What a year, huh? Lemon, it’s January…
A few days ago in a Twitch chat, someone said “we’re 25% of the way through” and because it was a short week due to the holiday, I assumed they meant through to the weekend.
No, it happened to be January 20, meaning we were 25% of the way through the current administration and that suddenly hit a little harder.
I mean, I have no doubt that we will survive this, but at what cost, you know?
Anyway… things are just OK so far in 2026. I’d like to say “no complaints!” except I live in reality. But I will admit that for my day-to-day existence, things are OK and I will take that.
Social Media
I deleted Twitter. It was finally time. Like the bartender anecdote, they had not done a good job of kicking out the awful influences so it eventually just because their bar. My username and account are still held there because… personal branding, I guess? I don’t think I hold out hope that the site will go back to being better in some way, but wow was it hard to just make over 2 decades of posts, pics, videos and replies (many of which to people who are no longer here)… vanish.
TikTok
Then today, I removed TikTok from my phone and browser tabs. I knew it was coming because they’ve been floating the news of selling it to a U.S. company to allow it to operate in the U.S. And while I admit there might be a little bit of “terms of service panic” to this, they are explicitly pointing out things in the information they collect–framed as information we give them–that seem excessive: sexual orientation, immigration status… huh? In addition to having more or less U.S. government oversight? Nah, I’m out.
Why’s It So Hard?
And it just… sucks. That’s the best way I can express it without spiraling into a ball of frustration. It’s like Edina said in Absolutely Fabulous, I don’t want more choice, I just want nicer things.
I’ve always tried to focus on a few major places online. As of today those are: this blog (if you’re even reading this, thank you) for longer musings, Twitch for streaming games and whatnot, and Bluesky (after leaving Twitter) for micro-blogging. Every other dip into another platform was partly testing the waters and not wanting to be left behind, but mostly for trying to drive traffic to my main sites.
Which, lemme tell you, simply does not work. As Cory Doctorow says re: enshittification, platforms have a vested interest in locking people in. They don’t make it easy to go anywhere else. And relying on someone seeing a funny video or post on one site and actively going to another site to find you is… a crapshoot.
So I had a workflow, I would edit a video once, then post it to multiple sites. I just recently started streaming to multiple sites at once. All in the hopes that it would funnel people to one of the major spots.
The problem with social media–and most advice about social media–is that diversifying your online profile looks nice on paper, but in terms of actionable results? Not so much. And I’ll note that I am a “nano-influencer” so views on other sites may go into the hundreds, but rarely thousands and never millions. But as a part-time CONTENT™ creator, it’s the best I can do.
Regular Media
Aside from watching social media get worse and worse, I’m doing my best to consume traditional media. To take time out from the doomscroll to watch TV, listen to music, read a book, play games, catch up on movies and all that.
And here’s where I do realize that I have a “distraction problem” from social media, so I have to force myself to focus on the thing and not have another tab up, or a second screen playing something else.
The other night, I decided to re-read the comic series “The Beauty” because there’s an adaptation out now, but it’s by Ryan Murphy so it’s probably going to be awful. But I loaded up my digital comics, turned on some music and put a looping fireplace video on TV. It wasn’t exactly “cozy cabin life” but it did transport me for a few hours and then after that I re-read the “Memetic” trilogy because I remembered that it reminded me a bit of PLUR1BUS.
I’m watching the new Star Trek series, but not talking about it too much because CBS is fucking awful. Which, I fear, is just how things are now. “I want to enjoy that thing, but it’s starring or owned by someone awful, so I just can’t.”
Life Be Life’ing
Beyond picking and choosing what it’s healthy to engage with, life is just… ok. Good health, keeping in touch with friends as best I can. It’s Winter right now, so I don’t go out too much, not even to the fitness center. I’m embracing being a little lazy along with the cold weather.
I watch the news, I call and write letters to representatives, I donate to charities and mutual aid funds, I disassociate while staring out the window wondering how we’re actually living in the worst possible timeline, etc. You know, the usual.
I need Spring to arrive. Not that it changes the world for the better, but it’s easier to be outside, get a little fresh air, smell a freakin’ flower and try to remember that “this too shall pass”.
I mean, it would be great if it happened today, just saying. But I can be patient. As the song says, “Everyday it’s a-gettin’ closer…”
I realized that I rang in the new year and made it this far into 2026 without a blog update, so… here we are. I hope things are going as well as they can with you, and while I don’t have a specific to-do item to keep up with this blog more regularly, it is still at least one place on the internet that’s mine.
Well, at least for as long as my hosting provider isn’t sold to someone awful. *sigh*
This is not the future we were promised. We’re never getting to Star Trek at this rate. Ah well, let’s see what February brings!
