We use stories to make sense of our world. I haven’t been able to find a compelling, accessible explanation to persuade people to abandon the walled gardens of Big Tech in favor of the Fediverse… until now. Please read along for my very Italian way of describing the Fediverse as a healthy space and a beacon of hope in these dark times.
How the Past Can Improve Our Future
“You can tell a lot about a person from the role models they have” said my friend Ziya, as we enjoyed our first face-to-face encounter. It was the winter of 2018 and Ziya and I were having dinner in Vancouver, after years of interacting virtually on Twitter (1.0). Ziya had brought up the topic of role models after I mentioned to her that I keep a photo of the late cultural critic Neil Postman on my desk. He is undoubtedly one of the most influential people in my life - someone who has helped shape my way of thinking, of seeing the world, and yes - a role model. As I type this - at a different desk than I had in 2018 - I am staring at his photo, a black and white headshot where Neil Postman smiles at the camera.
For those of you not familiar with him, Postman wrote some seminal books about the influence of media and technology on society; Amusing Ourselves to Death is his most notable work. After reading an op-ed piece in the Guardian by Postman’s son Andrew in February 2017 – “My dad predicted Trump in 1985 – it's not Orwell, he warned, it's Brave New World” – I went down a Postman rabbit hole, reading anything by him that I could find. His books provided a sanctuary from the chaotic media environment of the Trump years, circa 2017-2020.
Following another shock to the system – a looming second Trump presidency – I am finding once again solace in the books of the late Neil Postman (who passed away in 2003, but whose words are always eerily prescient).
I just finished reading his 1999 book Building a Bridge to the 18th Century: How the Past Can Improve Our Future. The book covered recurrent topics by Postman but also some novel concepts that made me think of the Fediverse and its almighty struggle against the Galactic Empire of Big Tech.
A word about digital homes – and social media migrations
As I read Postman, something peculiar is happening on social media: an exodus from X (formerly Twitter) and Threads by Meta towards Bluesky, an allegedly decentralized network that is currently enjoying a lot of buzz. Cue: exasperation by people on the Fediverse who see Bluesky as another VC-backed network “cosplaying decentralization”, which recently got a big round of investment by crypto bros.
I would argue that since the acquisition of Twitter 1.0 by Elon Musk in October 2022 there has been a lot of confusion about which network could emerge as its successor: there was T2 Social, Post, Substack Notes (shuddering as I type this)… Tech journalists zeroed in on Threads in the summer of 2023, but they are now turning to Bluesky as of November 2024. Throughout all this, one thing is certain: the Fediverse has, time and time again, been snubbed, deemed “too technical”, “too complicated” or “too boring” for regular folks.
I have been writing a blog series – this blog series! – The Future is Federated with the aim of introducing the Fediverse to people not familiar with it. I’m super passionate about it, all in. And even I often struggle to talk about the Fediverse with my own friends and family.
What is the point of all this, you may wonder? Well, reading Postman provided a big eureka moment for me - an understanding of why I struggle so much to convince my friends to abandon commercial social media in favor of the Fediverse. Drum roll: the Fediverse may be missing a clear, cohesive narrative.
Making sense of our world through stories
In the opening chapter of Building a Bridge to the 18th Century Postman wrote:
When people do not have a satisfactory narrative to generate a sense of purpose and continuity, a kind of psychic disorientation takes hold, followed by a frantic search for something to believe in or, probably worse, a resigned conclusion that there is nothing to find.
Technically the Fediverse has everything one would need to enjoy independent social media, away from the surveillance capitalism that powers Big Tech. What has been difficult is finding a story, a simple narrative anyone could follow that would explain WHY the Fediverse is the most empowering, most ethical technological solution out there for social media.
Mentioning all its technical advantages (no algorithms, no advertising, full data ownership and control) invariably gets the attention of my friends… but they never follow up and take active steps to join it.
I now realize that speaking about features isn’t enough.
I think I found a way to explain the Fediverse and make it appealing to my friends and contacts - a very Italian, but highly accessible way to frame it, via an analogy that anyone could understand.
I’m eager to share this with you and hear your thoughts – maybe you’ll find this helpful and adopt my analogy too, helping your friends understand the numerous advantages of the Fediverse.
Forget cigarettes; let’s think about food instead
Most tech critics and politicians have discussed the need to regulate social media platforms like cigarettes. Take this recent headline from Politico: “Control smartphones like tobacco, says leading WHO expert.” An excerpt:
Countries should consider regulating digital devices like smartphones in a similar way to tobacco products, to combat social media's rising negative impact on young people's mental health, the World Health Organization’s Natasha Azzopardi Muscat said. With increasing evidence that problematic gaming and social media behavior is on the rise among adolescents in Europe, countries should take inspiration from other areas of public health where legislation has helped address potentially damaging habits — such as tobacco laws, she said. Measures including age limits, controlled prices and even no-go zones worked for regulating tobacco, so they could be taken as an example for how to curb damaging use of handheld devices like smartphones.
I have often heard this analogy and I never found it appealing; I have always been turned off by cigarettes and even though they seem to still enjoy popularity, you can’t say that every single adolescent, adult and senior citizen carries a pack of cigarettes with them, in their pocket, all day. You would never see a parent give a pack of cigarettes to their elementary school child - someone would immediately call child protective services! But smartphones are increasingly popular amongst the under 10 population - amongst all of us, really. This is why the cigarette analogy simply doesn’t work for me.
But food?
Highly processed foods versus a plant-based diet?
Now we’re talking.
Organic, plant-based, home-cooked meals versus… Big Food
Neil Postman wrote:
I regard it as stupid to be anti-technology. That would be something like being anti-food. We need technology to live, as we need food to live. But, of course, if we eat too much food, or eat food that has no nutritional value, or eat food that is infected with disease, we turn a means of survival into its opposite. The same may be said of our technology.
And, I should add, the same may said about our social networks.
You can’t put all social media networks under the same umbrella of dangerous, toxic, highly addictive platforms. Healthy by design social media platforms DO EXIST, like the Fediverse and its galaxy of independent, interconnected instances.
I have come to see the Fediverse as the equivalent of organic, plant based, home-cooked meals and by contrast I see TikTok, Instagram, X, Threads, Snap and other platforms by Big Tech as the equivalent of Big Food – brands like Coca Cola, McDonalds, Nestlé, that promote ultra-processed, highly addictive foods and beverages, contributing to an epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes and other diet-related diseases.
Big Food and Big Tech: the similarities
What do Big Food and Big Tech have in common?
- Dizzying profits. Nestlé alone (the world’s largest food company) increased its gross profits by almost 3% in 2022 to $46 billion. Meta Platforms’ annual gross profit for 2022 was $91.36 billion.
- Prioritizing profits over health. Big Food companies produce highly processed, calorie-dense, sugar-rich foods that are mostly unhealthy. Similarly, platforms like Meta and TikTok have admitted in internal reports they know they cause harm, especially to their younger users (read: a report about Meta and one about TikTok). And yet, these Big Tech platforms do nothing to change their features, prioritizing profits over health.
- Hiring specialists to make their products addictive. In the New York Times article “The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food” Michael Foss discusses how food scientists and engineers use human biology, psychology, and chemistry to create junk food that is irresistibly delicious and highly addictive. They carefully balance sugar, salt and fat to hit the pleasure centers in our brain… often leading to overeating. Similarly, engineers working for Big Tech companies use variable rewards and features like the “infinite scroll” and “streaks” to give users “dopamine hits” and maximize time spent on platforms.
- Lobbying for policies that favor their interests. Both Big Tech and Big Food spend a lot of money on lobbyists in order to protect their interests (opposing regulations on food labeling, sugar taxes for Big Food and opposing age limits for Big Tech as a few examples).
- Prioritizing convenience. Big Food has ultra-processed, ready-to-eat meals: easy and fast to prepare, but mostly devoid of nutritional benefits. Big Tech has social platforms with easy to understand user interfaces that can be joined - and enjoyed - instantly.
By contrast, the Fediverse:
- is self-funded (admins pay for their servers and ask for donations);
- is intentionally devoid of addictive algorithms;
- doesn’t have - or need - lobbyists;
- asks you to go through a slightly longer sign-up process, where you are required to pick an instance. A feed isn’t automatically populated by content picked by an algorithm (unlike Threads or TikTok) - it requires manual work.
And the latter point, my dear readers, is one of the main reasons why the Fediverse is growing more slowly than other networks.
“Distraction is a kind of obesity of the mind”
In a 2015 Guardian book review of Matthew Crawford’s The World Beyond Your Head, Crawford was quoted as saying:
Just as food engineers have figured out how to make food hyper-palatable by manipulating fat, salt and sugar, similarly the media has become expert at making irresistible mental stimuli.
The journalist Ed Cumming added:
Distraction is a kind of obesity of the mind, in other words, with results that could be just as hazardous for our health.
If you start seeing platforms by Big Tech as the equivalent of drinking Coca Cola all day or eating a Big Mac at every meal, does this mental representation make you want to spend less time on these platforms?
This would surely work for me – and possibly for my friends too.
I call this analogy a very Italian way to see the world because my fellow Italians put premium value on fresh, quality ingredients and delicious, nutritious meals. There's this Italian saying: "il cibo è vita" (food is life).
A sea change – similar to the organic food movement
In a recent post on my personal blog (“The rebellion will be federated”) I wrote:
A healthy (in body and mind), active, frugal, sociable, mostly offline citizen who is highly educated and informed, in full control of their data, avoiding Big Tech’s platforms and algorithms, with a positive self-esteem and self-image, is probably persona non grata for these tech billionaires. But a small, insignificant nuisance, like a fly – they don’t care about ONE. But imagine having thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions of individuals that fit this description – banding together against Big Tech’s technopoly. That is an awe-inspiring, almighty force that would make them tremble.
And then I made a link to the organic food movement as an example of a big positive change that happened in my lifetime:
You think it can’t be done? Think again. The organic food movement comes to mind. How old were you when you started spotting organic fruits and vegetables at your supermarket? Did they progressively take up more shelf space? This is the Fediverse’s moment to start a sea change, a rebellion against the technopoly created by Big Tech.
Big Food has made us think that it’s too onerous to buy fresh ingredients, wash them, slice them and cook them. Thus, many people default to ultra-processed, pre-cooked meals.
Big Tech has made us think that the Fediverse is too technical and too complicated to join. Thus, many people default to centralized, algorithm-based apps inside walled gardens.
This is your life. Your one precious life. Complain about spinach all you want, but by the age of 60 you may regret skipping your greens and having had a diet that consisted solely of junk food.
We all naturally crave connection. Social media platforms take advantage of this basic human need. Now, do you want your media diet to be healthy and mindful, or do you want it to be heavy on ultra-processed junk?
The choice is yours.
“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.”
But also:
“Tell me which social networks you use and I will tell you what you are.”
A re-introduction
Hi I’m Elena.
I’ve been vegetarian since the age of 14, I enjoy cooking plant-based meals at home, most of them steamed (since I had a baby and got in the habit of cooking this way). My favorite dish is tofu bibimbap. I’ve always avoided ultra-processed junk food. I’m a big fan of my parents’ home-grown fruits and veggies and I wish I could do the same but I live in an apartment in the city.
I love the Fediverse and exploring its many projects. My current digital home is on Mastodon but I also enjoy Sharkey, Pixelfed and Lemmy. I avoid Meta platforms like the plague, wouldn’t touch TikTok with a stick and plan to stay on the Fediverse (Bluesky doesn’t appeal to me either). I’m currently learning Linux and I hope one day I’ll run my own private Fediverse instance.
As always, thanks for being here.
Elena
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