The Apostrophe Blog
Well, the time has finally come for me. I am done. I can no longer pretend these social media platforms are harmless, are working for the overall greater good. I can no longer engage, participate, abide even though I know these sites have been good for many communities particularly writers and artists. The latest news that the CEO of the companies under the umbrella of the (very silly) company name Meta will end its fact-checking program in favor of a community-based system to determine veracity and truth is the final straw for me. In addition, they are also changing content moderation policies around political topics—imagine that! As nearly all of these tech-bro oligarchs kowtow to the vicissitudes of the incoming Felon & Hillbilly regime, I can no longer sit by and ignore the escalating damage these folks and their so-called social media networks are doing to our country, hell the entire world.
We seem to be in an acutely hideous moment where the likes of Shadow President Musk and the Facebook kid are deified as avatars of genius. With their bajillions made mostly from what? Stupid advertising on these platforms—blech. Frankly, these days, the chaos and shabby information ecosystem of sites like Facebook and Instagram and X are enough of a reason to Just Say No and sign off. Which I did this morning in spite of all the roadblocks these sites create when you try to find the instructions on how to delete these applications and then actually make it happen.
I have come to think that Big Tech and social media and apps and algorithms and the rapacious quest for data and our every waking moment of attention have fomented a great deal of what has gone wrong throughout our 21st century world. Things like removing human agency from so many transactions. The seemingly deliberate fomenting of disinformation, misinformation leading to distrust as well as disengagement. The obsession with follower counts, likes, page views, influencers alongside the sheer idiocy that is the deployment of AI, its impact on the worsening climate crisis be damned. A blatantly amoral disregard for facts and science. A default stance that seems to run counter to values such as kindness, empathy, and truth. Given what is on the political horizon for us here in the U.S., I truly believe that less screen time and more actual face-to-face, three-dimensional human time might serve us all better in the days ahead.
What will I miss out on? Fun and funny posts from friends and their gorgeous photos of travels and cakes and other celebrated moments of life. A place to post my annual parade of blooming flowers. Finding friends and acquaintances from long ago, long lost. Hidden Portland for the Curious—a super archive of fun stuff noticed, noted, and shared by people out and about in a city determined to keep itself weird. And I suppose the long-term Buy Nothing for our neighborhood but even that community has gotten eroded (enshittified might be the better term?) of late.
Rest assured (for those of you who are fans) my annual parade of photos of blooming flowers will now be hosted here on my website. Check back in a few for a sampling of January blooms!
The public domain photograph above entitled “Antisocial Tu Perds Ton Sang Froid” was taken by Guillaume Papillon.
Interests: Reading, writing, not arithmetic. The art and craft of poetry. Photography. Vegetable and flower gardening especially heirloom bulbs and dahlias. Movies in real theatres. Theatre on real stages. Art in real galleries. Crossword puzzles and, of course, Wordle. Singer-songwriters like Aimee Mann and Patti Griffin. All kinds of music especially 1930s jazz. Venice, Italy! The Dude abides.
- Turning Away from (Anti-) Social Media… - January 8, 2025
- The Promise of Spring - January 7, 2025
- Celebrating This Website’s China Anniversary - January 4, 2025
