and “people I like” will inevitably include loads of people that disagree with me on certain issues, my point is that on X I was having to wade through loads of random weirdos and bots to reach decent content
I still have time for arguments from people who are economically, and sometimes socially, to the right of me. It it too much to ask they’re made honestly, based on fact, and in the interest on improving the human condition?
On so much social media now, it seems like that is indeed too much to ask.
Yeah I think people are really underselling the fact the timeline became basically unusable as a reason for the mass exodus. Sure, the election and Musk's descent accelerating was a catalyst. But people are generally pretty forgiving of horrific behaviour/views if your product works properly.
Space Karen has rendered replies to large accounts almost useless. You have to wade through so much X-anon blue tick dross to find any worthwhile replies.
Blue tick now so often means garbage. Anyone with any sense who's paying to post there will stop doing so.
X is an endless scroll to find something of interest between all the bots and forced propaganda. It's simply boring. I barely have to scroll here at all.
It became markedly worse after the election. I left last weekend when I realized 4/5 of the content was toxic and right wing. And that's not counting being bombarded with ads and constantly getting friended by stripper bots
That's the main point. I'm not expecting everyone to be nice to each other on here or agree, I don't want a twee experience. I'm just expecting it not to resemble a 4chan board littered with Temu ads.
Totally. I’d like starter packs with mainstream right of centre commentators and politicians. I just don’t need Nazis, conspiracy theorists and whack jobs. I didn’t listen to them 10 years ago in normal life and I don’t need them now.
Exactly. I don’t think everyone shares my opinions but I don’t want to be on social media where anything I say is bombarded with “cope and seethe you commie bitch” comments. And a handful of tshirt bots. And another handful of “🐱 in bio”
I can't remember where I've heard this - but it feels right. Basically if your very foundational ideals aren't being constantly shouted down & challenged (e.g "Taxation is generally good & required") then you feel far more able to have sensible arguments ("should IHT exist or is it silly?").
So, yeah "bubbles" but also "being on at least the same page helps real discussion".
Groupthink exists, yes and can be fostered in this model. But the answer to that isn't constant stand up shouting arguments over whether government should exist or have an aim beyond removing itself from our lives.
Twitter has absolutely maxed out on engagement above all else - so the most violently opposed takes constantly butt up against each other over and over and over. Meaning actual engagement is lost. The faux "oh you don't want your ideas challenged" by the more trollish is missing a lot of the middle.
Challenging of ideas is good. That does not = being called a trotskyite f***ot by some random American extreme libertarian edge lord because I think roads and streetlights should be maintained out of general taxation.
Absolutely.
I don’t want to read numerous bot posts just to converse with ‘actual’ people that have opinions .. whether I agree or not …but they have discourse!
It's easier to have disagreements with people who respect the basic human rights of other people, and don't boil down their arguments to "pronouns in bio".
That’s my problem with Twitter. The crap I’m not interested in, didn’t ask to see, irrelevant to my life, offensive, lies, nonsense, ads. I’m happy to see a view that challenges mine, delivered in an articulate and intelligent way. But instead it’s usually mocking, smug and mostly BS.
Exactly. I honestly enjoy the disagreements. I'm one of those sickos that *loves* talking real politics, philosophy, and ideas in general. That's not what Twitter turned into. It turned into an opportunity to bully. I left the moment Musk bought it, and I'm thrilled to see a replacement take off!
Pretty much the same here, but the gaslighting tactics and talking in endless circles I can live without. This is why I don't auto block anyone, I give them a chance first.
I'm here because I don't want to fund Musk's political campaigns. I had no particular issues with X other than that. In a free market we're free to try other things (untill it upsets the Right Wingers)
Any platform that holds honest facts & clarifying dialogs is worthy of open minds to be a part of.
I have years of learning, thanks to the many awesome people I have followed & engaged with.
Finding many of them here has made me extremely hopeful for our future.
And, the people we like do challenge us too. They tend to be intelligent interesting people with big ideas that we’d love to implement but it’s not always as easy as we want.
The naysayers are a distraction from real world changes we need to make, whether social, environmental or other.
On social media respect is politely blocking the ones who are so entrenched in their views that they will never engage in a polite conversation and simply want to antagonise those not holding the same views. Rather than calling them idiots or worse!
Agree - but also I don't want to be on a platform whose owner propagates dangerous lies and misinformation for the benefit of himself and his political friends
I find it so refreshing to hear from likeminded and kind people on this platform. We are making our home and only good guests are allowed. In my opinion I think it’s easier to talk with non republicans and maga’s . When they learn how to be civil maybe we can get along. 💙🦋❤️👍🏻
Indeed. If I go for a drink in a pub, I want to sit with friends, maybe a few friends of friends come in and out of the group too; what I don’t want is some rando standing over the group yelling at us that we need to listen to what they have to say. No, we don’t, mate.
No more than going down the pub with your mates is "retreating into a bubble" ... and even in that pub bubble, you might discuss anything, from different viewpoints, from bin day to the state of the world.
Agree. I think there should be a way for users to easily segment out their “safe zones” and “everything else.” Of course, this may already be possible with a common hack, I’m back to back to microblogging after quitting Twitter 3+ years ago.
Humans have an innate tendency toward tribalism, rooted in evolutionary psychology. People need to belong to a group and will change groups if one is more attractive. Going into their group and trying to get them to reject their current group won't work. You have to build a better, funner bubble.
It's actually better for our mental health than the constant bombardment of utter nonsense on our timelines in the other place.
At least we're visible here.
And to not want to get berated and threatened by fascists all day. I don't need to include people who want to be violent toward me in my online spaces just like I don't need to include them in my irl spaces. The entitlement from these people is wild.
Imagine going down the pub expecting to see your mates, but the landlord has decided your evening will be spent with 2 nazis, 3 people who'll just shout abuse at you using words they clearly don't understand, and someone who might very well kill you given the chance, just to wear you as a coat...
I think I agree and disagree. I think I’m landing on the idea that this is psychological flight. At least for me that’s what it was. It was just so dark and depressing and sexualized over there. You’d think those three would be pretty freaking awesome. But it was the opposite.
I'm deliberately creating a "bubble" as free as possible of any mention of US politics (no one opining about it here can actually change anything for the better) and would strongly advise anyone who like to improve their temper & equilibrium to do the same.
I would go to dinner or the pub with people who disagree with me on *almost everything* so long as - and this is crucial - they are good humoured and friendly and open-minded
Been down that road, didn't end well. When you find out people are racist to their core, there is no going back. They say never discuss politics or religion, but how will you know who people really are? Brexit really revealed who some people are.
In the dark place I followed so many people who I rarely saw in my feed … instead I was faced with people I had nothing in common with who were there for conflict … it’s good to challenge your thought process and ideas but gently from people you trust & respect is what we’re here for ✊🏼☮️
The people who say it is 'retreating into a bubble' on X are those who don't want to follow their 'opponents' over to bluesky because they don't want to engage on level ground. There's nothing stopping those people from joining sky and continuing to engage if they do so articulately and politely.
But we have to listen to people with differing opinions like user: "idrinkliberaltears", and try to understand them like the right does to the left. Surely that's how future Dems nom Liz Cheney will win... 🤔
A bubble they want to invade so grown men with daddy issues and trump profile pics, can type "MAGA 2024 baby!! Cope!" lmao to what end? No idea. Not a cult btw.
My question to the people telling us we are in a bubble is why the fuck do they care? They don't even like us, so why do they care enough to follow us all the way here to our bubble? Mind your own fucking business and get fucking life.
Makes me wonder if I’m doing friendships incorrectly. Should I include a few loudmouth, thuggish, violent bores to join me & my lovely friends on a night out so that we don’t have to spend our evening having a really nice time? It’s a bit of a mad argument if you put it into real life instead of sm.
No one really believes it’s a bubble. It’s just cope because the online right mostly exist to bait and be cruel. They’re not curious. They don’t want to make things better. They don’t care what’s true.
Exactly. I’m too old and curmudgeonly to waste my time reading bollocks written by idiots and bots. This place is already making me laugh as well as informing me and challenging me. And I’m finding all my old favourites here too, oh happy days😁😁😁
In real life I don't mix with people who are vile racist fascist lying knuckleheads, and I'm just the same on social media. That's my bubble, suits me fine.
It's not even just people you like, it's people who will be civil to you and engage with you honestly. Choosing not to be in an overtly hostile environment is not really retreating into a bubble.
The world seems divided by different interpretations of freedom - those who want to be free TO... and those who want to be free FROM... I want to be free from all the nastiness on the other site.
I don’t go to a party expecting to be savaged by angry people accusing me of being a champagne socialist wankstain before I’ve even made my way to the fridge, and then defend my life choices all night so as not to be in an echo chamber. Sod that
Agreed, and I think there’s a difference between having boundaries to protect my peace and “living in an echo chamber”. As a marginalized person I don’t get the chance to do that, there are people denying my lived experiences on the daily.
It would be nice just for everyone to express their views and opinions eloquently and respectfully rather than be “Dave in the pub” after he’s had a couple
I always find the argument of being in an “echo chamber” so odd when it’s in reference to not wanting a thread full of racists and right wing extremists. Give me my bubble any day
They've forgotten what life used to be like before the Internet. No one was inviting the weird racist conspiracy theorist from the local diner over for tea. You don't hang out with people you don't like. Why would this change on the Internet?
I do find it sort of beautiful that, after ruining Twitter, they are freaking out about not being able to shout the same gross rhetoric here. They don't want to talk about progressive tax policies, they post "hurr-durr two gendurrs" and get banned.
I feel people who mention the echo chamber or some other variation of it are using it only as a coping mechanism to not self actualize their own social ineptitude. "I am not good enough?" which, yes, is the case when one can not be civil. I like this bubble too 🙂
Agreed. It’s about being in a space where we can engage in respectful *democratic (not as opposed to republican, but as in the true meaning of the word) - conversation and sometimes have different views but not assault each other verbally if we do.
yes it is and it is bad if carried to far and if you look at many accounts like [ redacted ] you really see bubble behaviour by libs that is just as bad as FOX
Also, if you want to have a conversation with some constructive disagreement there needs to be *some* common ground. Arguments that are all just ‘no you’re wrong’ really aren’t that interesting
Agreed, but we must not surrender the vital field represented by Twitter to the enemy: I therefore can but urge everybody who cares about freedom and justice and believes in the need to stand up to Putin to join me in fighting back.
Exactly right .. and especially when there are very important World Issues at play to speak openly proudly about with out discrimination and vilification like the plight of the #Palestinian people ! .. we can change things here.. for the better .. https://bsky.app/profile/sensemusic.bsky.social/post/3lbh32xwmlc2a
Surely we’d all be better off going into war zones and riots to try to understand opposing views rather than looking after ourselves and choosing safe nice places to go? No, me neither. The bleeps can fight amongst themselves.
Yeah like I'm not here to fight anyone, I'm here to enjoy myself and see things I'm interested in. The concept of an echo chamber and this being bad completely ignores things like, ooh um, living life for pleasure. Oh no, I want to see photos of cats. So awful. Send me to the echo chamber police.
I will care about "dissenting opinions" when the dissent is coming from fact-checked sources and expert opinions, not "RandomName123455" with source "dude, trust me!"
The Bad Place convinced a lot of people that social media was for dominating those who disagree with you.
Bluesky smells like what social media was meant to be: socializing with new and old friends. Not algorithmic hatered larded with un-blockable ads for Temu, drop-ship scams, and crypto bullshit.
No, it is protecting your health, you would not mix with people face to face if you didn't like them or have a similar interest, so why do they call it a bubble, just because it is remote?
We don't have to make excuses for retreating into a bubble anyway. Not suffering those fools is our goddam right, while there is no such thing as freedom of reach for them.
I fully accept Bluesky is an echo chamber. I believe if you recognize it, you won't fall victim to to. Also, echo chamber or not, I feel better not having to see what Elon has to say every 5 seconds
Look, those asshats have all these made up phrases that mean literally nothing to anyone with a sense of education and morality.
We're here because it's just nice. With nice people, who post and share nice things.
It's not hard. No longer are we going to suffer their foolery.
This! We wouldn’t put up with such a coarsening of the discourse in off-line life and conversation so what the hell should we take it online? Why not just hang out with nice civilised people instead?
I’m really quite fed up with this argument !

I mean, a bubble is a social circle of any kind. Having the self awareness/control to not let go of the wheel and carelessly slip/fall into a hive mind that makes these "bubbles" another room for people to talk in. The people within the bubbles make them good or bad. Who'd have thought?
It’s also quite literally leaving a bubble he’s created by altering twitters algorithm to promote his bullshit. I’d welcome serious conservative voices who would have reasonable discussions but they aren’t the ones on twitter…
Agree, but I think the bubble criticism is more about people not wanting to see posts which don't conform to their views/which sit outside a narrow range of opinion. It's not that anyone thinks it's bad to have escaped the X algorithm.
I read a post on here which explained it perfectly. “When I go down the pub with friends, I don’t feel the need to take a couple of nut jobs with me to shout “cunt” at me for balance”
Whatever it is first and foremost it's a bloody relief.
I've had differing points of view to others on here as well. The difference being I'm happy to change my mind or stand my ground without getting immediate hate from loons/bots.
I’m quite prepared to learn from others with collegial good-faith discussions that might change my mind or broaden my point of view. But endlessly arguing against shifting goalposts and bad-faith reactions and insults is not worth anyone’s time.
I wouldn’t want to go to the pub with a bunch of utter cunts in social actual real life…
Why would I want to engage with a bunch of utter cunts on social media?!?
Even if you can somehow ignore the fact Twitter is a right wing nazi cesspool, it's completely unusable because every single post is swarmed with engagement bots. I would like to actually see a fucking human response on posts, you know?
"it’s not “retreating into a bubble” to want to see posts by people you like and want them to see yours" That is Exactly what it is and the Bubble is Stupidity. https://youtu.be/ww47bR86wSc?si=KJU99tS51PDpDCU8
People in cults want others to mistrust their own reality, their own decisions, and the reality that we all share.
Abusers feel entitled to attention & affection regardless of their actions.
Maga is a cult full of abusers, and they've taken over Twitter.
It's self-care and self-respect to leave.
Comments
On so much social media now, it seems like that is indeed too much to ask.
Blue tick now so often means garbage. Anyone with any sense who's paying to post there will stop doing so.
This place is a breath of fresh air
Groupthink exists, yes and can be fostered in this model. But the answer to that isn't constant stand up shouting arguments over whether government should exist or have an aim beyond removing itself from our lives.
This discourages openness, friendliness, & our ability to listen to others.
And creates the ideological civil war that Putin wants to create in the Western world.
I don’t want to read numerous bot posts just to converse with ‘actual’ people that have opinions .. whether I agree or not …but they have discourse!
It did more to kill any possibility of meaningful discourse on there than just about any other "improvement" made after he bought the site
The First Lady really did make the platform unpleasant and unfit for purpose.
I have years of learning, thanks to the many awesome people I have followed & engaged with.
Finding many of them here has made me extremely hopeful for our future.
The naysayers are a distraction from real world changes we need to make, whether social, environmental or other.
At least we're visible here.
;)
This app will start showing you things you don’t I no time, as they get more of a reaction for you.
MAGAs over there?
MAGA escapees over here?
That’s how it looks to me. And yeah, I’m here.
But only in the same sense that I avoid talking to people, where possible, in my normal life who hold views I find crass, stupid or offensive.
Or in some cases, support the wrong football team 😉
We aren’t the snowflakes
There are NO alternative facts
Why should I socialise with them on my social feeds?
....yup.... Exactly
That said, being in a media bubble increases partisan behavior. It leads one to believe that EVERYONE feels that way. It's dangerous for democracy.
I also think it is beholden on journalists to seek out diverse views, beyond those of “people you like”.
https://bsky.app/profile/sensemusic.bsky.social/post/3lbh32xwmlc2a
Bluesky smells like what social media was meant to be: socializing with new and old friends. Not algorithmic hatered larded with un-blockable ads for Temu, drop-ship scams, and crypto bullshit.
💙💙💙🌈🌈🌈💙💙💙
Asking for a glass of alka-seltzer.
As if Trump rallies and gatherings at Mar a Lago aren’t bubbles.
We're here because it's just nice. With nice people, who post and share nice things.
It's not hard. No longer are we going to suffer their foolery.
I’m really quite fed up with this argument !

Also most are mad because if they don’t tick people off and rack up engagement they don’t get their $, which was probably their main source of income.
always lmao
I've had differing points of view to others on here as well. The difference being I'm happy to change my mind or stand my ground without getting immediate hate from loons/bots.
(I’m sure plenty find my thoughts dull too.)
Why would I want to engage with a bunch of utter cunts on social media?!?
Even if you can somehow ignore the fact Twitter is a right wing nazi cesspool, it's completely unusable because every single post is swarmed with engagement bots. I would like to actually see a fucking human response on posts, you know?
Abusers feel entitled to attention & affection regardless of their actions.
Maga is a cult full of abusers, and they've taken over Twitter.
It's self-care and self-respect to leave.