dreaming of a better internet

Search engines — the window into the web for many people — top their results with pages containing thousands of words of auto-generated nothingness, perfectly optimized for search engine prominence and to pull in money via ads and affiliate links while simultaneously devoid of any useful information.

Social networks have become “the web” for many... See more

for nearly fourteen years afterwards, I stared at a smartphone every single day. Five thousand days, all in all. I can’t think of anything else I’ve done with the same level of commitment. There have been days where I’ve had nothing to eat or drink and there have been nights when I didn’t sleep. But until very recently, I never once went... See more

The Internet Vs. The Care of Your Soul

1. No laptop in bed.

2. No internet for at least 30 minutes before you got to sleep.

3. Nothing on your feed reader that posts more than X times per Y.

4. Being bored does not mean you have to check your email.

5. Don't only read websites related to subjects you know inside and out.

6. For every X feeds that you add... See more

self-hosted networks like Mastodon are an alternative that more people than ever before have experienced. There is more awareness that running these servers and instances in a way which meets the minimum bar of reasonableness costs time and money. And not an insignificant amount. These small communities that are safe, welcoming and adaptive require

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