#6201
here's a weird real life thing about me that i like to pull out
i went to the psychoanalytic institute and they assigned me rahm emanuel's ex-sister in law as my therapist
#6202
Delete FB and come post with us. I've been FB clean for years and i don't miss it
#6203
[account deactivated]
#6204
its handy to chat to friends occasionally, if you have them, but everything else is bad.
#6205
ive got a friend who spends a lot of time commenting earnestly on facebook page posts about politics and im always kind of shaking my head @ him. not coincidentally hes also depressed
#6206
i quit fb a few months ago and havent looked back. i can talk with everyone i care about keeping in touch with through other channels. got rid of twitter years ago. all social media is poison, he posted on the web forum
#6207
Facebook clean for a couple years as well and have no inclination of returning. I have an unsearchable account with no info that I can use to see certain events or send emergency messages. Seems like it is a platform for olds at this point anyway. I think most people only have them because they need it for logistical purposes , like how several years back people still had landlines even though most calls were probably telemarketers
#6208

toyotathon posted:

yeah there's nothin on facebook you cannot live without, it is brain garbage, and if you sign up to be monitored by the state security apparatus it might as well be from posting on a communist forum


posts in the pdf forum should be pretty safe, at least

i mean i've been assuming the file server's speed is one step up from snailmail because dr cat went full paranoiac on security, but it might also just be a shit server

#6209
[account deactivated]
#6210
I've never had a Facebook. I'm basically off the grid.

toyotathon posted:

considering half the 70s-80s movement docs we've got up there came from the CIA FOIA archive itself, i dunno why it's gotta be so locked down. or why we don't split the forum to public/private for the few recent ones.

eh probably should move this discussion to the forum itself



This place sounds cool, but I'm guessing you guys don't just hand out access to it.

#6211
i thought it was a joke but if it's real i want in too lol
#6212
its real
#6213
[account deactivated]
#6214
The Posadist Dirigible Fanciers forum
#6215

bit188 posted:

i thought it was a joke but if it's real i want in too lol


its all a big hoax to throw off the cia moles. or is it?

#6216

Belphegor posted:

The Posadist Dirigible Fanciers forum


I went on this and it was nothing but China Mieville threads

#6217
its the all saints day. let us ask in our hearts for the intervention of our forum patrons, O SariBari, o FARKsnEngels, o mustang XIX
#6218
shout out to my dad who survived heart surgery the other day and with whom ive spent way too much time in the ICU over the weekend. in honour of the nurse assigned to him most of yesterday here is leah by roy orbison because her name is leah and he periodically reminded her that roy orbison did a song called leah.
#6219
[account deactivated]
#6220
[account deactivated]
#6221

Caesura109 posted:

Does anyone have good solutions to not being extremely angry about politics 24/7? Like how to fight the feeling that everything around you is incredibly moronic and gullible and immersed in evil delusions and all barreling towards a world you really don't want. Sometimes I actually talk to people about political issues and it reminds me that most people are far more reasonable offline, but then I go Online and it's a hellish nightmare, hundreds of voices with shitty takes that feel like they have strings attached. I actually grind my teeth at night and dream about politics now.


log off

seriously, the absolute best thing ive done for my mental health in the past few years was delete all social media accounts, they are poison for anyone who gives a shit about politics. i do fine without, but if you absolutely must have a fb account for keeping in touch with irl people like relatives, make a new one just for them and only check it on your computer when you need to, keep that shit off your phone at all costs

apart from that, make sure you have some kind of hobby, even if it seems incredibly dumb or pointless. and get a little drunk/high occasionally if you can, it breaks things up a little and seems to help imo. ganbatte

#6222
[account deactivated]
#6223
i just left facebook and am kind of in a similar trap. i feel like i got caught between two cliques on leftbook neither of which i was part of and ended up being a casualty in this excommunication shit for my own opinions. i feel like i need to be on social media to be an effective communist, i radicalized through SA offsites and this has always been what i have done. but people on facebook follow the logic of the format of the site (narcissism and personal branding) to the point where it distorts any communication. talking to an audience every response is a variation of the pattern people use in speech when they are one-upping each other and everything you say is sacrificed to this logic. not a good place for good faith discussion or any kind of complex thinking about an issue.
being away from facebook is making me think abour privacy; i have a choice and i can choose to engage or not. i felt almost like facebook was a requirement i couldn't sacrifice (not even an option to leave) and i was extremely vulnerable to the arbitariness of the clique bullshit. you have control over what you engage with and you can protect yourself from it by being careful. i can still be in wwp and meet communists online i just have to do it somewhere else. sorry this is kind of rambling
#6224
some of my IRLs have approached me about starting and administering a mastodon server because i do linux shit or whatever. i'm going to do this i guess cause i need a project and we will see where it goes. doubtful people would use it long-term or that it could be anything but we will see
#6225

Petrol posted:

shout out to my dad who survived heart surgery the other day


very glad to hear this

#6226
[account deactivated]
#6227
i've had a few normies from high school that were on my friends list tell me they genuinely appreciated my political posts because they were a totally different perspective that they had never heard. those were the people who were sad that i was leaving. it happens and that does feel good, i didn't expect that though.
#6228

Caesura109 posted:

Even if I log off, the news is unavoidable. Worried that the next time I read a particularly infuriating NYT Op-ed I won't have someone to rant about it to.


You can definitely avoid NYT op eds and anything else that you know in advance is just going to be a "hate read". Its a matter of willpower mate. Or choose to read em anyway and deal with the consequences, this is also fine

#6229
i am one of the aforementioned old people with a career and i agree with Petrol, log off. go offline. it is very not true that being a "good communist" or whatever (this is a construct you have made for yourself) requires you to use social media.

if any of the media theorists of the last ~60 years are correct, the structure itself of a specific medium carries ideology with it and so if you do want to have a "good communist" argument: it is almost certainly better for the clarity of your own mind to disengage from hypercapitalist communication structures, i.e. from Being Online. clearing your own head of bullshit and focusing on the present reality of lived experience of yourself and other humans through collective work, conversation, and just chilling out is quite literally the act of living in a community: communing, which theoretically is the goal, right?

the 2017 developed world is so lame (in both the uncool and crippled senses) that even just turning off your phone and computer is practically revolutionary. maybe just try it and see if it helps or not.

anyway time to click the post button on this forum and then alt-tab to another window to work
#6230
well the bit about being “effective” i think is inaccurate shorthand for something else entirely, just kind of wrote that bit down without thinking. the problem is i was set down the path to isolation and NEETdom super early on and i feel like i have a lot invested in online. i have been a shut-in since i was like fifteen and i am now twenty four. leaving facebook is a big problem for me socially. i don’t know how else to meet people except online and i have a super unhealthy relationship to social media even though i was still mostly marginalized there. it is like layer upon layer of rationalization and neurosis when i think about leaving. but i left and now i am re-thinking a lot of things
#6231
you should only use the internet to hang out with friends, and not for anything political if you can avoid it, said the man posting on the irony stalin forum
#6232
but seriously, this is going to sound flippant and all but you need to step back and try to not take politics stuff as seriously as you're doing. get some critical distance from it somehow. try reading those getfiscal tweets where he says politics is for nerds, take up a hobby or whatever.
#6233

bit188 posted:

well the bit about being “effective” i think is inaccurate shorthand for something else entirely, just kind of wrote that bit down without thinking. the problem is i was set down the path to isolation and NEETdom super early on and i feel like i have a lot invested in online. i have been a shut-in since i was like fifteen and i am now twenty four. leaving facebook is a big problem for me socially. i don’t know how else to meet people except online and i have a super unhealthy relationship to social media even though i was still mostly marginalized there. it is like layer upon layer of rationalization and neurosis when i think about leaving. but i left and now i am re-thinking a lot of things


one cool thing about facebook is you dont have to go cold turkey since they make it real easy to deactivate your account for as long as you like. so you can just try it out. post that you're taking a break; if there's anyone you want to keep in touch with but dont have other means, send em a PM and work it out; then deactivate. and see how it goes. try it for at least a week? you can still go online and read stuff and msg people in other ways but hopefully it'll give you some mental/emotional breathing space and encourage you to use some of your time and energy in other ways. baby steps. you'll do better than you expect!

#6234
It's right to be angry about politics but you don't need to be in the moment, hearing about every police brutalization, every far flung country getting usurped to bits, it's okay to not know about stuff. The internet is exhausting because it puts you in a position of constant reaction. Nobody needs you to have the answers, and nobody needs you to be socially charismatic or even likable, they need you to wash the dishes and stuff the mailing envelopes.
#6235
if you address the fundamental underlying issues that are making you miserable online people you will be able to remain calm and collected while reading even the most reactionary NYT editorial; have you considered the benefit of face to face interaction with people who care about you and you care about and share the same political views as yourself? perhaps meeting one a week to discuss politics? maybe that could turn into action? though if you feel that puts you in too much risk there is no pressure, just be upfront with people about what you can do. what im saying is you should join an org, or start a reading group, or something, anything except rotting on line; and then once you've done that maybe you can start to address some of the other things that are making you miserable and unhealthy and extremely online
#6236
As someone who has bipolar 2, I constantly switch between manic anger or extreme depression. My advice is two fold do a lot of drugs or find a hobby or do chores anything to keep your mind off whatever is currently pissing you off. Alternatively constantly bombard yourself with how terrible capitalism and our society is until you become desensitized to it.
#6237
[account deactivated]
#6238
[account deactivated]
#6239

bit188 posted:

well the bit about being “effective” i think is inaccurate shorthand for something else entirely, just kind of wrote that bit down without thinking. the problem is i was set down the path to isolation and NEETdom super early on and i feel like i have a lot invested in online. i have been a shut-in since i was like fifteen and i am now twenty four. leaving facebook is a big problem for me socially. i don’t know how else to meet people except online and i have a super unhealthy relationship to social media even though i was still mostly marginalized there. it is like layer upon layer of rationalization and neurosis when i think about leaving. but i left and now i am re-thinking a lot of things



I've moved countries and Facebook is practically a requirement for keeping up with people you want to not drift away from but wouldn't text or call regularly. I've tried to get around this by unfollowing every friend and group I'm in, so my feed is empty bar targeted ads, but I can check in on people and use messenger if I want. This has worked well for eliminating mindless scrolling and pointless "debates".

#6240

overfire posted:

bit188 posted:
well the bit about being “effective” i think is inaccurate shorthand for something else entirely, just kind of wrote that bit down without thinking. the problem is i was set down the path to isolation and NEETdom super early on and i feel like i have a lot invested in online. i have been a shut-in since i was like fifteen and i am now twenty four. leaving facebook is a big problem for me socially. i don’t know how else to meet people except online and i have a super unhealthy relationship to social media even though i was still mostly marginalized there. it is like layer upon layer of rationalization and neurosis when i think about leaving. but i left and now i am re-thinking a lot of things


I've moved countries and Facebook is practically a requirement for keeping up with people you want to not drift away from but wouldn't text or call regularly. I've tried to get around this by unfollowing every friend and group I'm in, so my feed is empty bar targeted ads, but I can check in on people and use messenger if I want. This has worked well for eliminating mindless scrolling and pointless "debates".



This is true and I hate how facebook has wormed its way into being a social necessity. I used to tell myself (and other people) "people got on just fine before social media, they kept in touch in other ways like letters" but then I realized you can't just live according to the old ways when the rest of your society is embracing the new ones. I have never moved countries but I've moved a few thousand kilometers. I don't think I have the discipline to use Facebook in a sanitized way like you suggest so my solution is just to drift away from people

weve all been royally Zucced