I got a Kindle a while back and I found myself when i first bought it swiping the screen as if I was trying to open the web browser on a smartphone.

I didn't even do it on purpose, it was a force of habit. I programmed myself to interrupt myself with mindless distractions, not even diversions, distractions.

So yeah, I always carry a small notebook and a kindle (and a fanny pack) and I have no social media apps on my phone which is a start.

I went to the beach the other day by myself to decompress and I ended up randomly engaged in conversation with a lifeguard.

We're both in our late 40s so we grew up before the Internet but then aged into it.

Our political views were very different and yet the lengthy conversation that we had was not just polite but also oddly relaxing. We found ourselves finding common ground and even persuading each other to grow our views on some topics.

When I left he told me that this was the nicest most interesting conversation he's had in a long time and I agreed.

And then I remembered having these conversations all the time when I was in my late teens and early to late 20s and that trying to have these conversations in the last decade was always futile so I stopped.

And then I remembered being ashamed of myself several times for being dysregulated and defensive and even volatile, guilty of what you describe and aware of it, not just online but also in person.

So yes I agree with you about what you're saying but sadly I don't know of a solution.

The proliferation of AI content is making these platforms so disgusting to me that I'm actually quitting, and for real this time.

I guess it works like putting bitterant in cans of compressed air to stop people from huffing them.

It started as you expect, with more and more bot accounts pretending to be real people to either act as sleeper agents for future causes or to actively promote politics and products, except they're now interactive so you're tricked into engaging with them.

But the tipping point for me was when real people started using AI to write their posts and comments for them. And I'm not just talking about randos but about real people you follow who have written tech books and such. I've seen a few of them admit to this when confronted and they use the same excuse, that these are their thoughts and they stand by them, they're just improved by AI.

And I'm not just talking about long posts or comments. You see it with one liner responses which leads me to think that their reddit experience has now been automated and that at the most they hit approve on a queue.

So I've become cynical, almost in a state of solipsism, about every post and comment that I see, assuming everything is AI by default until I've checked which is now almost impossible with the private history. And at that point being on reddit is just like chatting with an LLM but with extra deception, so why even try.

I figure this is quickly becoming an either use steroids for bodybuilding competitions even if you're against them or opt out of competing kind of situation.

It's more like showing up to the gym with a fake muscle suit and then everyone can see you can't lift shit.

I started taking resistant starch in the form of raw green banana powder after decades of undiagnosed digestive issues.

I had been to doctors, gotten colonoscopies and endoscopies and other tests, elimination diets, etc.

One week of this powder mixed with water and my ever present mild diarrhea is basically gone. It's as close to a miracle cure as I can imagine.

However, I haven't lost a single pound or lost a single inch from my waistline.

I have, however, gained muscle, because I can now work out more because I'm not constantly fatigued and my body can recover much faster so I'm lifting weights quite steadily.

I'm so enthusiastic about this that I sound like a bot or a shill but it is what it is.

It doesn't work as a bulking agent like psyllium husk did. I can vary the dose and take it with or without food on a full or an empty stomach and it still works making me think that it might be related to changes in microbiota. I apologize for too much info but I must add that the solidness and color and smell of my feces changed completely and that my digestive system has slowed digestion.

A friend just sent me one from Minnesota!

treasure it, not as common an occurrence as it used to be

The problems that you listed don't affect a lot of people in a way that they themselves might find meaningful.

Moreover, leather is a widely available product and a byproduct of the meat industry.

I know what you're saying and I agree, but now I really want to read a 12 paragraph story about someone's grandmother falling in love in Italy with a plastic bag.

You've got to figure it's not like ordinary plastic, and probably not just anybody's grandmother either :)

Reality gets very grim and you lose hope in others when you see people who you thought otherwise reasonable defending this.

You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. Perfect is the enemy of good. This is acceptable collateral damage. The number is surprisingly low. I've seen so many bullshit justifications like these.

At this point, I can’t think of anything else than these people are completely brainwashed, repeating bits from their propaganda. It’s completely impossible to reason with them.

LocalSend works really well across platforms in a LAN, no uploading to some server required.