this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2023
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After seven years at Snapchat, I finally learned the truth about why our most important apps seem destined to disappoint us

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[–] OptimistPrime 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I've been feeling the same way the last couple of weeks. I finally got so fed up with the toxicity of Instagram that I uninstalled it from my phone. And since finding Lemmy, I've disengaged and deleted my Reddit account. So I'm trying to figure out what to do on this Internet now. And it really feels like how I used to use it. I'm finding niche blogs and sites that people post on Lemmy. I'll add them to my bookmarks so that I can remember to visit them again. I'm actually reading the articles and not just jumping straight into the comments. It's like going back in time 12 years. And I don't know if this is just in my head, but I feel like I'm regaining some of my ability to focus and increasing my attention span that's been atrophied over the last decade. I just spent most of my weekend building and playing around with a new homelab server... Something I would have done years ago but would have been nearly impossible to do if I was stuck scrolling through the dopamine machine that is Instagram and Reddit.

If you're dissatisfied with the results you get on Google or you're looking for websites that might not be in Google's search results, I recently came across this site: https://www.marginalia.nu/. The search engine touts itself as focusing on non-commercial content. It really makes me nostalgic for the old Internet... Back when you could find some random person's blog about something really specific. They weren't trying to get monetized or fit into some SEO algorithm. They just wanted to spread their passion for growing different varieties of butter beans, free of charge and subscription.

[–] vulgarcynic 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Congrats on the home lab! Nothing like having a single spot for containers instead of multiple random boxes and pi's (if your anything like my slacker ass). I also have been completing some long over due server / infrastructure maintenance at home. Finally got hardwire drops to my office and den fed into a server in the garage. After 2+ years of "I'm gonna do that next week". It feels good to make progress on things that were normally cast aside for another endless scroll of bots arguing over climate change or whatever r/shitthatwastesyourtimeandmakesyouangry was serving up for the day.

Thanks for the heads up on the search engine too. I've been a duckduck main for a few years but even that seems to be faltering and serving trash results lately. So many reddit results now, sure seems like they're astroturfing search engines. Excited to have an alternative that gives me that good random one off page that a human wrote and actually may answer my question about why my goddamn proxmox network is shitting the bed again.

Cheers friend! Here's to hoping the "new old" internet we're experiencing right now sticks around for a bit. I think we all need it.

[–] OptimistPrime 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Proxmox is what I've been farting around with. Finally cleared off enough old hard drives to play with truenas. That action forced me to move the router and modem into my office, which involved figuring out which coax outside my house went to this room. Just last night I figured out, or more honestly, found the right YouTube video, that held my hand through the process of giving truenas a static IP. Earned dopamine is nice.

[–] vulgarcynic 2 points 1 year ago

Sounds like we're in similar paths. I discovered there was only 1 working coax in the house so I ended up splitting off the box and running to my garage where the modem/router is now housed.

Moving hardware and the associated dopamine hit is first class. Congrats!

[–] vulgarcynic 2 points 1 year ago

Also, love the screen name, we may be perfect opposites. Haha