Libb

2030 is knocking at the door already ;)

Beside that, to answer your question I would say: I imagine that already there future to be crispy, if not burned.

Thx a lot.

Excellent decision :)

Walking. Daily. That, and purchasing good shoes. It changed my life.

At first, I was in such a poor shape (physical and mental) I was barely able to walk more than a few steps, I was also severely ill and was expected to die quickly in not the most tranquil manner. Nowadays, I’m not dead :p, and I walk miles every day and I will do my best to go everywhere I can, walking. I’m still ill (it’s not curable) but it’s stabilized and I feel so much better.

I’m still not an athlete and I’m old enough to realize I’ll never be one but I don’t care: I’m in such a better shape! Both physically and mentally (I feel so much better in my head), my endurance is skyrocketing, and I’ve also lost so much weight I don’t need to wear ‘plus-sized’ clothes anymore.

And it all started by making the first step, one small step. Literally ;)

Edit: clarifications.

ever since Trump got elected in November, my mental health has been slipping.

Trump is a symptom. He (it?) is not the disease.

Try not to fixate too much on the dude, the issue is in how such a frustrated illiterate racist could ever be elected and, even more: how was he able to become a candidate to begin with? That’s the real issue. Not that he is an asshole. There are plenty assholes, in the USA as well as in all other democracies around the world. The issue is when those illiterate assholes are being considered worthy leaders… by the electors in those democracies.

I know doomscrolling makes it worse.

It sure does. I’m not US and I don’t doomscroll. Ever. There is nothing that is that urgent/important that I should stay in the loop real time. Heck, I even started reading print newspapers again, almost 20 years after I gave up on them so I’m able to take some more time to digest the news. And even there, I filter out most of what I consider mere noise and not real information.

What are you people going to say next? That I’m exaggerating? Open your eyes…

I’ve been moving back more and more of my activities offline for a long time now. My eyes are somewhat open, and I don’t think I’m an exception. It’s just that when you’re online you can only hear… online people ;)

In an hour or so, I will be out walking in the city, with nothing but my small watercolors set, a pencil and a sketchbook. No notifications, no messages, no social, no games, no podcasts, no music,… Just me and the world for me to sketch and paint… very badly… and what’s even better is that I don’t give a crap about that. I just enjoy doing it.

So, now that you realized how screwed up most online activities are, what will you do offline today, if anything? And if there is nothing planned, why not give it a shot? :)

It’s probably my English that is lacking (sorry for that) but I though I just wrote ‘people should not do that, they’re not a products’. Could it be that me using the first person is the main issue, here? Or did I really phrase anything that makes you think I feel ‘special’ (can’t see what)?

If so, I will try to keep that in mind next time.

Thx, that’s nice of you to say, but don’t worry too much about that.

As far as I’m concerned downvotes only start being meaningful the moment a downvoter takes to time to explain their motivation, if they’re too lazy to even do that, well, why should I worry what they may think, or like or dislike? ;)

I would not rate it. My childhood, like myself, is not a product or a service, it’s not even a homework, waiting to be rated ;)

100%. Also true for any craft/DIY/manual hobby activity, art (music, sketching, painting), and so on.

France comes from the ‘franks’ which was both a kingdom and its population, the franks or francs, in French. The word is is supposed to mean ‘free man’ (one of the meanings, at least)

Yep.

It’s not compatible with the real older browsers but since it’s for my personal blog I don’t think it’s a big deal.

AVIF. It’s a video format but it works great for photos too and offers much better compression than jepg or even webp without much noticeable loss. I use it on my blog to make the few images I use as light as possible.

I’m not surprised at all since I use them every single day, but the pen and paper have yet to be rivaled by anything digital. At the very least, in regards to:

• portability: available in any size one may fancy, only a few grams.
• autonomy: a notebook needs no battery and offers weeks or months worth of storage depending how much you write or sketch (certain models can even be refilled),
• ease of use: put pen(cil) onto paper and write, or sketch + no upgrades, no bugs, no crashes.
• privacy: no tracking, no spying by any corporation. No ads, either.
• low cost: I’ve yet to find an iPad with its Pencil at the two dollars I spend on my cheap notebook and cheap ballpoint, or pencil.
• Sturdiness: I can (and often) sit on the notebook I store in my jeans back pocket, I often use it under the rain too.
• Low attraction to thieves: I can use it anywhere without risking attracting attention from potential thieves. I can also let my notebook alone in any public places, chances are no one will even consider stealing it: it’s just paper. Try doing that with a digital notebook, be it a tablet or a phone ;)
• Versatility: I can write (errands, novels, plan to conquer the world, a poem for my spouse), sketch (bad or good sketches), draw a map, play some games, make paper planes or origami, and even share info with anyone by tearing of a sheet of paper from my notebook (that won’t break it) and give it to that person.

Yeah, I think it’s kinda obvious I do like my cheap notebook and pen, a lot more than I will ever like that corporate and government spyware that disguises itself as a smartphone and that I’m expected to be using and carrying with me everywhere I go ;)

We don’t. Our simple kettle with its whistle is working great, despite its age. And its much nicer to look at than a microwave too ;)

First, I take a breath. More often than not, I will take more than one.

No matter what I’m doing I will always make some room to breathe. At the very least, I will go out for a long walk every single day of the year. Just walk. No distractions, no social noise, no music, no podcast, no nothing but me, my head, and that tiny thing called ‘the world outside’ ;)

Even better, when whatever it is I’m doing is stressing me out, I will make it multiple times a day because I don’t work well when I’m stressed, so it’s not a waste of time. And it also helps me stay in shape so it’s even less a waste in that regard.

Last but not least, I learned to work less. It’s not how hard you work or how tired you end up being that should matter, it’s what you have done and much you like it ;)

I would set it back to the early to mid-90s, when I first experienced it…

Am I one of those old fart trying to say it was better in the good old times? Yes, and no.

Back then the Internet was limited, it was hacked together and there was no professionally designed website with pretty animations, security was… not much, there was no mobile web and, as a matter of fact, no ‘app’ at all since smartphones were not yet a thing. There was not even script languages like Javascript or PHP to develop all those shit… amazing dynamic features we’re now surrounded with. So, yeah, it was limited. But…

There also was also no social media, no monetizing, no tracking, no corporate mafia-like CEOs trying to took us hostage or to milk us to death, and hands in hands with their politicians friends, trying their worst at transforming our free societies into some fascist dystopia that if they succeed (and it looks like they could) will make look all the XX century monstrosities mere child-play.

There were already evil corporations and assholes politicians back then, sure, but for the most part the Internet was people, not businesses. And it was not populated by those armies of braindead, tantrum-obsessed and hysterical morons we now consider the normal ‘user’.

Trolls were already a thing, obviously, but there were not millions of them waiting to be mobilized through social media like a good army of haters ready to go stampede into oblivion anything nice or daring anyone could be willing to do. It was ok to not be nice, to not be liked, and to take risks.

I mean, it was actual people with their qualities and flaws, people that were willing to share content they were interested in and to discuss it. People that were not expecting to make a fucking cent out of every single fart they would make online. Nor to gain any Likes…

So, yeah it was rougher, so much more limited and a lot less cool. It was also a lot less polite. But it was so much more free and less full of shit.

(end of that old fart rant, promise)

I don’t understand why this matters that much

Maybe because some apps will only work on certain phones (say on iOS or Android) and maybe because depending the phone you are using maybe someone could suggested another solution than switch app? ;)

Spend less time online, do less digital activities.

I do more IRL, in-person, activities. Any kind of activity most of us somehow forget we used to do well before Internet and digital was a thing can still be done without the Internet and without a computer of any kind.

In-persons is intimidating but it also helps keep away the armies of online trolls and haters that online thrive to hurt other people. Provided one behaves like a decent human being, it’s very rare people IRL will hate on anyone for goofing up or for not agreeing with them. It’s ok.

I also do as much as I can the analog way, without anything digital. It helps. Be it to write or sketch, or do stuff with my hands. Heck, even me using a paper agenda instead my phone will regularly trigger surprised/interested questions from people that otherwise would probably never have talked with me to begin with ;)

Nice :)

I bought a ready to assemble one myself (so it was just a matter of following the instructions to assemble it). It was not cheap but that was almost 10 years ago and it’s still working great. Imho, the second best money I ever spent—quality shoes being the first one.

I would encourage anyone to also spend money on a quality standing mat as it will help the legs, feet and back not getting tired too quickly.