curating a more pleasant online experience
The things I pay attention to are the things that make up my life. This sentiment has been conveyed in a number of ways by famous thinkers and less famous dumbasses, and for good reason: it's true!
It's easy to forget that I'm responsible for my own happiness when I unconsciously cherry pick upsetting content or scroll through cynical news headlines. I can only blame "the algorithm" or dark UX patterns for so long. Yes, my country the United States is objectively responsible for terrible things happening right now. I'm not going to spiritually bypass fascism and pretend I'm not scared and depressed about this current administration. But I don't need to make things worse by reading snarky subreddits or clicking on the most salaciously titled blog posts in the Discovery feed.
In fact, I don't even need to think of Bear Blog as a community when I merely need somewhere to dump my thoughts. I can "post and ghost," as the kids say, because sometimes taking a (short!) break from the social element of this platform allows me to create content I want to see. When I'm in a better mood, the content I consume will reflect that.
Take care (I mean it).