I think “deleting social media harms marginalized voices more than it does good” is a stretch/an interesting way to frame a statement that is more so an opinion than fact! Buttttt that being said I do luv this post :) I deleted instagram a year ago before all this hubbub about meta came about so I think I have a different lens since I’ve still managed to find ways to stay involved and donate to causes! Instagram isn’t the only way to receive news/donate/create community online but I totally understand for some people it’s all they know, so I appreciate this POV! Ty for sharing <3
I think she more meant that a lot of people are boycotting meta and deleting their social medias in some sort of solidarity, but instead that harms the people that have been telling us from the beginning that sharing their voices is most important in a time where they are silenced/not represented in mainstream media. but I understand your point! and thank you for your comment! Im glad you’ve found ways to stay involved. like I mentioned there are of course other ways to keep community outside of social media but it is just one of the best ways in the time of our current technological environment in my opinion. I’m glad you liked the post <3
I admire your grit, Liv. It's that classic dilemma: leave, or stay and fight? Personally I'm withdrawing from all the problematic platforms because they've really damaged us (or most of us) on a deep human level. You can't fight back if you're broken. That's why my strategy would be to retreat, heal, and then regroup on less toxic platforms, away from Big Social.
ty for commenting! I definitely understand why people would want to delete their socials, it can be really hard especially with this wave of absolute bigotry and vitriol going on on majority of the platforms. I think it’s important to find community with other people to sort of counter that hate as well. I think your strategy is a good one
Fantastic point. I always think that divesting your attention is such a personal journey. And if all the progressive thinkers left, it’ll become an echo chamber of fermented crap. I got rid of IG from my phone bc I just found myself opening it up for no reason. But had I been more active in my participation, I wouldn’t have. I get my news from twitch (mostly Hasan’s stream) and Taylor Lorenz’s Substack, which have been great sources. But I definitely agree that it shouldn’t be a trend but a well thought out decision on what you think is best for you (not out of forced obligation).
ty for your comment!! I 100% agree and forgot to mention that point that if a lot of people left the platforms they would most likely turn into a right-wing/extremist echo chamber and that’s their goal with making stupid decisions like turning off fact checkers and not doing anything about hate speech and harassment. love Hasan and love that you still get good news sources from other people!
I'm on the same train as you, I prefer writing and blogs but disconnecting from social media is disconnecting from our world. Turning down the news doesn't stop them from existing and we should be able to have the self control to not spend all day everyday doomscrooling. We need to take space and use social media features to help eachother
yes exactly! deleting and looking away does not stop what’s happening. I believe that we should do something if we are able to. social media can be so much more powerful that way
I like this take so much. The point you brought up about how we are censoring ourselves by not using these platforms is so true, like we are found the censoring for them. I also use social media to get news and with all the issues meta platforms have it’s the most accessible for anyone to get news from.
tysm for your comment! I’m glad you like it!! I think it is important to take into consideration the fact that right-wingers are trying to push us out so they can run free and spread any misinformation and bigotry they can. with meta taking away the fact-checking it’ll only get worse from there. I think it’s essential that our voices are still heard on platforms like that, even if it can be exhausting to deal with. I think social media is very useful for getting media we won’t be seeing on traditional news outlets.
this is a great read! i 100% agree! social media can definitely be bad and do damage, but it’s often really, really good and helpful for elevating and promoting marginalised voices and stories.
always so happy to see your comments🤭🤍 I’m glad you liked it <33 I feel like there can be so much more than the bad on social media and a lot of people focus more on that, which is understandable, but sometimes people don’t see how it can be helpful because of that
I agree with this. Look at what's happening in Serbia at the moment. Their mainstream and traditional media has censorship at the highest. The protests have been happening for months now and yet you'll find certain age groups not participating because their only source of news is traditional media, the same one that censors everything that goes against their beliefs, that they blindly believe. In this day and age, you need social media to stay well informed.
agree 100%!! our news outlets and our government are not very accurate in their reporting and have such crazy bias. you can’t really rely on it because they will almost never show opinions from the people that are being affected. so many articles online mention only israeli voices or zionist opinions but never from a palestinian or palestinian journalist. social media sucks, sure, but it is so important to keep informed. also, that’s insane that that’s happening in Serbia! ty for your comment!!
this is SUCH a good point!! truly would not have known half of what i know about the state of the world, the wars, etc if i wasn't seeing it on social media in real-time. thank you for sharing your opinion even though it's a dividing topic! <3
ty for your comment!! and right! I have learned so much from people on social media and those who are directly affected that I know I wouldn’t have learned without it.
If you change your mind or if there are others who feel the same way, here are some platforms that I find helpful for resource gathering:
🩵 Bluesky ~ Socially introduce yourself and meet others based on interests. Reconnect with old fb, twitter, or irl friends. Create your own set of feeds unreliant on an algorithm designed by billionaires. Very pro - trans rights, heavy on Independents and Democrats, and pro-disabillity.
💜 Tumblr ~ Follow tags related to specific causes, huge support for Liberal /Blue /Womens /Trans /Gaza & Palestine tags. Very pro luigi.
❤️ Rednote ~ Videos and Feeds, Intensely anti trump / musk. Like Tiktok but much friendlier. Heavily non capitalism. The algorithm reacts to what you like, and you can boost/ save videos to named boards for different causes. Super pro luigi and heavily dominated by women and political accounts. Also interesting hobbies/ and happy distractions when need be.
🧡 Reddit ~ find out information. r/50501 , protest pages, pages about your nearest city or state you'd like to participate in activism in, best source for finding out events organized near you and how to act or what is expected before each protest. Organizers post here locally. Very grass roots.
💙 Discord ~ [Im howling at the moon, jk] not just for gamers! For information gathering and sharing, many people who believe in resistance on bluesky will post substack and discord links! The links only act as an invite, and many discords are invite only, sending mass invites to those affiliated with blue / resistance / or independent accounts. The invites expire after a set period of time, and others can invite as well if the allowances are set that way.
🇺🇲 NPR App ~ National Public Radio has stepped UP it’s game. It’s still free, keeps me up to date asap, no socials involved, radio channels and numerous podcasts that give you control over what you'd like to listen to. They have podcasts dedicated to politics, money, humor, trivia. Trump and Non Trump dedicated podcasts to protect sanity. Best source of news and complete life saver of a free app ♡ Please download NPR if you do nothing else ♡♡♡
These sites have provided me the most information. If anyone has any non - meta suggestions, I would love to hear how you stay in the loop!
ty for all these apps!! I have all except NPR, I haven’t heard of that one before so thank you. I want to clear something up - it’s not that I don’t think people shouldn’t use alternative apps, in fact I think it’s a really good idea. my point is that there are many communities established on the apps I mentioned and rely on (for example I connected to many Palestinian families over tiktok and instagram and promote their gfms there) which I feel that I cannot leave behind. I hope this clarifies things and again, thank you for the app suggestions. :)
The point is to support non-billionaire owned social media as much as possible and to cut into their profits, as well as building irl communication networks. As long as it’s owned by Elons it’s not helpful as an organizing tool and makes us all targets.
I agree that using other social medias is a good idea, I never said you shouldn’t. I deleted X and started using BlueSky a while ago, and it is leagues better, yes. It is not me saying that you should absolutely stay on Instagram, TikTok, etc., it is just another perspective of those that have created communities on those apps and use it to show issues that do not otherwise get brought up on news outlets.
Nope. Fuck Meta. There are other social media platforms out there. I am done with Zuck. Removed the app from my phone and haven't been on in almost 3 months. I still communicate with people. I just do it on a platform that won't sensor me. Red note, substack and Bluesky.
lol I feel like at this point comments like this just show that you either haven’t read the post in full or you wanted to purposefully misconstrue what I said. good on you that you deleted apps owned by meta. I know there are other media platforms out there and that you can communicate outside of apps like Instagram 👍🏼 not sure what the point here was
I think “deleting social media harms marginalized voices more than it does good” is a stretch/an interesting way to frame a statement that is more so an opinion than fact! Buttttt that being said I do luv this post :) I deleted instagram a year ago before all this hubbub about meta came about so I think I have a different lens since I’ve still managed to find ways to stay involved and donate to causes! Instagram isn’t the only way to receive news/donate/create community online but I totally understand for some people it’s all they know, so I appreciate this POV! Ty for sharing <3
I think she more meant that a lot of people are boycotting meta and deleting their social medias in some sort of solidarity, but instead that harms the people that have been telling us from the beginning that sharing their voices is most important in a time where they are silenced/not represented in mainstream media. but I understand your point! and thank you for your comment! Im glad you’ve found ways to stay involved. like I mentioned there are of course other ways to keep community outside of social media but it is just one of the best ways in the time of our current technological environment in my opinion. I’m glad you liked the post <3
I admire your grit, Liv. It's that classic dilemma: leave, or stay and fight? Personally I'm withdrawing from all the problematic platforms because they've really damaged us (or most of us) on a deep human level. You can't fight back if you're broken. That's why my strategy would be to retreat, heal, and then regroup on less toxic platforms, away from Big Social.
ty for commenting! I definitely understand why people would want to delete their socials, it can be really hard especially with this wave of absolute bigotry and vitriol going on on majority of the platforms. I think it’s important to find community with other people to sort of counter that hate as well. I think your strategy is a good one
Fantastic point. I always think that divesting your attention is such a personal journey. And if all the progressive thinkers left, it’ll become an echo chamber of fermented crap. I got rid of IG from my phone bc I just found myself opening it up for no reason. But had I been more active in my participation, I wouldn’t have. I get my news from twitch (mostly Hasan’s stream) and Taylor Lorenz’s Substack, which have been great sources. But I definitely agree that it shouldn’t be a trend but a well thought out decision on what you think is best for you (not out of forced obligation).
ty for your comment!! I 100% agree and forgot to mention that point that if a lot of people left the platforms they would most likely turn into a right-wing/extremist echo chamber and that’s their goal with making stupid decisions like turning off fact checkers and not doing anything about hate speech and harassment. love Hasan and love that you still get good news sources from other people!
I'm on the same train as you, I prefer writing and blogs but disconnecting from social media is disconnecting from our world. Turning down the news doesn't stop them from existing and we should be able to have the self control to not spend all day everyday doomscrooling. We need to take space and use social media features to help eachother
yes exactly! deleting and looking away does not stop what’s happening. I believe that we should do something if we are able to. social media can be so much more powerful that way
I like this take so much. The point you brought up about how we are censoring ourselves by not using these platforms is so true, like we are found the censoring for them. I also use social media to get news and with all the issues meta platforms have it’s the most accessible for anyone to get news from.
tysm for your comment! I’m glad you like it!! I think it is important to take into consideration the fact that right-wingers are trying to push us out so they can run free and spread any misinformation and bigotry they can. with meta taking away the fact-checking it’ll only get worse from there. I think it’s essential that our voices are still heard on platforms like that, even if it can be exhausting to deal with. I think social media is very useful for getting media we won’t be seeing on traditional news outlets.
this is a great read! i 100% agree! social media can definitely be bad and do damage, but it’s often really, really good and helpful for elevating and promoting marginalised voices and stories.
always so happy to see your comments🤭🤍 I’m glad you liked it <33 I feel like there can be so much more than the bad on social media and a lot of people focus more on that, which is understandable, but sometimes people don’t see how it can be helpful because of that
I agree with this. Look at what's happening in Serbia at the moment. Their mainstream and traditional media has censorship at the highest. The protests have been happening for months now and yet you'll find certain age groups not participating because their only source of news is traditional media, the same one that censors everything that goes against their beliefs, that they blindly believe. In this day and age, you need social media to stay well informed.
agree 100%!! our news outlets and our government are not very accurate in their reporting and have such crazy bias. you can’t really rely on it because they will almost never show opinions from the people that are being affected. so many articles online mention only israeli voices or zionist opinions but never from a palestinian or palestinian journalist. social media sucks, sure, but it is so important to keep informed. also, that’s insane that that’s happening in Serbia! ty for your comment!!
this is SUCH a good point!! truly would not have known half of what i know about the state of the world, the wars, etc if i wasn't seeing it on social media in real-time. thank you for sharing your opinion even though it's a dividing topic! <3
ty for your comment!! and right! I have learned so much from people on social media and those who are directly affected that I know I wouldn’t have learned without it.
If you change your mind or if there are others who feel the same way, here are some platforms that I find helpful for resource gathering:
🩵 Bluesky ~ Socially introduce yourself and meet others based on interests. Reconnect with old fb, twitter, or irl friends. Create your own set of feeds unreliant on an algorithm designed by billionaires. Very pro - trans rights, heavy on Independents and Democrats, and pro-disabillity.
💜 Tumblr ~ Follow tags related to specific causes, huge support for Liberal /Blue /Womens /Trans /Gaza & Palestine tags. Very pro luigi.
❤️ Rednote ~ Videos and Feeds, Intensely anti trump / musk. Like Tiktok but much friendlier. Heavily non capitalism. The algorithm reacts to what you like, and you can boost/ save videos to named boards for different causes. Super pro luigi and heavily dominated by women and political accounts. Also interesting hobbies/ and happy distractions when need be.
🧡 Reddit ~ find out information. r/50501 , protest pages, pages about your nearest city or state you'd like to participate in activism in, best source for finding out events organized near you and how to act or what is expected before each protest. Organizers post here locally. Very grass roots.
💙 Discord ~ [Im howling at the moon, jk] not just for gamers! For information gathering and sharing, many people who believe in resistance on bluesky will post substack and discord links! The links only act as an invite, and many discords are invite only, sending mass invites to those affiliated with blue / resistance / or independent accounts. The invites expire after a set period of time, and others can invite as well if the allowances are set that way.
🇺🇲 NPR App ~ National Public Radio has stepped UP it’s game. It’s still free, keeps me up to date asap, no socials involved, radio channels and numerous podcasts that give you control over what you'd like to listen to. They have podcasts dedicated to politics, money, humor, trivia. Trump and Non Trump dedicated podcasts to protect sanity. Best source of news and complete life saver of a free app ♡ Please download NPR if you do nothing else ♡♡♡
These sites have provided me the most information. If anyone has any non - meta suggestions, I would love to hear how you stay in the loop!
ty for all these apps!! I have all except NPR, I haven’t heard of that one before so thank you. I want to clear something up - it’s not that I don’t think people shouldn’t use alternative apps, in fact I think it’s a really good idea. my point is that there are many communities established on the apps I mentioned and rely on (for example I connected to many Palestinian families over tiktok and instagram and promote their gfms there) which I feel that I cannot leave behind. I hope this clarifies things and again, thank you for the app suggestions. :)
The point is to support non-billionaire owned social media as much as possible and to cut into their profits, as well as building irl communication networks. As long as it’s owned by Elons it’s not helpful as an organizing tool and makes us all targets.
I agree that using other social medias is a good idea, I never said you shouldn’t. I deleted X and started using BlueSky a while ago, and it is leagues better, yes. It is not me saying that you should absolutely stay on Instagram, TikTok, etc., it is just another perspective of those that have created communities on those apps and use it to show issues that do not otherwise get brought up on news outlets.
Nope. Fuck Meta. There are other social media platforms out there. I am done with Zuck. Removed the app from my phone and haven't been on in almost 3 months. I still communicate with people. I just do it on a platform that won't sensor me. Red note, substack and Bluesky.
lol I feel like at this point comments like this just show that you either haven’t read the post in full or you wanted to purposefully misconstrue what I said. good on you that you deleted apps owned by meta. I know there are other media platforms out there and that you can communicate outside of apps like Instagram 👍🏼 not sure what the point here was