When I see what some people pay for a blog, I gasp. I mean, I get it, I want to publish things as much as the next person, and I admire the dedication, but the costs some people stand to write on the internet makes my eyes water. I wonder if these types of costs are what stop more people having a blog?
It’s no secret I think everyone should have a blog, they should write about whatever it that they want to write about if only to get it out of themselves.
Due to the billionaire baby, I’ve been thinking far too much about social media. I can see no end to the news coverage of Twitter or the various escapades on Elmo, and other platforms are just revolving conversations of the same. Mastodon feels like you’re spending time with a begrudged ex that won’t talk about anything else. As such, those topics bleed through into my thoughts, into my writing and seemingly into every part of my life.
There are many things I am taking away from my 30 days no Twitter experiment. The feelings of worry that have all but disappeared are a by product of not being plugged into the attention economy, but I’m still not convinced I am getting the best possible results. My attachment to Mastodon has meant that I am still consuming the internet in bite sized chunks and far too often.
There is no doubt that my new favourite place to hang out is a really nice place to be.
I still can’t decide where I want to put my time. Do I follow mastodon users on Micro.blog or follow micro.blog users on Mastodon? At the minute I’m doing both, and thankfully it’s straightforward to find any ActivityPub users on Micro.blog. Even easier with the handy Shortcut!
Grab it [here](https://www.icloud.com/shortcuts/7b13dc07c9004fde9c2988fc4f1ebcc2) All you have to do is find the user’s account and run the Shortcut. You need to highlight the user’s account address in Safari and share the webpage to the Shortcut.
The cost of living crisis in the UK has been getting progressively worse for the last few months and is destined to continue that way. Price increases to gas and electric, coupled with corporate greed, has seen food costs rocket upwards with dramatic effect.
I am thankful to not be in a financial position where this will kill me, but the constant worry about money is really starting to take its toll.
I needed some time out this afternoon, so went for a walk in the woods with my trusty x100v. I’ve never been one for woodland photography, but love a nice walk in nature. I tried to take a range of photos as the colours are still hanging on from autumn, but judging by the images that actually came out, you would think I had been mushroom hunting.
Despite all the words, the thoughts and the conscious decision to try not to. My monthly challenge of no Twitter for 30 days has not gone as well as it should have. I was hoping to really bring myself around to the idea that I don’t need to be online as much as I am, but instead I’ve just replaced my Twitter scrolling with Mastodon scrolling.
Undoubtedly, this is much better for me.
Given the resent issues with the bird site, it’s been great to see so many people delete their accounts to move away. Voting with your attention is the best way to use the power at your disposal. Of course, you can use whatever site it is that you want to use, but many of the users I am seeing are just moving from one bad silo to another. Perhaps naively, I thought people would have learnt by now to demand more from their social network.
When I first stated writing online, I didn’t even know what a blog was. I set up some online hosting, and cobbled together an HTML website from a theme, and then when I posted something I would duplicate a page and link it up on the man index, all manually. No research done, no WordPress, I had no clue. All I knew was that I wanted to publish online and be a writer, and it wasn’t until 2013 that I really sorted myself out and began to publish properly.
It’s rare that a trailer sparks any reaction in me. I often feel like I have watched the whole film, don’t you think they are too long nowadays and ruin it? Anyway, I saw one for the Netflix film Shutz by Jonah Hill yesterday, and it sparked plenty of feelings. Something that I have been trying to work on myself over the last few months, and that’s just STFU and listening to people.