So I am a big fan of the Fediverse, I love the idea of decentralisation and I believe this is how the future of social media should be. But here starts the problem.
All my friends are using Instagram or TikTok or else. I didnt think of that while I also used Instagram, but I think they are highly addicted. Its not possible for them to not use Instagram for at least 1h when we meet up. When I still used Instagram, I was part of the problem. But now that I left it a couple of months ago, I just realised the problem I used to live in.
Addiction is all about realising you are addicted, but I find it very hard to address the problem. I dont want to harm our friendship over social media and I am afraid that when I tell them about their addiction, they will not agree and find it impolite.
So I believe that social media can only survive if the people use it. Its all about user generated content and while the Fediverse is doing better than ever, it still needs more users ASAP.
How can we achieve getting those people on the Fediverse and, more importantly, hold them here, while they slowly get less addicted to social media and see the potential of the Fediverse.
Thank you for reading and for thinking about possible answers. I wrote the whole text by myself, this is not AI generated.
Pulling out insta or tiktok or whatever is a purpose-built dark pattern. The algorithms, content, and user interface are designed to turn you into a mindless consumption machine because the more ads you scroll or affiliate items you purchase the more money they make. So I don’t think the answer is “can we transfer their addiction to the fediverse.”
The fediverse is not without friction and that should be acknowledged. There is not “put in your phone number, confirm text message, receive dopamine.” You need to make an account with a password, choose an instance, some apps may have things to auto subscribe to for you, but most of that is on you. So they would need to want to switch, hurdle the friction, know that there is less content, and far less of it is built to provide dopamine hits so you scroll to the next ad. And if that is the fediverse you envision to get people onto it, I don’t share that vision.