I closed my X and Linkedin accounts today and I also closed my YouTube channel.
Asocial media is a waste of time, effort and money.
I still have my Medium account and, at least for the time being, will keep posting there – behind the paywall.
Yes, Medium is also some kind of asocial media, but for the time being, it’s also a comfortable way for me to get paid for my writing without having to go through some ridiculous rules made up by American tech billionaires that will only get those billionaires paid – for MY work – but not me.
Depending on how things develop, I might wipe Medium at some point in the not so distant future, too. But the jury is still out on that.
I will definitely not engage in any discussions on Medium or post any comments there.
I’m just sick and tired of Internet “discussions”: As I’ve said before, Internet discussion forums are like those shabby, dirty bars in ugly, dark side-streets in big cities that reek of urine. Places where you go to talk to some Whisky (usually cheap American Bourbon), but certainly not where you go to have an intelligent conversation that actually means something.
If you have to say something about what I publish either here or on Medium or in one of my books – publish a post on your own webpage, under your own Medium profile or write your own book about the topic.
In the meantime, I will just keep my distance from those Internet shitholes – and keep my mental sanity while I’m at it.
Good luck out there. You’ll need it.
Update Jan 2, 2025:
I re-activated my X account for one simple reason: To be able to use Grok.
I have to give it to the xAI crew around Elon Musk: For my personal needs, Grok is the best Large Language Model out there, and it’s also a damn fine illustrator.
Grok is better than the alternatives, because Grok does not work for Disney or self-proclaimed activists. Grok is an unfiltered and purely fact-based tool – or rather: assistant – for adults that is not censoring itself to serve an (ideological) agenda.
Copilot, as offered by Windows 11, is nice and friendly and tries its best, too – but you can feel that its output is being filtered and censored. And when you ask Copilot to create an image for you, you very quickly get the impression that it works in some kind of “Disney family friendly” mode. It flat-out refuses to illustrate specific topics even if you explicitly ask for non-sexual, non-nude illustrations for the post you’re currently writing.
Copilot will also refuse to come up with a joke about certain subjects for all the wrong typical reasons that you always hear from a specific (human) crowd. Grok does not have such (ideological, woke) limitations.
I’ve already said before that Grok alone is worth the cost of the annual X Premium subscription, and I say it again.
I will avoid the news feeds on X as much as I possibly can and I will also try to restrain myself and not comment on things that I read on X, but I will keep using Grok.
