And yet: as much as the Fediverse is different (the governing structures, the incentives, the moderation, the absence of ads and engagement tricks), so much of it is also unsettlingly familiar—the same small boxes, the same few buttons, the same mechanics of following and being followed. The same babbling, tumbling, rushing stream of thoughts. I... See more

At first, it was excruciating. The reflex to check, to post, to be seen was so deeply embedded that my hands kept reaching for my phone's app store like some desperate, lovesick Victorian heroine reaching for a lover who had long since stopped writing. Except my lover wasn’t a person, it was the feed . The infinite scroll, the algorithmic drip-feed... See more

With Instagram there was the idea that my life is constantly available for perception and evaluation by other people. I had these thoughts: I’d upload a photo and then I’d view my Instagram story and try to pretend to be somebody else—a stranger—and imagine how they’d see me. I’d be trying to present myself to be legible in a certain way to... See more