It's such an absolute joke how large companies have been able to block you from replying to their email addresses for decades now.
But email service providers like Google purposely make it so that billions of users have to get inundated with billions of rounds of malicious spam until you roll over and die.
Realize how absolutely absurd that is, and how these companies willingly choose NOT to give you the tools to protect yourself.
These corporations never gave a fuck about the end user, and it shows in just how little privacy and control they give you over your very own account.
It's a shame, while creation has been greatly democratized.
Discovery and distribution remains utterly abysmal.
Governments, monopolies and centralized platforms want to tell you what you can and can't put on your own device.
And social media platforms artificially limit your reach more and more with each passing year. In an attempt to force your dependence on the platform, and to coerce you into buying the reach that they artificially limited you from having in the first place.
How people blame "social media" for societies problems is like trying to blame the founding fathers of the United States of America for how awful the government currently remains.
They put the framework in place; it's not their fault that PEOPLE choose to mindlessly subjugate themselves to a corrupt governing body.
If you want to willingly give up your freedom and control in life, you can be damn sure there will always be hordes of people lining up waiting to take advantage of you.
It's so funny how people think these platforms genuinely need you to tell them your interests so they can "curate your feed".
The amount of data Google, YouTube, Meta, Instagram, etc. already have on you is more than any company could ever need.
The only reason why they do that is:
1. To cover their asses from spamming you with hyper-relevant content from the very start so you don't ever question how their creepy asses got that data to begin with.
2. To brainwash you into thinking you actually have control over your experience in their exploitative and predatory apps.
3. So your dumb ass will constantly "engage" with the app to "tell" it what you like (i.e. play right into their hands). That's like a therapist telling you to spend 20 minutes reciting all the reasons why you like dogs before the start of every single session (and guess who's paying for that shit). It's a never-ending game to get you to waste your life away as they siphon your attention, which in turn directly translates to money for them.
I highly encourage you to go download all your account data for yourself and see JUST how much information these shitty companies (Google, YouTube, Meta, Instagram, etc.) have on you.
And realize that's ONLY what they LET you see due to lawmakers and users forcing them to do so over the decades. It's not even a complete nor well-organized list.
Things you will see:
- Everything you ever searched for in the nonexistent "privacy" of your own Gmail Inbox.
- Every YouTube comment, search, watched video etc.
- Your IP Address, time, location, device, software you're running, browser, app you're using, etc. every single time you access ANY of Google's sites.
- Everything you've said to a Google Assistant WORD FOR WORD.
- All your call and texts, WORD FOR WORD, including entire group chats. all in plain text, 0 security whatsoever.
- All your questions to the AI, including its responses.
- Every file you ever searched for and opened in the nonexistent "privacy" of your own Drive Cloud Storage.
- The list goes on and on...
And one of the funniest things is not only that they track EVERYTHING you do by default, but how it does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING FOR YOU.
This shit doesn't benefit you in ANYWAY.
Once you see everything they've been collecting for years, you will realize this for yourself. This data harvesting literally has no meaningful benefit to 99.9999% of people. Only harm.
All it does is continuously support the atrocious monopolies these companies have on the world and use to make your life worse and worse with each passing day.
That's always great to hear.
What apps/services are you struggling with?
Once you finally say the things that have been weighing on your mind, you break the damn that has been perpetually holding you back from making that meaningful change in your life.
The moment we get a decentralized video platform that actually puts creators first is the moment the planet really opens up to a world of novel ideas, new perspectives, and true creativity.
There needs to be a (decentralized) place where people can file their grievances towards a company so that everyone can see JUST how common it is for these big companies to mercilessly screw people over.
A Trust Pilot + Better Business Bureau type that actually hold some weight and where large corporations can't just create a bunch of fake accounts to prop up their reputation.
With categories detailing (and tallying) their worst offenses (staff abusing their power, shady business practices, wrongful bans, false advertising, privacy violations, etc.).
If people only knew AND actually held these companies accountable, they would receive drastically less business to begin with. And then the Doers of the world can seize on that opportunity in the market and fill the gap that these companies chose to create.
Highly trustworthy and ethical companies founded by honest individuals can then sprout up in their place and substantially benefit the communities they serve (all while making a comfortable living doing something they love).
With the enshitification of platforms progressing more and more each day, communities led by visionaries and trailblazers will become even more essential if we ever hope to enact any meaningful change in the world.
People Who Romanticize the Past
The "curate your feed" lie social media companies try to sell you
We need a Nostr style protocol (i.e. decentralized and actually just) to rework the entire justice system.
Anytime a company is found guilty violating the rights of millions, and causing immeasurable degrees of harm to people. They always get let off with the lightest slap on the wrist imaginable.
Equivalent to the profits they rake in from conducting business for a mere 2 minutes straight.
Yet when a paragon of excellence with the most pristine track record within a 1,000 mile radius J-walks at 4:35am in a town with no cars.
They get fined and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and half their life is completely ruined.
Helping others is great, but people don't realize that you don't even have to go out of your way to regularly uplift the lives of others.
I guarantee you, if people applied this EXACT same logic to being in a really good mood. They'd see just how easy it is to instantly stand out from the crowd, and (far) more importantly, to effortlessly impact the lives of others in the most positive way.
Just by having a calm mind and being happy with yourself/in a good mood (on the inside), you're naturally gonna touch the lives of so many people without even having to say a word.
It's literally no different from how people can get excited when they see a little kid playing at the park and having the time of their lives.
Your energy is infectious.
It's JUST like how everybody can relate to the fact that when their best friend laughs at something, they feel the urge to laugh too.
Adults can elicit that EXACT same positive feeling in others without having to do a thing. It's just that of course most don't do it because they're too busy complaining about everything "wrong" with the world and worrying about a bunch of shit that doesn't even matter.
It's really just a matter of enjoying the moment for what it is. The thing that children and dogs are able to do so well.