October 2024 round-up
Added 2024-10-17 16:15:11 +0000 UTCMy October wrap-up is here! I didn’t post a lot (read: any) to social media in the past month, but I did think a LOT about my relationship with social media as a whole. I also watched a lot of horror movies, read His Dark Materials, and listened to Jason Isbell.
Comments
I doubt Twitter will actually be allowed to go through with it considering the legal situation and the app store gods, but maybe this is the push we all need. It's more unbearable every day on there
Muireann McGlynn
2024-10-18 22:08:30 +0000 UTCfriend i am in precisely this same boat! literally i posted this substack and immediately found myself inadvertently discoursing-by-proxy via RT again. it's tough out there. have fun at comic con!!
Mel Thomas
2024-10-18 22:03:38 +0000 UTCThank you for your kind words, friend, as always!!
Mel Thomas
2024-10-18 22:00:30 +0000 UTCThey're INCREDIBLY thoughtful, well-crafted books. I wish there were more like them!!
Mel Thomas
2024-10-18 22:00:09 +0000 UTCThank you for the kind words and the recommendation!!! I love love love Lyra (and Pan), so if they're in it, I will read it
Mel Thomas
2024-10-18 21:59:24 +0000 UTCAhh, this is great timing for me personally, considering I recommitted myself to Blue Sky just today for this exact reason! (I promised myself a while ago that if Twitter made good on their promise to change how blocking worked, I was outta there.)
Mel Thomas
2024-10-18 21:57:15 +0000 UTCIt's been really interesting seeing the different social media culture emerge on blue sky and twitter and how that's reflected in their blocking culture. After Twitter announced their changes to blocking a lot of people flocked to Blue Sky. I've seen multiple posts about the etiquette being "anti-dunking," blocking and moving on is heavily encouraged. You can see the philosophy play out directly with the blocking mechanisms, you can block 100s of accounts with two clicks in Blue Sky. I think we'd all be better if we focused on nurturing what we loved instead of feeding into what we hate. I'm interested to see if Blue Sky can maintain the anti engagement farming culture as it grows.
Muireann McGlynn
2024-10-17 22:43:05 +0000 UTCLoved reading this post. I hadn’t considered before how what we used to call trolling we now call engagement farming and I’ll be thinking on that. Also I’m so excited to hear your thoughts on His Dark Materials after you’ve finished the series. I’m glad you’re enjoying it so far. I read it first as an adult and it is one of my favorite YA series—I think Pullman really made some incredible art with it. Also I would definitely recommend reading the follow up series The Book of Dust. The second book in the series is also so so interesting and I’ve really enjoyed the exploration of Lyra and Pan’s later relationship.
Michelle Lippold
2024-10-17 19:21:49 +0000 UTCI'm really excited to hear your further thoughts on His Dark Materials. It was my very favorite as a kid, and I found it surprisingly thoughtful returning to it as an adult, but I have lots of nostalgia in that and am interested in your fresh perspective
Fynn Hinson
2024-10-17 17:27:25 +0000 UTCI am once again professing my deepest love for the way you write. You take some of the most frustrating things I face and discuss them in a much more beautiful way than I could ever dream of. I’m now trying (and mostly failing) to boot myself off of social media once I hit “the endless scroll.” It’s tough. My new rule is that if I mindlessly scroll through five TikToks, I have to leave. It’s not for me right now. Twitter’s also a nightmare. Also, I feel the emotions corner so much. I’m very glad to be back in my video-making groove, but this year has felt like a slog. It’s probably just been my desperate chase for relevancy this year, so hopefully I can right this ship and get back to where I want to be. I’ve had my “big video” for the year recorded since April, mostly done and sitting on a hard drive, waiting for me to finally stop chasing clout and finish it. One day, Xanadu, one day!
KrustyFrank27
2024-10-17 16:59:48 +0000 UTCI'm on Twitter A Lot (too much) and I always tell myself I need to stop RTing so much stuff cuz it must be annoying to the ppl following me who haven't turned off my RTs yet, but at no point did I take into consideration that this habit is also me contributing to and directly perpetuating the outrage machine that keeps us all scrolling and screaming. So. Thanks for the on the first day of comic con, Mel 😭😬🙃
Jen
2024-10-17 16:25:51 +0000 UTC
