I have a lot going on at the moment and it’s good. I can’t say I’m thriving (yet) but it’s the first time in a decade or two that I feel like I have a plan.

Fall was rough. Got laid off from a pretty cool startup I was working for (so did 1/3 of the company, which eased the sting a bit, also it was my very first layoff so I didn’t take it personally but still, sucked). I found a new job, good, but the week after I started the new job my fellow citizens decided that they wanted to live in a fascist autocracy instead of a pluralistic democracy. Not good.

I gave up and I went into hermit mode. Blog offline, no social media, stopped reading news, no podcasts, it was a big ol’ “FECK OFF” to the insanity of the modern world.

November and December were spent in a sort of haze. My days involved caring for my sick dog Finn and learning the ropes at my new job. Then Finno passed away and the next day I came down with a lung infection that laid me low for a week. Spent New Years with a 103 degree fever.

On January 6th (coincidence only) I woke up feeling recovered from the illness and I set myself the task of a personal reset.

Eat better, meditate, avoid things that hurt my brain and pursue things that make me happier.

That was 74 days ago. Here is an update.

Eating better and meditating are relatively self-explanatory actions and I’ve been keeping up healthier habits but the most important changes I have made are changes to my information intake.

I have been following these rules and it’s helping my peace of mind:

Rule #1: Avoid all content-recommendation algorithms.

Rule #2: Avoid all content that is not created by actual people.

Rule #3: Avoid any site, platform, or app that has a business model based on selling it’s users to third parties.

This obviously means no more Meta platforms, no more Facebook/Threads/InstaGram/WhatsApp except to let people on those platforms know where they can find me elsewhere. It also means finding a way to stay informed on the news and other things without any tracking or personalization algorithms. In addition to these rules, I have also made a couple of goals.

Goal #1: Return to being self-hosted and independent on the internet.

Goal #2: Create the internet experience that I wish for instead of being at the mercy of tech companies.

I’ve gotten quite busy with this project.

First off, I have started participating in open social media platforms. I’ve been posting content on Mastodon, BlueSky (more on this one in a minute) and PixelFed. I’ve been connecting with people and doing my part to help grow these nascent platforms by the simple act of using them. Social networks only become social when there are people participating. Even if the number of users is currently low, the vibe is good, there are no AI generated posts, I have only run into a single advertisement (and immediately blocked the profile), it’s good times. Refreshing. I don’t feel dirty like I ALWAYS did on Facebook.

About BlueSky… BlueSky makes me a tiny bit nervous because they decided to base their platform on a different open standard than the rest of the FediVerse (AT instead of AP) and that’s kind of annoying even if their reasons make some sense, plus they are owned by a species of corporate entity (a public benefit corporation, so they are not obligated to shareholder value). However, if their standard is actually open like they say and they do submit it to a standards body as they claim they will and third-party implementations and self-hosted instances come into being as they should, well, they can stay in the mix even if on light probation.

Secondly, I am early stages of designing some new software and rebuilding the platforms I own (this site, nucleargopher.com, and some others) with new tech. I will be moving to an entirely self-hosted model on my own server that I physically own and control. I’m already hosting one website there. When I’m done with my work in progress, not only will I physically own and control my primary platforms and tech, but I will also be integrated into the FediVerse and IndieWeb using entirely open protocols and technologies from the ground up. No more cloud service providers, no proprietary platforms, no closed silos, no corporations deciding what I see, think, read, or buy. No tracking, no re-selling of me or my data, no harvesting of my life or work or relationships with other people in order to train AI models or fuck up the world.

It’s exciting to be excited about engaging in something. It’s exciting to feel like there are actually practical steps that can be taken to make my personal world a lot less of a drag. It’s exciting to learn new things and then to share those things with other people so that maybe, just maybe, they can do take some of the same steps for themselves, which is something I will absolutely be doing.

We are not powerless in the face of fascism, misinformation, propaganda, and bullshit. We gave our power to a handful of companies and people by participating in information machines that prioritize “engagement” over all with predictable social outcomes. It’s time to stop. Alternatives exist. I’m going to do my small part to contribute to making sure that free, open, meaningful, and independent platforms grow and closed, toxic, silos continue to devolve into ghost towns filled with AI bots chatting back and forth to each other.

I’m re-platforming.