Mood: Bored

Listening: Disco Fetish

It’s been about 6 months since I wrote Opt Out and its going pretty well, with the sole stumbling point being YouTube. Previously every time I’ve considered giving it up entirely I would end up coming up with a reason to just whittle my usage down a little.

Well not this time, I’ve quit, and I’m not going back. No Freetube, no Grayjay, no idly watching stuff on Invidious at work to run down the clock, it’s just gone.

I’m floundering a little, there were some useful things I got out of YouTube that I’m not sure how to replace, but the SNR of the platform is so obscenely low that I just couldn’t justify continuing to interact with it, even through front ends.

YouTube was the last social media/prolefeed chute/Sennacherib corporate time vortex I used and I guess I didn’t realise just how much time I spent on it, because I have an absurd amount of extra free time now. I’m reading a lot more, which is great, and I’m reading a larger variety of stuff, a lot more soft/fluffy reading, action novels, manga, that kind of stuff, not ennobling by any measure but definitely better than YT was.
More importantly, I’m sleeping earlier and spending less time looking at screens, both of which are massive quality of life improvements.

I’m doing a fair bit of photography at the minute, I’ve been spending my weekends and evenings combing over waste ground and less travelled bits of nature, taking pictures of rubbish, rotting trees, mushrooms, berries and other autumnal things. Its fun, most of my pictures are terrible, but I don’t care, I value the exploration and appreciation aspect of it, I have always liked these kinds of places and I am always happy to find another one. I must start to bring a little picker and bin bags with me, because I do tend to find a huge amount of rubbish.

I saw a woodpecker today for the first time in my life, hammering away at a canted pine tree.

The world seems agitated this winter, ill portents everywhere for the new year. I suppose we will see what comes of them.