, it's easier to sit back and scroll. I appreciate the note. Thank you for reading!
We haven't changed, Andy. The platforms have. 100%.
Social media isn’t social anymore. It’s become passive consumption. In other words, TV. The social part, at least in apps like Instagram, is happening in DMs.
I accidentally performed a social experiment on myself earlier this year when I upgraded my iPhone from the SE 2nd edition to the 16 Pro. My previous cell phone provider could not handle eSIMs, so I left them for another well known provider. In the process I did not download Facebook and Instagram on the new phone.
And I don't miss either one at all, and I think that I'm healthier for not going to each one multiples times a day because they were on my iPhone and both were just a tap away.
I last logged into FB last week after being away from it for several months. No more doomscrolling and avoiding ad after ad after ad to find the several snippets of content in my feed. Same with Instagram, except that was shoving videos at me.
I still have accounts to both. I deleted my LinkedIn account which I hardly accessed - used it mainly to keep in occasional touch with so people I went to school with or worked with in the past. Sometime soon I'll probably dump Facebook and Instagram too.
Been thinking along the same line. Also have a copy of postman’s book which my husband and I love. I wonder if the next step is hybrid of internet+interaction+offline community. And not as huge crowd but more micro community, maybe even within a big umbrella. I think what worked for “human” connection in 2.0 is no longer working and everyone hungry for real connection.
Thanks so much for this, Andy. I have been feeling the exact same way lately! Like, what is happening? Where did the lightness and joy go? It's like this synthetic crawl made its way in and some lights went out. I have been thinking about a newsletter myself. Even if it's smaller. Even if I don't reach as many people, it might be nice to start fresh and have a fun exchange again. I'm looking forward to hearing more about what you're thinking and learning as you keep exploring it. Thanks so much for sharing!
Very thoughtful, I also think similar as well. Community is key to why I use "social media". But when it's full of ads and attention seeking content, it becomes very fatiguing. In person community photo meet ups have been a nice way to connect with other photographers
As you may have seen from an earlier comment on a similar post I’m very much in agreement with you. In fact, your focus on this topic, along with your writing and your interest in community building convinced me to subscribe. So as far as I’m concerned, keep it up.
In a past life I worked in digital marketing and web development during those same days of
Web 2.0 and like you I miss it. And we are hardly alone, Anil Dash has a great essay and video on this topic here: https://www.anildash.com/2012/12/13/the-web-we-lost/ .
I think we all saw the enshittification coming, but probably did not want to believe it. The first inkling for me came when Instagram introduced advertising and suddenly we all realized that the new community we had put so much effort in to build suddenly had a new owner. And even though things still “felt” the same for a while the vibe was gone.
But perhaps the biggest and sneakiest culprit for this loss was the web’s inherent and natural drive to improve and specifically to make things easier and quicker. “Frictionless” was the rather suggestive term we heard for how our new experiences would be. But lately I’ve realized that sometimes our experiences, our ability to connect and build honest meaningful exchanges on the web need a little more friction, not less. It probably makes me sound like a “walk both ways in the snow uphill” Calvinist to say it, but when we had to work harder to make the connections, post the work, find the people whose work resonated with ours, we probably appreciated it more and got more out of it.
Like you I have no idea what the answer can be. But I do think that your efforts to talk about it along with the work that the folks at @foto are doing might be a start.
I think adding friction—and slowing things down—is a great idea. People used to join clubs and meet in small numbers in person. It took time and effort to make friends. We didn’t have many, but we knew them well enough to trust them. Now, “friend” is a verb. We are encouraged to “friend” and “follow” as many strangers as possible, and “share” everything with them. Maybe we should all just join a bowling club instead.
I agree, but I also know that others agree too. There has always been a pocket of people that are down to be social. But I have to make the effort to reach out to them. Like here, I am commenting on your piece. This helps me to get my opinion out there, and it lets you know that I’m here.
Im making it a point to not just like things but to really comment on them.
I also think Social media has kind of made us all unnecessarily wary of one another. Hesitant to reach out. So I’m just jumping back into being “social” on social media and hoping my fellow gonzos find me. 💛💛
That’s a great attitude, Ashe. If we acted as though we were already living in the future we want, we might actually get there.
Postman’s books were an eerie prediction of what would come in the early 1990s. I read all of them and kind of feel compelled now to go back and reread them. About a year and a half ago, I started intentionally doing some things to break my bad social media and internet habits. I leave my phone at home when I’m going places close by, or meeting friends for lunch or coffee, or other in person activities. I made a personal rule that I can’t look at my phone or tablet for anything other than email, text messages, or phone calls until I’ve eaten breakfast, showered, shaved and gotten ready for the day. I still check the news on a variety of websites, but nothing like CNN, ABC, NYTimes, etc. I run ad blockers on everything and if it’s behind a paywall that I can’t access using my library card I skip it. I make a concerted effort to try and get to the library at least once a week to peruse new book releases, and occasionally skim through the magazines and newspapers. I never use my phone in my car unless it’s for navigation to someplace I don’t know how to get to. It’s been quite freeing. I just started rebuilding my portfolio website and I’m adding a blog section to it that people can subscribe to the early 2000s way, and instead of using a platform like Substack to push the content out, I’m simply going to post the link when I get around to writing something new.
I’m still very much informed and engaged with the world around me, just not filtered through the mechanisms of modern social media and the controlling interest of the parent companies and money that influence them.
Thanks Andy, "Amusing Ourselves to Death" does seem to be an oracle of our time. I hope you follow Douglas Rushkoff and his work at Team Human (which is on substack.) Rushkoff holds the Neil Postman chair at CUNY. Doug is so far ahead of the curve he has long since abandoned most of social media and has been suggesting for a while that capitalism has taken over our digital spaces so it's important for us to reclaim real spaces and community.
I want to write something but I almost fear that by writing it, it speed up it coming true. What I can say is that social media platform owners owning AI along with AI's pivot to porn to generate revenue is a very, very bad combo.
You might like Jenny Odell’s books and art. I’m thinking of _How to do Nothing_ in particular. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/600671/how-to-do-nothing-by-jenny-odell/9781612198552
How to do nothing is a fantastic antidote to the present problem
There is barely any social in media anymore. All social is buried by piles of suggested and sponsored content that does not require or promote any social interactions. Any of your friend's content is under unbearable piles of garbage pretty much everywhere.
Thanks Andy for sharing your reflections. You know, the more the world changes the more the world is the same. Mick Jagger couldn’t get satisfaction in 1965 because he didn’t smoke the same cigarettes as me. Still, as with most things, the answer is right there if you look. At least one answer. If you are happy with Substack, and you call that your community, then what’s the problem with dropping everything else?
Like you I grieve for the peak of my blogging joy back around 2011-12 on my New York Times Dot Earth project. Folks cross linked, engaged, challenged, championed. Both algorithms and the need to hold onto readers rather than share them are killing communication as open exchange. But I do still find utility in social platforms when used with intention instead of passivity. Onward into whatever comes next.
I think intentionality is the name of the game. Thanks, Andy.
I left Facebook/Twitter/Instagram nearly two months ago now because they got so unusable, it was a complete waste of time to be there, and not in a life giving way. It’s been peaceful ever since.
Social media has become asocial with all the trolls & bots, and aversive because of the interruptions. Pop-ups, slide-overs, noises and movies and banners. Swipe this away, click that away, wait for the timer to end and then go back to your reading. Yuk.
Email would work for me. Heck, US mail would be an improvement.
You do wonderful things, so keep on keepin' on somehow. Maybe once our leaders burn all this down we can build it up better.