I got a new laptop. Well my parent's got me a new laptop. The early 2011 one would no longer communicate with my phone, run gmail through my mail, or operate the current Chrome.

Now I am all set up and I have no chords that will work with it. WTF did Apple stop using USB??? FUCKERS.

Will the board take me back?

I was about to answer this but amyparker said it better than I could.

Delighted to see your pixels, Emily. (And yours, Parker.)

Will the board take me back?

This is the place I will always come back to.

It took me a long time to figure out how to log out of all my meta apps. Which creeps me out quite a bit. I think it will be very, very good for me. I'm lisa70.bluesky.social. Also, I'm on signal and snapchat if you have my phone number. Or if you want it, just let me know and I'll send it to you.

It's really weird how quiet online is without the filler bs that FB and IG put in the feeds.

Also realizing how much of IG was people just reposting memes. Since Bluesky, at least what I've seen this far, is more text posts than images and memes, there is less of that from the people I followed.

Alas, my job has just added new tasks that involve being on FB a fair amount. Otherwise, I'll probably continue to use it to keep up with relatives and friends while rolling my eyes at anything purporting to be news or verified facts.

Thanks for the welcome back! Hec, how long will you be in Japan? I remember that Matilda was going, but I missed details.

I actually really enjoyed TikTok, but it was immediately too addictive. Also trends move so fast that I would get nostalgic after a week. I feel a little sad about all those "men like pterodactyls!" and cosplay lipsync videos.

I cut way back on Meta just by unpinning the FB tab on my laptop and putting it into a folder on my phone. I checked my settings yesterday and glanced at it long enough to find a couple more bsky names. I've tried to minimize the ability of ads to reach my eyeballs, but there are some very useful industry groups that I don't want to completely lose so I haven't made a complete break (yet).

I do need to figure out how to get involved in some local groups offline.

I got the signal app four years ago and never did anything with it. I now have that set up as far as I can tell.

Cash, I've been meaning to say that I'm happy to be a local contact for your eldest if ever needed.

I got hooked on TikTok during my breast reduction surgery recovery 2 years ago. I think the thing that pisses me off most on a personal level about our tech oligarchy is that it shouldn't feel like any kind of political statement to use an app that helps keep me in touch with far-flung friends and relatives (FB) or lets me amuse myself in spare moments with the antics of, say, a charmingly eccentric cat rescuer in Vancouver (TikTok).

Amen, Susan. As others said, I don’t feel any safer just because the billionaire with my data is American instead of Chinese…but also I just want nice things!! Why can’t we have nice things. (Other than borg)

Hec, how long will you be in Japan? I remember that Matilda was going, but I missed details.

I'll be there for ten days, about equally split between Tokyo and Kyoto. Matilda will be there for three months, studying Japanese. I overlap with her orientation but leave on her first day of class. She'll be with a host family (the mother is into Kendo and Country Guitar). They have a dog! We're looking for the right dog present.