No amount of Free Code and decentralisation can fix the inherent downsides of 'social media' as a medium:
The main things I'm doing when I have my #fediverse app open are;
a) Publishing. Posting links, quotes, and shower thoughts that may interest or be of use to others. With heavy use of HashTags to make them discoverable.
b) Replying to the people who comment on my posts and having friendly discussions with them (well, I try).
Now and then I'll drink from the firehose using HashTag searches and lists. But even then, because I define the lists and choose which tags to search, I'm still mostly finding stuff that's interesting.
To add a bit more serendipity, I sometimes browse the feeds of people who follow my account or reply to my posts. Once in a blue moon, I'll see something in my home feed on my way to do something else and engage with it. But doomscrolling unfiltered feeds? Almost never. Sounds dangerous...
@strypey I also think a lot about this. I don't have a phone at all, and rarely check my emails- and my email accounts have singular purposes.
There are hundreds of people I've seen around before but would never have connected directly with without Mastodon particularly. So I guess I in particular benefited from Mastodon as a social media. Basically an archipelago of coincident people were bridged through middling-pace federation mostly stapled to Official Identities.
@strypey
some good observations by the writer there. In hindsight, it seems obvious for somebody like him, who blogs, to not miss micro-blogging.
But I am in @screwtape 's camp, I have virtual-only contacts whose musings (and ShowerThoughts 🙂) I like going through on and off, and its only due to micro-blogging. I have almost all smartphone notifications off, so maybe that helps.
@tetrislife
> I have almost all smartphone notifications off, so maybe that helps
It amazes me whenever I remember not everybody does this.
@screwtape