Muting is okay
Manu Moreale blogs that he’s tired of all the crap:
The problem is that there’s also an infinite amount of depressing and/or enraging shit out there on the web, and even though I’m not on any social media platform of any kind, I’m still exposed to that crap. And I’m tired of that. Which is why I’m wondering if it’s possible to completely decouple from the web.
It can be exhausting. I’ve been on the web since the 1990s, on Twitter since 2006, and yet I never had to mute anything until recently. Now on the fediverse I mute people and even consider muting entire domain names because I just do not want to be pulled into their drama.
My blog is public and my email inbox is open. There are a lot of ways to get ahold of me if I miss the occasional @-mention somewhere. The nice thing about email feedback is that it’s more personal, not a public performance for another audience.
As I get older, I’ve had to settle into this compromise of closing off some channels of communication so that I can focus my attention where it matters most. I think muting will become an even bigger part of that strategy. It still feels weird even though I know it’s right.