Topi Kettunen

Sunsetting Mastodon

Some months ago I decided to join back to social media in the form of registering to Mastodon. I thought that maybe this could be the platform to fill the void – which I’ve later realised to be non-existent – of social medias in my life. But now I’ve decided to leave it as well. Not necessarily due to same reasons why I left social medias like Facebook, Instagram or Twitter. But still, partly due to same reasons.

One of the main reasons why I left mainstream social media platforms was their draconian behaviour behind the scenes. Addictive design principles behind their applications, algorithms promoting content that you didn’t ask for, data mining and profiling, and so on. Fortunately, in Mastodon, these sort of issues weren’t present, which was one of the reasons why it felt so welcoming. It had this weird old internet type of aura in it. Like being part of this weird digital clique.

Also, just from the pure technological point of view, the federated elements of Mastodon – or ActivityPub in general – seemed quite interesting. Finally, a platform competing with the centralized behemoths where users were able to retain control over the data and interaction without being riddled with profit-driven algorithms. If I would want to be part of some social media, it still would be Mastodon, which might sound slightly odd considering the title of this post.

So why did I then decide to leave it? One of the main reasons why I didn’t enjoy using e.g. other mainstream social medias, was the fact how they started affect my own behaviour. The constant urge to check what’s going on. Picking up your phone, opening the app, or just going to the site itself out of habit without necessarily even having a reason for it. It is addicting. It is meant to be addicting. Although, in Mastodon’s case, probably not maliciously.

So while I thought investing time and energy into building connections and contributing to various discussions in Mastodon would be beneficial, and no doubt, they can be. For me, it just started feel like sacrificing my mental well-being for digital engagement, again.

Mastodon is by no means a bad platform. It just isn’t suitable for me who wants to navigate digital landscape mindfully and intentionally without being ensnared into various addictive grasps once more.