Facebook and Instagram.
10 years ago they were very helpful for keeping up with friends I didn’t see very often. Now, Facebook is full of sponsored posts and politics rather than the personal updates I want; and the Instagram feed has more posts from people I don’t follow than from people I do.
I stepped away from both a year ago. In the main, I don’t miss them. The unfortunate part is that Facebook is the only place local community stuff is posted, so I can’t quit entirely. But I no longer have the app on my phone; I just open it in Firefox when I need to look do a specific thing.
I quit 10 years ago because the bots were insane. The discourse was polarizing and truly showed how uneducated the masses are. Either that or my feeds were mostly bots made for engagement bait. I only miss some of the local pages I belonged to. But even those were filled with rage bait and the ignorant.
It always humored me to argue with someone in my neighborhood online only for them to completely be jovial to me in person. When I’d bring up their idiotic arguments they’d just walk away. Being outed as the village idiot in person still worked. But online, it was celebrated.
About 4-5 years ago, I noticed Reddit was catching up to that point in time when I quit facebook and Instagram. Bots, people who just want to see the world burn and a lack of serious and respectful discussion. Not that Reddit was ever respectful. But I’d find very insightful TIL or AMAs. It’s all disappeared.
Check out FB purity. I get nothing but friends and comms i’m part of on my feed.
Shit like Walmart+ or similar. If it’s your only option for groceries or whatever then that’s different but at least where I live you can save so much by shopping locally for certain things. It’s inconvenient at times, but trading inconvenience for corporate oversight is part of the reason my country is in so much shit as it is. I haven’t spent a fucking dime at Walmart in a few years and likewise for things like whole foods or comparable. Go to a farmers market, hell it’s a fun family outing on top of responsible use of your money. Same goes for door dash or Uber eats… I won’t argue the merit of being able to have vital things delivered when maybe you’re deathly ill but America’s culture encourages these conveniences for absurd markups and somehow makes into the literal lexicon of speech such as, Google it, or let’s just door dash it.
Paying a monthly fee to make something like this “cheaper” should be a clear fucking signal that you shouldn’t be using this in the first place unless it’s the only option.
I shop local whenever I can too! i recommend it. But then that’s something I can afford to do cos price wise it does add a few pounds. It’s definitely worth it IMO
Thing is if we all did that it wouldn’t be the extra fee quid or dollars, it would be the smart thing to do. Sadly convenience commands marketplaces in modern culture.
For me: Amazon Prime
Enshitification of their Services made me cancel my subscription a year ago and I have not missed it. Yeah, sometimes I order stuff from Amazon, but mostly it’s more than the free shipping limit - or I’ll pay for shipping and still come out ahead at the end of the year.
The enshittification of Amazon made me sad. I was an early user and I remember buying my college textbooks books there. I used them off and on for years until a friend made me part of his “family” for Prime. Then I got my own Prime and started using it too much. I had already been debating dropping it over the last few years. Shipping was taking longer than promised, clothes and product eventually became much lower quality, and the promo for garbage no name products made me frustrated.
I held on solely because of The Expanse series. Then they wanted extra money so I could not have commercials while watching my show. That on top of the nonsense the company has been doing in other areas made me decide to buy The Expanse series on iTunes and to chuck Amazon.
I do not miss it and I save so much money by not having it.
Yeah, but it’s one of my favorite shows and book series of all time, so I wanted to purchase it to support everyone involved. I’ve also been buying the audiobooks to support the authors and narrator.
I’m personally ok with pirating it elsewhere after I purchase though, so I do intend on downloading it at some point, I just haven’t gotten there yet. And stuff like that, I watch exclusively on my tv in the living room, which is not hooked up to a computer.
Buying anything from Amazon. I canceled my Amazon prime over 20 years ago.
I was a heavy Amazon user. It was $60 for the year and when they changed the pantry from anything that fits into the box with free shipping to not free shipping i decided it’s time to quit.
Also, when I heard that the warehouse inventory is all co-mingled, so even if you buy your skin care and vitamins from the “official” retailer store there’s no guarantee that you’ll get a genuine product. I vowed to never buy anything from amazon that I would consume or put on my body. Even cleaning products, I’ve received fraudulent products. Once you know what to look for, it’s quite easy to spot.
I buy from Amazon maybe once a year. And it’s typically only for something I can’t find elsewhere. Like a specific gift a friend or family sends a link for.
