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Activist Witch Modern Witchcraft Notebook Witchery Things To Do

Surviving 2025

Where will you be dwelling in the new Robber Baron “Broligarchy” Era?

So far, I’ve disabled my political Twitter account; deleted my TikTok account; and deleted the Facebook app off of my devices. That is the start.

Between the weird and false claim from Zuckerberg that Facebook needs more masculine energy (literally NOTHING needs more masculine energy, tbh), and Musk’s cesspool that was once Twitter, I am at the end of my interest in those two major platforms. I’m also annoyed that Instagram is ruled by Reels. I miss the static photos of the 2010s. I haven’t been a regular poster on Instagram in a while as a result.

So, what to do to stay connected to the people, groups, and large communities of interested with whom I’ve connected via social media since its inception? I’m not sure quite yet, but I’ve started on some things.

Not Using Social Media at All

What a concept. But I’m trying to just pull way back from digital living in general. Give me books, diary writing, embroidery, junk journaling, board games, playing cards, dancing, walking, cooking, tea making, etc etc. My gardening plans have been on hiatus since I moved to Woonsocket. My wardrobe is in desperate need of organizing. I have so many craft projects I want to do with my mom. I’m ready for a more analog existence. And if I want to get in touch with people, I’ll use medium-old/new ways, like text, email, phone.

One of the other reasons I’m just not feeling social media these days is that so much of it is getting invaded by AI, and so much of what’s generated by AI is pure slop.

Focusing on Email, Blogs, and Newsletter Subscriptions

This, for me, is the best way to curate my digital intake. If I take the time to subscribe to a newsletter, then I obviously want to read what the person has to say. I don’t need an Al Gore Rhythm to show me what interests me. I have my own discernment for that. And so I am planning to focus on that method of digital consumption more than social media.

What Social Media I Still Use…for Now

I’m not completely off social media. I’m not even totally off all the social media I don’t like at all. The apps are deleted; thus I can only view on a browser. I realize their usefulness in limited, curated capacities. I see the wisdom in staying on platforms where I’ve been able to connect with like-minded people since the start of the social media era.

I’m an early adopter. I was instant messaging on AOL in 1995. I have been on Facebook since the days when you needed a “.edu” email address to sign up. I used to operate eight different Twitter accounts. So, I’m not leaving in a “you kids and your new fangled technology” kind of way.

I’m doing it in a “this is kinda boring and often detrimental, if not just unhelpful” kind of way.

Additionally, for the apps I still use, they’re all in a folder on my phone. That folder is on the last window of four windows. The most tempting but least helpful of social media apps are buried even further within that folder, on the 4th window of that. That way, I really have to think about whether I want to go on there, whereever “there” may be.

Those caveats out of the way, here’s my list of social media that I am still on:


Pinterest

I love the heck out of Pinterest, still. I find so much good stuff there. There isn’t a lot of interaction on posts, but perhaps that’s why I like it. It is currently my favorite social media platform.

Tumblr

Ye olden internette of Tumblr has a little resurgence once Twitter started going down the tube. I think I want to explore there some more.

Reddit

It’s clunky, but simple and I find good stuff there, too.

Bluesky

One big thing I’m trying not to do this time around with the Frump Admonistration back in office is to skip tuning in to news that does not help me in anyway. I cannot affect the cabinet picks, the executive orders, the pardons of criminal traitors. So, I’m trying to avoid the lefty media I used to follow so incessantly.

I don’t follow them on BlueSky. Instead, I have created a list. I’ll tune into the list if I hear stuff from my “Normie Friends” (people who don’t follow politics incessantly) that they’re concerned about, to get the input from trusted progressive media, politicians, and activists.

It’s hard to break a habit of almost a decade, tuning in to the posts of popular progressive political figures. I revert back to it out of habit when I’m just futzing around on my phone. I’m getting better, though!

Signal

The writer Mo Ryan suggests this app for DMs. She says don’t use any other platform’s DMs or your text to discuss anything sensitive. So I signed up for signal. I don’t use it for anything, yet.

Discord

It is structurally like Reddit, in that it’s message-board based. I don’t love it, but I see its benefits, and i am on there for politcs and literary stuff.

Patreon

I support artists there. Two visual artists: one who makes self-care tools, and another who make gorgeous fantasy-inspired anime-like drawings of plus size imaginative figures. I also support a music teacher, Jeff Rolka, who has a series of vocal warm up videos that I use often.

Substack

I kind of think of Substack like the old RSS feeds. There are a lot of good contributers there. I support Brian Beutler’s “Off Message” for national political commentators. I support Steve Ahlquist for local Rhode Island news.

Bookish places

Good Reads is not ideal but I use it anyway because tht Bezos has me with his Audible and Kindle Unlimited. He’s the broligarch to whom I’m most beholden, with my Fire TV, subscription groceries on Prime, and habit of trolling for excellent fashion deals on the Prime App on a Friday night, instead of going out to bars like I did in my 20s and 30s.

I also still have a Library Thing account, and I’ll always love that corner of the internet, even if I don’t frequent it as much as I did in the mid 2000s.

And I have joined Book Bub, since an author I like is on there. But I haven’t done much there, yet.

The Rule of One

The other thing that I am doing to help keep my head is to stick to the Rule of One for consuming news.


Analog Living and Witchcraft

One thing I have loved about social media is learning more about modern paganism and modern witchcraft. The thing is, though, so much of what I give a “like” to are wonderful little memes on how to observe a coming Sabbat or Esbat by doing all these wonderful practices, like lighting candles, saying spells, making jars, performing a ritual, meditating, etc. That’s what we all need to do more of. Once we read that lovely post of things to do on the upcoming Full Moon, we need to put the phone down and get to it!