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Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
What's App : Signal.
Instagram: Pixelfed
TikTok: loops
YouTube: peertube
Xitter: Mastodon (pleroma, akkoma, etc ...)
Google maps: open street map
Reddit: Lemmy π
Google search: duck duck go, startpage
I'll let you Google the names of the different apps.
Facebook: friendica
On phone instead of google maps I recommend Organic Maps! Best way to use open street map.
No love for Bluesky as a Xitter alternative?
Bsky is just another corporate venture, it is probably better than any other commercial alternative but it will inevitably go the same route as the others people are fleeing.
Bluesky isn't a twitter alternative, it's staged opposition. It's backed by the crypto industry. It's going to follow everything else that's supported by the tech bros.
Bsky seems like a good alternative now. Though unlike Mastodon, it does come with an expiration date until it turns to shit. I use it alongside mastodon as that is where most Twitter folks fled to. Just, I would not put all my eggs on the bsky basket.
Use mastodon and bridge your account to bluesky and ask people who you follow to please follow the bridge (or just join mastodon) so you can interact.
Bluesky is slightly better than twitter in that itβs distributed and does technically have federation. But federation on bluesky means you just mirror the entire network which makes it non-feasible for self hosters and small communities. Not to mention that once they do enshittify that they will probably pull some tomfoolery to keep people from migrating their PDS, to whatever relay they want.
Adding in yt-dlp. Not a platform but a useful tool to download youtube videos for archival or redistribution.
Hotel: trivago....
Ok jokes aside, add to that:
Whatsapp: SimpleX, Matrix Google Photos: Immich Reddit: Lemmy, Mbin, and Piefed
Google search: duck duck go, startpage
DuckDuckGo has a history of working with Microsoft to track users. Startpage is straight up owned by advertising company.
Use a search engine proxy like 4get, or a full meta search engine like SearXNG or MetaGer that pulls its data from multiple sources at once.
Signal: SimpleX
90% of these apps are doing nothing good for you. You don't need to replace them, you need to quit them and start touching grass. I'm also talking to myself here.
Talking all day to people you never see physically is damaging your brain.
Touch grass? It's -20C/-4F and there is snow outside :-(
Ah, then it's obviously take all of your clothes off and go roll around in the snow
Touch that frozen grass then :)
I think you're right but my only issue is permanently loosing contact with old friends from different countries.. If there's a change of phone numbers then I might not be able to contact them ever again..
Mastodon, Pixelfed, Signal.
Pixelfed is currently experiencing massive growth so that is a good Instagram alternative to focus on at the moment.
Messaging: Signal
Social Media: Mastodon, second choice Bluesky
Instagram: Pixelfed
Also, thereβs loops.video for reels, since Pixelfed only does images. Loops is running on the Pixelfed platform, and there appear to be plans to integrate the two at some point further down the road.
The biggest issue with Loops right now is that account verification emails seem to be sent out manually by the admins, so it can take a day or two to arrive after you initially create your account. And you canβt use the platform at all until that email arrives. So itβs not exactly the most friendly onboarding experience.
Why flock anywhere? Lemmy is the extent of my social media sine the reddit API changes.
You don't need social media.
Remember... when you're killing time it's killing you back.
Being productive is an effective way to waste one's life.
Maximize wasting time. None of your or almost anyone's works will be remembered.
Everything in moderation. Including moderation.
Fucking awesome quote. I'm going to keep that one in my back pocket.
There are some interesting ones that have already been mentioned here. But just be aware that they're ghost towns, when compared to the networks they'd be leaving. Their fav creators probably aren't on them, and neither are most of their friends or family.
They have a chicken and egg problem where people aren't on them because people aren't yet on them.
I describe to friends as βinternet rural lifeβ: things go slower, for now.
Thatβs how all these things started though. People at church over 50/60 are asking me about bluesky. Thatβs a good sign for me.
I'd argue that in some ways they are more active. Posting on Reddit was like farting in a hurricane.
In Lemmy there seems to be more interaction. You don't have to get a million up votes for anyone to see your post.
There are lots of Fediverse alternatives to social media, including Lemmy (which I guess you know about?) and the ones people have mentioned here already (Mastodon, Pixelfed, Loops, PeerTube). The advantage of the Fediverse is that it can't be co-opted by a single bad actor, in the way that Musk took over Twitter and made it into a Nazi bar.
US Postal Service
Facebook is a bad idea. All of those that link back to your real identity seem to get so bad so fast. I have never had one and just text people, email them, visit them in person. I don't need everyone to know everything all the time and can't understand why anyone does.
WhatsApp -> Simplex
I recommend Simplex over signal because its not tied to your phone number and has no identifiers.
The first messenger without user IDs
Though I agree with it being a good recommendation, Signal is BY FAR easier to set up and have people use. I think that's what will help adoption.
Discoverability is the issue. It is one of the main reasons Signal sticks with phone numbers.
Everyone in my contact list is a potential Signal contact. That's useful. Chat is still private.
If I want secret chats, I use Simplex.
Consult privacyguides.org for guidance regarding new messaging and email solutions. I imagine you'll probably want to ask your family to sign up for signal.
The only alternative to social media is the fediverse. The bad news is that the fediverse is not private. The good news is that frankly social media as a concept just isn't mandatory, so if you need privacy, you can just...not. Once you break the addiction, you realize how unnecessary it all was.
RedNote
π
If all you want is a place to get memes, hello, you're in the least bad place on the internet, the indie web/fediverse.
But to keep in touch with family members and friends, who are likely not techy people?
.... I guess you could get them on Signal?
I mostly talk to my folks through Telegram, but that's as far as I could take them (still consider it a win over using WhatsApp, because Telegram might be full of fascists but at least has an open API and a competent Linux client)
Facebook: Delete it. Not necessary. I've had a happy and fulfilling life without ever going near that misery pit.
Instagram: This is just Facebook again.
WhatsApp: just learn or invent a coded language and use it to talk to family and friends.
Facebook: Friendica
instagram: Pixelfed
Whatsapp: Signal,Matrix
as used, the word βFascismβ is almost entirely meaningless. In conversation, of course, it is used even more wildly than in print. I have heard it applied to farmers, shopkeepers, Social Credit, corporal punishment, fox-hunting, bull-fighting, the 1922 Committee, the 1941 Committee, Kipling, Gandhi, Chiang Kai-Shek, homosexuality, Priestley's broadcasts, Youth Hostels, astrology, women, dogs and I do not know what else.
George Orwell, 1944