cbchealth_mirror (@cbchealth_mirror@mastodon.hongkongers.net)
Manitoba to ban social media, AI chatbots for youth, premier says
Manitoba will ban youth from using social media and AI chatbots, Premier Wab Kinew announced on Saturday. The proposed law protecting youth from the harmful effects of social media will be the first of its kind in Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-social-media-age-restrictions-9.7177470?cmp=rss
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simsus (@simsus@social.tchncs.de)
heise+ | Plattformen und Haftung: Das Prinzip Nichtverantwortung wankt | c't Magazin https://www.heise.de/hintergrund/Plattformen-und-Haftung-Das-Prinzip-Nichtverantwortung-wankt-11208254.html #heiseplus #DigitalServicesAct #DSA #SocialMedia
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Zf (@Zf@c.im)
The #WHCD Shooting —
An opportunity for Unhinged Lefty Lunatics across #SocialMedia to also! show support for hatred, anger, and violence, and stand, sit, doom-scroll #United …for having the same Shit for Brains.
#US #Lefty #Lunatic
#DIN 🔫 #DIN 🔫
#POO 💩 #POO 💩
#Photography
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thoroughmas (@thoroughmas@mastodon.au)
I didn't know about Beeper when I set up my Matrix Synapse server... but I'm still very glad I did it.
Blog: https://thomid.me/matrix-bridges-got-me-off-social-media/
#matrix #beeper #socialmedia #selfhosting #blog
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heiseonline (@heiseonline@social.heise.de)
nebenan.de: "Wert entsteht durch die Nachbarschaft, nicht durch die Plattform"
nebenan.de vernetzt Menschen lokal. Geschäftsführer Witzmann über Unterschiede zu sozialen Netzwerken und Monetarisierung.
#Android #Digitalisierung #Internet #iOS #IT #Nachhaltigkeit #SocialMedia #news
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cbccanada_mirror (@cbccanada_mirror@mastodon.hongkongers.net)
Manitoba to ban social media, AI chatbots for youth, premier says
Manitoba will ban youth from using social media and AI chatbots, Premier Wab Kinew announced on Saturday. The proposed law protecting youth from the harmful effects of social media will be the first of its kind in Canada.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/manitoba-social-media-age-restrictions-9.7177470?cmp=rss
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2026 (@2026@twaddle.blog)
Death of the doomscroller
Exactly one year ago today I started a little experiment. It had been sparked by a post I had seen on social media, and ironically led to me leaving social media entirely(ish). A few days after I started the experiment I wrote about it here (eight paragraphs from the end), but in brief I decided to stop scrolling on my phone and read an ebook instead.
I had been aware for some time that whenever I had a free moment the phone would come out and I would spend that time scrolling through (predominantly) negative content. Intermittently I had tried ideas to reduce my scrolling time, getting rid of most of my accounts, deleting apps from my phone, trying to write instead, but nothing had properly stuck.
As I said in the blog last year, the recommendation on the social media post had been to download and read an ebook instead of scrolling. I was not sure if this would work, but decided to give it a try. I downloaded Small Gods by Terry Pratchett, and set about trying to stick to the plan.
Given I am writing this a year later you can probably guess what happened, but to be clear today is the one year anniversary of me reading ebooks instead of scrolling. Every day for the last 365 days I have read on my phone instead of doomscrolling. Today I announce the death of a doomscroller.
Great, but you are still on your phone…
I’m not sure I was 100% convinced I would make it to a year of reading instead of scrolling. As I have said above I had tried other things before which did not work. I imagined this plan would be something similar. To my surprise, it has worked.
Like any good experiment, it is important to evaluate the results. I’ve given up scrolling and replaced it with e-reading, but has it had the desired effect when I started; improve my overall wellbeing? This post is a reflection of sorts on the last year, what has changed, what I have learned, and what my plans are for the next year and beyond.
Let’s start with what you might think is the bleeding obvious…
I’ve read more
Duh!
But also, I’ve really read more. Over the last year on my phone I have read twenty books, abandoned one absolutely terrible book about 20% of the way through, and I am currently 55% of the way through my latest choice. Many of these books were Terry Pratchett books I had been wanting to read for some time, but in the last couple of months I had started to diversify a bit. I’ve also started a to-be-read pile online with a couple of books I will be tackling once I have finished The Portable Door.
I’ve really read more
As well as reading more on my phone, I have read more of the (many, many) books I have in my real life to-be-read pile. With less time spent doomscrolling on the phone, this has given me time to read, especially on an evening once the Toddler is in bed. I am currently working my way through the complete Earthsea collection, a hefty tome I might not have considered tackling a year ago for fear I would not have the time.
I’ve listened more
I am not sure if they are directly linked, but since giving up my doomscrolling, I have listened to more podcasts. Some of these are short stories, but mostly they are the selection of history shows I follow, a list which has only grown over the last year. I cannot quantify exactly how much, but I know I have spent more time listening and learning since the doomscrolling ceased.
I’m writing more
As well as having time to read, I have time on an evening to keep up to my plan to write something every day. Before, this might have been only a line or two before bed, now it can be pages of work on a good day. Over the last year I have finished one book, edited it and now I am submitting it to agents for consideration. I am also close to the first draft of a Christmas novella. Off the phone and at the keyboard has seen my productivity increase significantly.
My phone is missing me
Each Monday my phone gives me a breakdown of phone usage over the last week. Prior to giving up scrolling, this would often be to tell me my average use had gone up. Since stopping scrolling, the semi-judgemental comments have stopped, and each day I am averaging very little time on the phone. It is not just the summary which confirms my slow breakup with my phone, other than days I use my phone as a sat nav for long drives, the battery will easily last me the whole day.
I’m less connected
There is no getting around it, I am less connected to news and events taking place around the world. Now this is not necessarily a bad thing, news (social media based or otherwise) is biased towards negative stories, so less connection can be a positive thing. At the same time, being completely cut off from the world is a privileged position not everyone can afford to take. I am still using my RSS feed and checking on a news website daily for the headlines, but I only do so once a day. I am less connected, but not disconnected.
I am happier?
The purpose of the original post advising people to read more and scroll less was to improve people’s wellbeing and happiness. I did not have any worries about my mental health when I started this experiment, but I could see I would have more bad mood days when I had been heavy on the scrolling.
So am I happier a year down the line?
Probably… yes, maybe. How we feel day to day is a complex process. A big traumatic event on its own can impact how we are feeling, but smaller factors like the news we consume are not going to determine our mood alone. That being said, my outlook on life does seem a little more cheerful one year on. I certainly have a more positive view of the future than the Wife who has not changed her consumption habits. Of course the Wife’s view could be correct, everything is terrible and any positive views are deluded, but I’m sure there is a little more nuance to it, and cutting down the doomscrolling has at the very least given me a more balanced perspective.
The next 365 days
The biggest question I am left with, will I keep this up?
Short answer; yes.
Slightly longer answer; yes I will.
Actual answer which can form the conclusion of this post; yes I will keep my reading-instead-of-scrolling plan going for the next year and probably longer. Whether I will extend the plan to further replace my digital dependence is not something I have fully thought through. At the moment I am happy with the balance I have achieved, think the benefits above far outweigh the downsides, and there will be a point where I cannot switch off completely. As much as I would love to throw away the phone and live in a cabin in the woods, it’s not going to happen and time soon, and that is (probably) OK.
#Books #Doomscrolling #Phone #Reading #Scrolling #SocialMedia
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JazzyKindaFella (@JazzyKindaFella@zirk.us)
“ It's fun seeing all these warmongering, genocidal [enabling] stenographers on their knees though. 🙂”
@journalismandcomment #press #journalism #media #socialmedia #news #mastodon #cdnpoli #uspol #uspolitics #Lebanon #Iran #Palestine #MiddleEast #WestAsia
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activitypub (@activitypub@abid.cc)
ActivityPub
Just installed and testing #ActivityPub plugin on my #WordPress website. Hope it will make some #SocialMedia interactions. If it works, i may turn BiH Link into another #Fediverse instance
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p (@p@pixelfed.de)
Today the wind is 20 m/s and there’s sleet…
These are from one of my morning walks to work. The area in these images is the old Observatory and Toome Hill.
I edited these during a pause from my “learning Estonian language” project. I swear it is too close to Finnish—yet at the same time, quite far 😊
This is my second week in a quiet, more “normal” world without social media while mainly using Pixelfed. Sometimes I wonder what the best use of social media is when you’re not selling anything. It can act as a kind of buffer. People do Google people—and that buffer can keep the unwanted ones away 🙃😁
As for those who can’t handle direct talk or honest expression of thoughts or emotions—I’m not going to alter my content for them. That’s their problem, not mine. I’m done walking on eggshells. There’s no need to carefully craft every word for people who present themselves as “strong” but can’t handle straightforward communication.
#history #toomehill #estonia #people #socialmedia #expression #photos #nikon #photographing #sun #morningwalk #thoughts
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Cartoonjournaal (@Cartoonjournaal@mastodon.social)
Cartoonjournaal 26 april 2026.
Lees het bijbehorende artikel op mijn LinkedIn profiel:
#cartoonjournaal #humor #socialmedia #nieuws #SchijfVanVijf #gezondheid #bestuiving #bijen #hommels #zweefvliegen #nectar #honing #voedsel #voeding #ecologie #duurzaamheid #PFAS #ZwareMetalen #drinkwater #CO2 #pesticiden #klimaat
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GrumpyOldFart (@GrumpyOldFart@expressional.social)
This is a *very* sinister development & one that imo is leading us down the path to full-blown Palantir-enabled fascism!
You only need to check out what’s going down in TrumpLand (see below), building upon lessons learned during the #PalestinianGenocide (viz #Lavender & #WheresDaddy), to envision the road the #MetPolice are taking us down!!!
“Being Assassinated in Your Home by a Killer Robot Sent by a Fascist State Is No Longer Science Fiction”
by Thom Hartmann in Common Dreams
@uk_politics
@NHSrCommunity
@nhsactivistrn
@NoPalantirInSouthYorkshire
“ICE has signed contracts worth more than $60 million with Peter Thiel’s Palantir to build something called ImmigrationOS and a targeting app called ELITE, which stands for Enhanced Leads Identification and Targeting for Enforcement”
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/killer-robots-science-fiction
#Press #SocialMedia #US #UK #Palantir #Thiel #Fascism #NHS #ELITE #ICE #CBP #Trump
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