Using the Mute Button on Social Media
Like any sane person in the modern age, I try my best to curate an online experience that doesn't stress me out, bore me or waste my time. Thankfully most of the web sites where I spend my precious leisure time have all the tools I need to do that, not that I am that picky.
On Mastodon my muted keywords are :
- Apple Vision Pro - when the strap on face computers were first launched, I read enough about them to know that I would never purchase something so isolating. When I am at home, the last thing I want is a $4000 toy to make it impossible for my wife to talk to me. It took me four tries to find someone who actually likes being married to me and I don't intend to screw that up with technology
- Eurovision - One of my favorite parts about the Indy Web is the international flavor. I like getting hot takes on foreign elections from the people I know in Great Britain, Germany and elsewhere. I like to hear where they shop and what they're eating even, but I just can't follow along in this singing contest. I hope that doesn't offend anyone.I'm sure if I could watch it on TV without too much trouble or if I somehow had stakes in the game it would be different.
- Trump - I post hate mail about this horrible man all the time, usually in the form of memes making fun of how weird him and his disciples are, but I'm not really interested in having substantive discussions about him. Is there really a need to do that at this late date? Don't was all know what we need to know about the guy. He sucks up way too much oxygen and all I want to do is scream about him anyway. I would encourage you to filter him out too. I don't even care if it makes you miss my hilarious meme game
- Gruber and Daring Fireball - I can take this guy's opinions on Apple, as predictable and one-sided as they may be. There are lots of people in my slice of the Internet (probably including me) who lack balance when it comes to the tech giant. What I can't take and what I won't put up with are the things he's had to say about the Palestinian people ("they fucked around and found out") and about Americans who have protested on their behalf, like the Google employees whose termination Gruber celebrated when they were let go for protesting some of their employer's dealings with the Israeli military.
And that's it. Every so often I will mute a hot story that is getting beat to death or something related to a sportsball event I don't care about.
Thankfully, the other part of curation, user management, isn't too hard. I don't follow anyone on the right any more. There's no longer such a thing as a principled Republican. Either they've abdicated like Liz and Dick Cheney and George Will or they've sold their soul. Period. Other than Gruber, there's only been one person in the tech space I had to mute, some dude from Iceland who's whole schtick is how smart he is and how dumb everyone else is. The guy never had anything pleasant to say and although he seemed pretty smart, he was too much of a Debbie Downer for me to give space in my head to. On Facebook where I go mostly to keep up with family and IRL friends I have a one strike rule - make me mad one time and I block you. Ask my Dad. The only other social media space I frequent is Reddit where I participate in three communities, all tech related. I don't suffer fools there either. If you want to get personal and insulting because I like a different browser than you, you're a weirdo and I'll block you quickly because ain't nobody got time for weirdo duty.
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