skoobz
skoobz
Yeah, I’m Done skoo.bz
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jean
jean

@sku_b My two year anniversary of deleting Facebook and Instagram is coming up this month.

I miss certain people and their stories/photos, but the quality of personal texts and phone calls with friends outweighs the quantity of impersonal posts. It definitely has made my internet life less stressful.

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skoobz
skoobz

@jean Something I’ve already felt is the lack of anxiety from read receipts, which Facebook Messenger has. I got a friend to switch over to texts this morning and I’m no longer concerned if it got there, if it’s been read, etc. I hate that pull and the anxiety that comes with it.

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csilverman
csilverman

@jean @sku_b I think one of the smartest things micro.blog did was leave out the ability to retweet. All the content here is stuff people actually wrote, and that changes the whole tone of the place.

So many folks on Twitter don't actually express anything—they just amplify.

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csilverman
csilverman

@csilverman and @sku_b, I know exactly what you mean about that “extreme jittery feeling” you mentioned. I associate Twitter/FB with uneasy anticipation and lack of control—I never know what ugliness is going to be thrust in my face.

micro seems to be remarkably free of that.

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terrygrier
terrygrier

@sku_b Great read and thanks for posting. I deleted both Facebook and Insta accounts in 2019 and never looked back.

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andrewsio
andrewsio

@jean I love your blog post, well done on the disconnect. Your idea of a personal newsletter is really intriguing, how did it work out?

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JohnBrady
JohnBrady

@sku_b Congratulations. I quit FB and have no regrets. The only thing I would do differently: contact FB people with whom you want to stay in touch, make sure they have your phone # or email address before you depart. Then they know how to be in touch if they want to. My own experience: some people don't care about being in touch if it's not on FB. Goodbye to them.

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skoobz
skoobz

@JMaxB Yeah, I posted my write up to FB this morning to give the heads up. Had one contact who’ve I’ve been chatting a lot with on there roll over to text messaging instantly.

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skoobz
skoobz

@csilverman Well, Micro.blog was built to be this way. I use Twitterrific for Twitter and with their muffles feature I’ve pretty much recreated the same experience I have here. Retweets and quotes are filtered out alone with political content. I have RSS feeds for the later.

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ReaderJohn
ReaderJohn

@JMaxB I’m pleased to report the President Mitch Daniels of Purdue University has persuaded the board to freeze tuition five years in a row now. But that still strikes me as only a partial solution and that a fuller solution starts with reducing the luxury spa amenities and the administrator/faculty ratio. College has become too like a sybaritic five-year party.

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rom
rom

@jean so Jean, when did you quit Twitter?

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jean
jean

@rom hahaha. Not yet. I don’t think I’ve posted there in a month. Some link took me there this week, and I scrolled a bit to learn about Legume Papa, of which I was blissfully unaware. 😳🙄

Twitter kept me informed of the Portland demonstrations and police activities last year. I’d stay up into the wee hours, praying for everyone’s safety. I became better acquainted with people I wouldn’t have otherwise met. So I’m grateful for that.

I did start a Star Trek podcast in 2019 and get to know that fandom via a separate account.

Sooo...long story short, I didn’t pull that trigger yet, though severing the Twitter me from Micro me is a step.

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jean
jean

@andrewsio It worked well, until I stopped emailing in the summer of 2019 when I had a bad fall while traveling and spent a few months recovering. I think I didn’t want people to worry. Then I didn’t want people to be surprised.

I had 40-50 people in the list, all of whom were actual friends. I have been meaning to send a 2021 apologia.

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In reply to
rom
rom

@jean Twitter is a bit difficult to let go for me, too. The lists that I have on tech and education are so useful. I have figured out the best time for me to visit Twitter - in the morning, when the toxic people are still asleep. Hahah.

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jean
jean

@rom Good advice.

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jayeless
jayeless

@sku_b @jean Good posts! Even beyond the privacy nightmare and general bad impact it's having on the web, I find Facebook really unpleasant to use these days. At this point though, as you guys have found, it's a fair bit of work to leave. I don't post much there, but I do log on for a few minutes a day to keep up with friends and family, and also to exchange the occasional message with neighbours etc. The convenience factor is huge, even if I know it comes at a cost.

Twitter, on the other hand, I'd find harder to leave. I do have to sift through a lot of crap there, but I also find a lot of interesting articles, and learn a lot of things, that I don't think I would find otherwise.

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taylorsmith
taylorsmith

@sku_b @jean For me, Facebook will be harder to let go. I have gotten a few paying gigs (I am a musician) through Facebook, and there are a few groups (music-related, mostly) that I have found useful. I have had a few different Twitter accounts over the years and never got anything good out of it ... quite the opposite, in fact. I want to get off of Facebook, to be sure, but those musician communities and gigs keep me feeling like it’s a good thing for me to keep around.

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skoobz
skoobz

@taylorsmith I feel this. The soccer supporters group I’m a part of has their main presence on Facebook Groups. This is where times and locations of meetups, ticket info, and other related info is posted. I hate the service and it’s ethics, but I have to keep it for now. I’m relocating myself to a lurker at this point.

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csilverman
csilverman

@sku_b Curious, how are you able to filter out political content? I mute/unfollow when possible, but my problem is political tweets from people I don't want to mute because their tech/design tweets are useful.

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jean
jean

@taylorsmith Yes, the community piece is hard to replicate. I first got on Facebook to stay in touch with my Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp For Girls pals. And I enjoyed being in an Orphan Black fan group and a guinea pig owners group. But it was a lot of mental overhead, as those groups were large.

I am in a Slack with my podcaster friends from The Incomparable. That is the perfect small private group. In tandem with Micro.blog, I feel I’ve got a good balance of socializing, entertainment, education, information and support.

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skoobz
skoobz

@csilverman Running Social Fixer through Tampermonkey on Safari. I also have 1Blocker working in the background to kill off any trackers.

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csilverman
csilverman

@sku_b Interesting. I didn't know about Social Fixer. Thank you.

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csilverman
csilverman

@AlanGMarz I noticed that. VSCO does that, too, and I really like it. Feels much more like an adult community than a high school hierarchy that way.

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