Post B0aZCkoWSbDwF45oCO by kzeta@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by kzeta@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #B0ZcBkC1OBNAjNKmP2 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-24T14:35:46Z
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RE: https://mstdn.social/@KentNavalesi/115605106392628909I want to highlight this response because I often feel this way. But, many of the people who have found their way to the fedi are already interested in software. It can be alien to your ‘average person’. Just the other day my mother asked: “Why do I see posts from people I don’t know on Facebook?” I explained that was the algorithm. ”So, someone *else* just decides what I see?! that’s awful.” She only just noticed! But, she seemed more open in that moment to learning about alternatives.
(DIR) Post #B0ZcZ7NpKkmpJb0ATY by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-24T14:40:00Z
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For many people programs are immutable. They just are the way that they are. Thinking about a computer program or search engine as something that you could shape or change to suit your purposes isn’t what our computer education teaches.People expect to work within the limits of the applications and software— not play a role in shaping its design.
(DIR) Post #B0ZcvgoSHwLdZJDgi8 by creativegamingname@infosec.exchange
2025-11-24T14:44:03Z
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@futurebird I think more people need to be aware of this.Just because one happens to know about, care about, or understand a problem doesn't mean that everyone does or will or even can.Experts need to ease use, not gatekeep it.
(DIR) Post #B0ZfuWNPu63Em4huc4 by graydon@canada.masto.host
2025-11-24T15:17:28Z
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@futurebird "People work on narrative" is a constraint; not only do you need to have heard the story, you need to be able to imagine yourself in a role with sufficient agency in that story.And then it needs to be a materialist story; "there is always a reason", rather than "it hates me".Highly technical people post memes about printer malice because even for them, the story of agency and intention is much more convincing that the story of a consistent universe of subtle causes.
(DIR) Post #B0Zw3BXULSmg1LZUGG by mauvedeity@mastodon.social
2025-11-24T18:18:17Z
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@futurebird and this, I think, includes computers. Which is why “Switch to Linux” is a struggle.
(DIR) Post #B0aQQOYH7yZHfEvHCS by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-24T23:58:41Z
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One more hurdle to having these conversations is how many people will say "oh I don't use social media. It's so awful."How do you know?And it's mostly true. They don't use it often, but well they were planning the garden center picnic on Facebook, your nephew uses it... a dozen other things. These social media users don't really see themselves as social media users, No! that is some young person taking selfies or photos of their food.They can't be in danger of being influenced. Right?
(DIR) Post #B0aQaPvoqvO8q5iLc8 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-25T00:00:29Z
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I suspect there is a high correlation between thinking "social media is so terrible" and being very much bombarded by the very worst nonsense, scams, influence campaigns, and time sinks.I tend to say "I love social media, I use it every day and I learn so much from it. It makes my life better."People look at me like I have five heads.
(DIR) Post #B0aQu81P9Pwn5Hj3ya by libramoon@mastodon.social
2025-11-25T00:04:01Z
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@futurebird the difference is between using social media for your purposes, and letting social media use you for theirs
(DIR) Post #B0aR94Lz4Scc3GTZc8 by kzeta@mastodon.social
2025-11-25T00:06:42Z
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When I joined, even as someone who had spent 15 years in the tech industry (+ many years before that studying online interactions)... I felt intimidated by the fediverse.I probably joined Mastodon about 2 years later than I would have otherwise, had it felt easier. I was confused by what all the servers meant and worried about choosing the wrong server.@futurebird
(DIR) Post #B0aRCPZcdFWijVRt6u by screwturn@mastodon.social
2025-11-25T00:07:19Z
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@futurebird I love social media It is my direct conduit to beta readers, experts, and other writers. Building good stories would be soooo much harder without it.
(DIR) Post #B0aRTICnHQNKntowO8 by kzeta@mastodon.social
2025-11-25T00:08:31Z
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(Turns out, according to many posts I've seen around here, I *did* choose the wrong server when I decided to go with mastodon.social. But thankfully most people are pretty welcoming, regardless.)@futurebird
(DIR) Post #B0aRTJci0YhPCYx9Q8 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-25T00:10:23Z
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@kzeta There are some things to complain about with .social but people will complain about anything here. For example that I am posting this from a mac and "only" using firefox. Don't let it bug you too much. If you feel that .social works its a fine way to participate.
(DIR) Post #B0aRf349OTcXKCNpcu by kzeta@mastodon.social
2025-11-25T00:12:30Z
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@futurebird I suppose that's all part of being with a bunch of humans! And for the most part, I appreciate the values behind a lot of the complaints I see.
(DIR) Post #B0aRgAcwlbS946C5wW by dancline@mstdn.social
2025-11-25T00:12:43Z
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@futurebird I really enjoy your posts. Keep up the good work!
(DIR) Post #B0aSiWw2tfWCmlogfA by picofarad@noauthority.social
2025-11-25T00:24:26Z
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@futurebird i like either complete anarchy or complete lockdown of user content. the half measures of reddit and facebook and X are awful. Also i like the "not dopamine" algorithms of HN and fedi. I have 4 fedi accounts and i only use this one because the "local" on the other servers are real ... uh... not good.
(DIR) Post #B0aY8WLqBqZGH55vRA by scott@sfba.social
2025-11-25T00:38:49Z
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@kzeta @futurebird Don’t beat yourself up about it. We all had a Yahoo! account at some point, too. We couldn’t have known then what we know now. 😜
(DIR) Post #B0aY8Xr4bD92wEiNl2 by kzeta@mastodon.social
2025-11-25T00:40:49Z
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@scott @futurebird 🤣It's true.And Hotmail. And, now... GMail 😭
(DIR) Post #B0aY8ZD5YqLj8o1TiC by scott@sfba.social
2025-11-25T01:23:50Z
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@kzeta @futurebird oh god you used Gmail how embarrassing 😂(I’m kidding but also secretly pleased that people are finally turning against Gmail … at least here on #fedi) 😅
(DIR) Post #B0aY8aS0wpsmzO0ucC by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-11-25T01:25:02Z
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@scott @kzeta I use an email server I made from an old payphone and a paperclip. Anything less would be ludicrously insecure.
(DIR) Post #B0aYlx3cpZm0OcNOzo by scott@sfba.social
2025-11-25T01:32:11Z
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@futurebird @kzeta 😂 sounds like early ARPANET! #MakeTheInternetDIYAgain
(DIR) Post #B0aZCkoWSbDwF45oCO by kzeta@mastodon.social
2025-11-25T01:37:02Z
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@futurebird @scott 🤣 genius!
(DIR) Post #B0bPvVEgQAMcZizKVs by cxxvii@aus.social
2025-11-25T11:27:44Z
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@futurebird This both leads to and seems partially the result of letting businesses dictate the course of computer education. Schools buy a set of PCs or laptops or ipads, and use whatever software that's advertised or comes with a student discount, because the alternative is relying on the one or two people internally who "know stuff" to engineer a whole setup of programs and system-admining whatever each class/teacher needs.Maybe schools could have some sort of dedicated "Computing in Education Engineer" who can figure out needs/requirements and weigh up options? Though it's hard, there isn't a great precedent for how to do it, and it easily could lead to bespoke setups that get phased out when no-one can fix them.But yeah, I've noticed some people find relying on companies, as opposed to individuals or smaller groups, for software stuff as giving themselves more independence, because even editing numbers in a text file is intimidating. Which isn't wrong, it's hard to navigate things when you don't feel like you understand them.I think figuring how to fix this situation is one of the most important software/computing problems, either by having software that reaches people where they're at, or finding ways to demystify computers to a wider audience. People need to be made more involved in their software choices and it's creation? but how, that's the problem.