When I look at Facebook, BlueSky and Threads I see a lot of content that should never be. I see sentences and phrasing that provoke hostility, and I see article headlines and more that provoke polarisation. In essence I think that social media is no longer a social network. I believe that social media is about emotions, rather than conversations, especially negative emotions.
I bring this up because I can go for hours, or even days without looking at threads or FB and when I do I am struck with how negative posts are.
Two days ago I was cycling with a group and someone commented that the relaxed rides are no longer relaxed and that got me to thinking about organising a real relaxed ride, where the aim is to cycle at 20 on the flat. If I had had this option then I could have tried group rides much sooner. In fact the group rides that I tried last year would have been more comfortable.
Two or three weeks ago I wrote that I hate Caribana but I also wrote that I have enjoyed the event the past. I also shared a walking route that I could use to get there and back, without using the car. For saying that I hate Caribana I was called a hater, and then that person tried to have a fight, in private via DMs. I said I’m not interested in an argument.
This weekend I cycled 160 kilometres with the Bike Club Switzerland Group via Meetup.com. In the process I find that I appreciate the community more and more. I appreciate that the groups are small, but also that people are like-minded. By like-minded I mean that people are sporty.
Today we went for a Moderate recovery ride and it took some effort to keep up. I was at the limit of my comfort zone, but not out of it.
A year or two I read about how young people were switching to feature phones from smart phones and I thought it was about nostalgia and fashion. As a person who grew up with “feature phones” as they improved and evolved, and as a person who was either trapped at a laptop or desktop I couldn’t fathom why someone would want to disconnect by using a feature phone, rather than a smart phone.