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A few months ago I left mainstream socials. I closed down my 2 Instagram accounts (personal and work) and shut down my Threads and Facebook. I also stopped using Reddit and Bluesky. When Threads first started a bit over a year ago it was a very wholesome experience but it wasn't long before we started getting an influx of trolls and bigots from X (Twitter) and despite people trying to ignore them, people naturally couldn't help responding when they were personally attacked or offended.

I joined Bluesky as it attracted a more diverse crowd and even though it was mostly Americans it was still better than being unable to post about your day without some troll telling you were doing it wrong and you were too fat, thin, ugly or stupid to do it anyway. People can be awful online. The safety of being behind a screen gives some people way too much confidence which seems to bypass their empathy. However, when the election happened Bluesky became even more about US politics, and being a queer man and a feminist I found that it was severely affecting my mental health having to see all the negative ugliness every day.

The warning "Don't read the comments' is so valid if you want to retain your happiness on social media. It can be so awful, and even when my sense of injustice was triggered and I responded, the abuse or worry of abuse and what it would do to my RSD wasn't worth the effort. Upsetting people seems to be a badge of honour to some.

I like to be aware of what's going on in the world, but not at the expense of my own peace, so for now I'm keeping away from it to preserve my sanity over the next 4 years while that lot try to take over the world with cruelty and lies, and get laughed at by every other country. I know we have problems here too, but I'm keeping out of that too. Someone else can carry the torch for a bit. It's also the reason I've not joined in on the political thread here. Some of the 'theories' on there are concerning.

I get where you’re coming from, I had to step back too because constant negativity was messing with my head more than I realized. I still like keeping a small creative outlet though, so I post art now and then in quieter spaces. Back when I was more active, I tried famoid.com just to give my posts a bit of traction—it did what I needed at the time.