Decentralize Your Internet

From the article “Tech Workers Rebel Against a Lame-Ass Internet by Bringing Back ‘Geocities-Style’ Webrings“:

Take Linvega’s LowTech WebRing as an example. A given site connects to two other sites, which connect to two more sites, forming a closed-loop: a ring. Users tout the format as something more like wandering through a neighborhood, reinfusing cyberspace with a sense of exploration and curiosity they associate with the internet of the 90s. A WebRing’s organizing principle permeates the content on its pages. For example, the many computer engineers and tech professionals of the LowTech ring share their experiences trying to live “low-tech” lifestyles, like learning carpentry and sewing, keeping gardens, and swapping simple, healthy recipes.

You don’t need to do a webring to fully unplug from the Internet matrix. Just killing your social media accounts, like I did, like Ed did, and Jill (I think) did, is a huge step forward in the right direction. I had thought of keeping my Goodreads account, but I temporarily deactivated it, and realized after a month of not using it and not missing it, it was better to just kill it with the rest of them.

Additionally in my case, decentralizing was also a matter of dropping services like Mailchimp and Feedburner to send out email updates for new posts. I was at an advantage to begin with, having already bought server space so I could host my blog and other sites I’ve designed; I didn’t have to deal with the nightmare of getting off cloud services.

The real task for most folks is figuring out how to connect with people without having to deal with all of the noise and mind-virus nonsense of their feeds.