So let's begin....
With the enshittification of the corporate internet gathering pace, I made a couple of modest acts of resistance to see in the New Year.
I finally deleted my Xitter account. It's a cesspit. The algorithm and its malevolent owner made it so, but the seeds of its debasement were always there. I remember reading articles in 2014 about the negative impact it was having on the discourse, as well as individual lives. I went to a talk at Hay Festival by Jon Ronson in 2015, where he talked about his book on internet shaming and the devastating effect it could have on people. We were becoming increasingly aware of social media suicides.
I look back on those days with misty-eyed nostalgia for gentler times.
I've joined the fediverse, and that's where I'm staying. There's no algorithm driving hate in your direction, and it's full of all those interesting folk you encountered when you first went online in the late 90s or early 00s. If you're too young to remember those halcyon days, hop aboard, because it turns out they never went away.
You can say hello just here:
I also decided to start a blog just here. Bear Blog seems like a little sanctuary of old-school internet values and is exactly what I've been looking for.
I want something simple to use with few distractions, that can grow organically over time. Like a blog from the olden days.
My name is Martyn, and I've called my blog martblog as a little homage to normblog, the legendary blog of the late British Marxist, Norman Geras. I often disagreed with him, but I loved his blog and how he communicated politely to friend and foe alike. As someone in my twenties and early thirties at the time, I learned a lot from reading him.
Expect posts about books, writing, stuff I see, things I do, some cultural commentary when I feel suitably inspired/annoyed, and whatever else I fancy.
In other words, it will be completely random and always totally free.