Tech Alternatives

First, a caveat: everything you do online can be tracked and traced back to you, even when you use seemingly "secure" sites and services.  Now that that's out of the way, with the way big tech, mainstream media, and social media is leading our society off a cliff, it's time for us to look into alternative sites and services to use online.  When Titter can choose to de-platform a sitting president (President Trump) and an internationally lauded vaccine researcher (Dr Malone), you know there is something wrong with "the system".  Here are alternative sites and services to consider:

• Instead of Facebook check out Gab, MeWe, or Minds
• Instead of Twitter check out Gettr, Parler, or Mastodon
• Instead of Facebook Messenger check out Telegram, Signal, or Viber
• Instead of YouTube check out Odysee, Rumble, or Lbry
• For up-to-date tech info check out Rob Braxman, Sumsub, or Techlore
• You may also want to consider a de-Googled phone, a secure web browser, a secure search engine, a secure email service, and a VPN.
  

From the Social Media Sucks File...

Just when I think the social media/politics situation can't get more farcical...

• Ron Paul (of all people!) got blocked by Facebook from accessing his page
• Twitter has gone full-on facepalm
• Gab seems to be picking up the slack from the Parler shutdown
• This guy has the best response to the current social media situation
• And this guy has become my favorite YouTuber over the past 24 hours
• Apparently web hosting platforms are getting out the ban hammer
• It would be poetic justice if AWS got turned into a public utility instead of a private service since nearly 50% of all US business sites are hosted on this service.  Monopolies=bad.
• I think Trump is a lunatic but that is my choice to make.  Nearly 50% of the nation doesn't agree with me and that's fine.  I don't think he should be silenced though.  Apparently big tech doesn't agree with me either.
• Elon Musk summed up the situation nicely.
• ALL of the popular platforms use censorship to bolster their sway over what people consume on the internet including Google, Twitter, Instagram, FaceBook, YouTube, Reddit, etc.
• And did you know that six corporations own 90% of the media outlets in the US?
• This can have some truly Orwellian outcomes.
• Or give you Truman Show flashbacks.
• If you haven't seen the Social Dilemma, check it out.
• The bottom line, social media is controlling you.  Prepare accordingly.

10 YouTube Channels to Follow

YouTube is a font of information, some insanely useful and some just plain insane.  I use YouTube for everything from "how to fix it" info (vehicles, appliances, home projects) to reviews before I buy things to learning new skills (YMMV and don't believe everything you see on YouTube).  Here are some good channels to follow:

1. PrepMedic
2. The Modern Rogue
3. Cheap RV Living
4. Drop Forged Survival
5. Canadian Prepper
6. Bushradical
7. Sensible Prepper
8. My Self Reliance
9. Black Scout Survival
10. LDS Prepper

Honorable Mention: Greyman, Lock Picking Lawyer, The Dave Ramsey Show, Hickok45, and all of these suggestions

Facebook Is Down Today and People Are in a Tizzy

Apparently Facebook has been down all day and people are freaking out over the situation.  Major media has covered the problem all day, Twitter has been lit up with about a bajillion comments on the topic, DownDetector is logging hundreds of comments a minute about the problem, even the conspiracy folks are getting riled up about it.

Personally I wouldn't care if the entire service disappeared, but for those whose lives or businesses revolve around Facebook, this is obviously a big deal.  On the other hand, Facebook is free for its more than a billion users so you kind of get what you pay for.  The demands on Twitter for FB to get the service up NOW because people are annoyed that it is down is kind of ludicrous when you consider these users aren't even paying customers. 

In addition to having the largest social media service in the world go down for hours on end, the outage is also affecting Instagram and What's App (also owned by Facebook).  For people whose only connection to the outside world is through social media, I'm guessing they are having a very bad day.  I would suggest they go read a book or, you know, go outside and actually talk to people.

On a side note, this is a good reason to diversify your communication options; it's useful when your social media provider of choice goes down and it will be useful in the event of a wide-spread disaster that shuts down all major communication options.

Why I'm Not Much for Social Media Anymore

I've probably tried most of the social media platforms out there, beginning in the mid 1980s when the only "social media" available was local dial-up "bulletin boards".  There were chat rooms on Compuserve and Prodigy, AOL instant messenger, MySpace, Ning, Geocities, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, ad nauseum.  However, since the end of last year, I have significantly scaled back on my social media use.  I haven't used Twitter or Instagram in ages and haven't used Facebook since the beginning of the year.  I do believe it is time to delete all of my social media accounts.

On the one hand, it is great to use social media to keep up with what the kids and grandkids are doing (although they are using FB less and less as well), on the other hand, as the saying goes, 'when something is free, the product is you.'  And no social media service has made that more true in the past many many months than Facebook.  From the psychological tests conducted on unknowing users to the most recent Cambridge Analytica scandal, I'm fairly tired of being (unwittingly) used as a pawn in social media mind-farming.  I'd prefer to curate my own news and information, check in on friends that I want to check in on, avoid the daily hoaxes blasted through social media as the truth, and, you know, not have my every moved tracked.

It would also be nice to go back to the days when people engaged socially in person instead of having their head glued to their cell phone even to the point of death.  And it would be nice if young people were to learn some basic social skills,  Then there was this little gem.

I'm not sure what is coming next on the digital horizon but I think the overuse--and over-abuse--of social media has pretty much reached its breaking point.  I, for one, will show myself out of the dismal swamp that is now the social media landscape.

Are Your Trackers and Social Media Accounts Blasting Your Personal Info Everywhere?

Most people are tech savvy enough these days that they are (hopefully) a bit more careful about posting things like their vacation plans on Facebook so that the public won't know when they are out of town thus making their home a prime target for burglars.

A recent bit of hoopla, however, has pointed out that while most people are careful with Facebook (and the military is pretty relentless about their constant messages for their members to be careful about what they post on social media) there are other ways that military members are being "outed" by their technology.  What everyone apparently missed is that health tracking apps like Strava can give away your information (both location as well as your name) which has caused a big issue when military member Joe Blow is suddenly posting his daily runs--in the middle of the desert in Iraq.  Oops.

This is a good reminder that you need to be careful about ALL of your tech and how it both tracks you as well as allows you to post a lot of personal information online where it could be accessed by anyone.  Someone who is being stalked wouldn't want to let their stalker know that they run the same route everyday at the same time a la Map My Run or Strava.  Someone who is involved in criminal activity is often given away by the tower pings of their cell phone.  In the future, all of your check ins at restaurants on a daily basis could give your health insurance provider cause to drop you (I'm only guessing at this but it is a possibility).  If your family runs toward the criminal side, know that those fancy genealogy DNA tests are being used by law enforcement to find criminals by comparing their DNA to known persons in genealogy DNA registries.  Finally, the last season TV show called "The Hunted" showed how easily trained investigators used all things tech (license plate tracking, social media links, etc) to easily find most of the competitors on the show.

The Media/Social Media Fast

If you are a news junkie or addicted to social media it might be a good idea to give it a rest.  Literally.  So much of the news is negative and then I came across this list and was pretty shocked that people would bother to keep a list of kids driven to suicide by social media bullying.  It is OK to just turn everything off--for a day, for a weekend, for a week, a month or longer.

I've personally cut back on Facebook (I no longer have it on my phone since the app likes to track you, target ads to you, and generally be too invasive), I've cut way back on reddit, and I will check the news a couple of times a day instead of every five minutes like I used to.  Maybe I am just getting old or maybe technology is to blame for people becoming all kinds of crazy these days but the idea that it is OK to just shut everything off seems to be a foreign concept to many people.  Go sit in the sun or walk through the park with zero input from anything but the weather--it's a very relaxing thing to do.

Since social media is so ubiquitous, parents don't realize the impact that 24/7 social connections can have on their kids.  It can be both good (it's nice to get positive feedback from your friends) and bad (years ago you would deal with a bully at school then go home and not have to deal with them until the next day, these days kids can be bullied 24/7 on social media which is more psychologically damaging than most anything else they deal with).

It would be wonderful if people (all people) had a limit of a few hours of social media/media consumption per day.  The other hours could be spent taking care of yourself--sleeping, doing hobbies, etc--and if you did have cause for additional social interaction it would be in person or on the phone, you know, real social interaction instead of moderating what you do online to increase "likes" or annoy people purposely.

So that is my rant for the day--stop letting social media rule your life.  Shut if off.  If regular media is your addiction of choice, shut that off as well.  Stop letting the craziness of other people stress you out and ratchet up your anxiety.  Plus all of that extra time can be spent on fun, useful activities like prepping, exercising, or learning new skills.