Transbian Tech Nerd

Oh, a human being is seeking a social response? Human being, the social animal wired to make and track social connection? A human desires the vital blood that permitted their species to survive for millennia? The human being who was born completely helpless and primed in every way by nature to seek attention and help from their community?

I'm not excusing bad behavior and oh boy did Tumblr feel like 'pissing on the poor' in the comments (as is our tradition) but I think we all need to put the phones down, step away from the computers, touch some grass, and reconnect with our fellow human beings in the real, physical world.

There are people out there who are truly suffering, in great emotional pain, from a shortage of human connection. They may live in places where they simply can't just walk outside and make friends like you can in a crowded urban area. They may not have loving or supportive families and may never have had that in their lives. Some people have endured sheer torture at the hands of others, sometimes for years or even decades, and they may behave in ways you don't like when they are seeking the connections that they need.

Again, I am not condoning or excusing bad behavior, but that includes not condoning or excusing the dismissal of our fellow humans by so many people these days. It looks like many of us are going to need to re-learn our empathy because it has gone out the window.

I keep seeing posts on Tumblr and Reddit and elsewhere saying "Where did all the little websites go?" or "The web is just four big websites posting screenshots of the other three!" That's like standing in the middle of Walmart and wondering why you can't see the park.

The other websites are still there! Corporations have just been spoon feeding you their version of the web. You have to change how you use the web and learn how to feed yourself again.

Stop doom scrolling social media

Stop reading AI overviews

Start searching things for yourself

Click links

Read things

DuckDuckGo is worth trying, as is Brave Search. If you use social media, stick to platforms that actually show you the people you follow instead of an algorithm of stuff they think you might like. Bluesky is great for this. Do everything you can to break free of the usual giant websites that dictate too much of people's web experience.

Look for resource pages put together by actual human beings. When you find a smaller website you like, see what websites they link to, and what those sites link to. Your web browser has a bookmarks function. Use it. Save things and share them with other people.

When you find something you like, share the links. Search engines "rank" web pages in part based on the number of links pointing back to them. If you don't want the web to be a corporate wasteland, you have to link to things.

If you have "best stuff first" enabled, you won't see external links because tumblr will hide any opportunity for you to escape the walled garden. So that means you should go turn it off, and experience the wonders of the greater internet.

You think you're staying "informed" by doomscrolling through your social feeds 24/7? That's exactly what they want. It's literally designed to keep you angry, scrolling, and - most importantly - doing absolutely fucking nothing.

HERE'S WHAT NO ONE TELLS YOU:

It's OKAY to edit your feeds so you don't see that shit when you're just trying to exist

You do NOT have to consume the world's suffering every second of every day to be a "good activist" - and by the way? You're not even getting "informed" by scrolling. You need to actually look up real articles OFF of social media to understand what's happening

Hitting like and share isn't activism. Sorry. It just isn't.

You wanna actually do something?

Learn your neighbors' names. ACTUALLY TALK TO THEM about what's happening

Join your school board and ask them face-to-face why they're against queer education

Stand up to your racist uncle instead of "keeping the peace" (peace for WHO exactly?)

Find out what abortion rights groups are ALREADY DOING in your area instead of reinventing the wheel

Join an actually inclusive church (you know, like Jesus would've wanted) and see what they're ALREADY DOING to make the world better

And for fuck's sake, stop saying "oh I don't talk about politics" - YOUR SILENCE IS POLITICAL

NEWSFLASH: You don't have to start the fucking underground railroad by yourself. That shit ALREADY EXISTS - you just never had to use it before. Lucky you. So volunteer if you're a safe person, at whatever level works for you:

Send money

Show up in person

Pack supplies

Make pamphlets

Whatever you can do

Not everything's gonna get you in the history books and you know what? IT DOESN'T FUCKING MATTER.

And here's something else that matters: Going to trauma therapy - REAL trauma therapy with a therapist informed in decolonization practices - is a RADICAL ACT. If you have the means to do it, DO IT. Healing yourself is part of the work too.

AND LISTEN UP BECAUSE THIS IS IMPORTANT: IT'S OKAY THAT IT TOOK YOU THIS LONG IT'S OKAY THAT YOU'RE STARTING SMALL IT'S OKAY THAT YOU DON'T KNOW EVERYTHING

NO ONE EVER PUNISHED THEMSELVES INTO SUCCESS.

You grew up with some racist/sexist views? Yeah, most of us did. You can't get stuck there. There's too much at stake. It's time to deconstruct. It's time to do the work.

But scrolling and sharing posts while feeling guilty? That's not the work. That's what they want you to think the work is.