Like Button?

04 Feb, 2025

First Post! I'm Michael, or you can call me Borb. This is a subdomain of my site that I have connected to the Fediverse and IndieWeb. I'm just goofing around.

I'm really excited to be on Bear Blog. I love everything about it. I will say I will encourage myself to use the like button. I have refrained from using the like button on anything, including text messages. I don't have any social media accounts besides YouTube. I only access that via browser.

Why don't I use the like button? Because I read Cal Newport's book "Digital Minimalism". I do consider myself a digital minimalist if you're going to put a label on it. That is why I am so drawn to Bear.I truly am excited. If you could see me now, you would see my stupid smile on my stupid happy face.

Okay, back to my point about the like button. What if the like button never existed? What if all those likes were meaningful comments about how much you like that person's post? The like button is a punch in the face and a step back in human evolution. We are the only animals that can communicate with each other the way we do. We can say things to someone that can literally make them walk away from jumping off the ledge.Next time someone texts you something cute or funny, instead of hitting the "haha" or thumbs up, send them a happy sentence instead. I promise it will be more meaningful to you and them. This is how I started, and I haven't looked back. It could be as simple as saying "rock and roll" to a picture of your nephew sitting funny, or simply choosing to not respond at all. We don't always have to be on call for people, including family and friends. It wasn't that long ago we weren't expected to respond to every person that messaged us in a 30-minute time frame. Even if it was a family member.

I have a dumb phone that cost $5 a month and it only has my wife's number in it. I have this so I can disconnect and focus.

To compress all the power of a conversation or a sentence or even a word at that matter into a thumbs up is social suicide.

Anyway, I might make an exception for Bear... if there isn't a commenting system in place. That's how little I know about this place. I just wanted to jump in and get my first post on the board! (I'm not expecting any likes on this post)

I will add so much more to this and my site very soon and will link my Vlog. I'm really excited to be here. Did I already say that?

UPDATE: I found a way to add comments :)