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[pshaw_raven]

 Can "Indie" Social Media Save Us? an interesting article by Cal Newport - soft paywall

I think there's a lot to be said in favor of recent ideas like the much-touted one of "break up Facebook," but to me the better question is "do we even need social media at all?" And I think the answer is "Nope." Jaron Lanier is correct in his assertion that social media is basically ruining everything - civilization, discourse, free time, and our brains. And the remedy for that may not be better social media platforms, but personal-level decisions to abandon it altogether. I don't know where this would leave things like Dreamwidth - though to be honest I see a difference between blogging platforms and social media ones.

Comments

[dorchadas]

I was going to bring up Dreamwidth, but you did in your last comment, so...

I feel like Dreamwidth (and Livejournal before it) straddles the line. There's obvious social aspects, like commenting and the whole idea of writing for other people to read. But at the same time, it takes a commitment to follow a DW blog that, say, a single Twitter feed doesn't, and I know if someone used their DW like Twitter I'd unsubscribe instantly. I did that to someone a decade ago who turned their LJ into a feed for their Twitter and I thought it was just inane drivel.

I mean, I love posting inane drivel on Twitter sometimes too. But I have a locked account and only talk to my friends, so I'm not the main audience for it.

[pshaw_raven]

Part of what I think sets DW and LJ apart - along with similar platforms - is that there isn't really a built in way to instantly respond to a post. You can't just click "like" or a series of emoji and keep scrolling, and you can't just immediately share something. So there's a gap between reading a post and responding that gives us time to think and consider, because you have to actually hit the "reply" link, then type something up and post it. And posting to your own blog doesn't exactly lend itself to off-the-cuff style posts. It CAN, but so far as I know there's no mobile app for posting here, which would certainly change the dynamic.

For example, I waited almost a day before responding to some comments on my own posts. Not because I needed a cooling off period, the comments weren't drama, just regular responses. But it seems as if DW allows you to have that space and time, whereas other networks and platforms are more geared to poking you for instant responses, deliberately driving reactions rather than allowing for thought.