I've been on Mastodon a while now, and I'm not going back. Not because it's perfect, not because I think it's going to "win" against Xwitter or Bluesky. I'm there because it's the only social network I've used in years that actually feels like the internet I remember. The internet we were promised. The internet where you could find weird, smart people talking about things they cared about without an algorithm deciding if I should see it or not.
For those unaware, here's a quick summary. Mastodon is a free, open source social network with thousands of independently operated servers called instances, each with its own community and rules. It's a vibe.
Mastodon is decentralized. This means nobody owns the whole thing. There's no CEO, no board, no single kill switch. You're a user and not a product. No enshittification from the top down because there is no top.
Mastodon is the counterpoint to the widely held belief that social media is bad for you. It's algorithms that are bad for you, monetization is bad for you. Social media is a tool, and like any tool it's how it's used that counts. In the early days of the internet we had BBSs, we had forums, and we had IRC, and they were actually helpful and added value to your life. Especially when it came to finding like-minded people.
I belong to an instance called hackers.town. It's full of people who build things, break things, solder things, write code, restore vintage hardware, publish zines, and talk about all of it. It would take hours of swipe mining to come up with even a percentage of this preferred content on any other social media platform.
The decentralization part is also great. As an instance we can close ourselves off to any other instance that we find offensive or anything that we don't want to see. Consider this reverse censorship. You can say whatever you want, we don't have to listen to it.
instance not a fit? You can move to another one and bring your followers with you. There are third-party tools to move your posts also. But there's a little hoop jumping involved.
Social media doesn't have to be a draining experience. It could be a recharging one. It used to be.
connecting with people online should make you feel better and not worse. For all the time we spend online shouldn't we spend some of it connecting with people that are about the things that really matter to us? Why opt in for divisiveness with a side of anxiety?
If any of this speaks to you, get started by going to joinmastodon.org and look for the instance that fits you best