I think it depends on how you use them.

I spend a lot of time lurking on Lemmy. I read discussions. I don’t post or comment much. There’s no social element to that experience. (This is an indictment of me, not Lemmy.)

I just recently rejoined Mastodon, and there I find myself replying to people’s posts and having short discussions even though I don’t “know” anyone. It’s not “community” at this stage, but it could become that if I continue using the platform that way. And when I made a post introducing myself, there were several comments offering direction toward finding “my people” (a.k.a. community) on that platform. It’s just up to me to make it happen.

I’m originally from the USA. I’ve lived in Australia for over 20 years now.

The last 10 years have been hard to watch from afar. The problems go back way further than that, of course, but it really felt/feels like everything comes to a head in Trump’s presidency.

There’s a kind of grief that comes with watching your country go through what’s been happening in the USA over the past year (not that awful and worse things haven’t been happening elsewhere in the world, but it’s different when it’s your home country and people you love still live there).

And another kind of grief comes from watching people you know personally and otherwise consider to be intelligent, rational, and caring become Trump fanatics who can no longer be reasoned with on any subject remotely related to Trump or the Republicans. I still can’t understand them.

How does this all play out? Badly. I expect it’s going to be very hard for the people in the USA, and I expect things are also going to be bad for many other countries and their people. We’re looking at a reorganisation of global order, and maybe that’s long overdue but it’s going to be a painful process - the more so because it’s happening all at once via abrupt chaos rather than planning for smaller transitions.

How has it affected me personally? My sister left the country. I don’t know when I’ll get back to visit friends and remaining family, now. Sister was the main reason I’ve gone previously, and now I’ll likely have to choose between USA or visiting her in Europe (finances don’t typically allow me to do both). Additionally I would not feel comfortable travelling to the USA right now.

I am actively advising my Australian family and friends to avoid the USA, and not even use their airports in transit to another country. I don’t see that advice changing before 2029, and it may not change very soon after that.

Amazing. Thank you so much!

My struggle has been lack of address data in my part of the world. I primarily use maps to help me navigate to a destination address, and it seems that here they can only take me as far as the street, they don’t have the street numbers.

I could probably figure out how to add that data for my own neighbourhood, but I can’t do it for the town I’ll be visiting 5 hours away from home.

And so every time I have tried FOSS map apps, I’ve had to go back to Google’s for at least a portion of the journey.

Suggestions welcome, because I would really like to be able to drop Google completely, one of these days.

But how, when this is the only comfy one?

Yes and no. That kind of diversifying is ideal, but much more achievable in a city. And I know plenty of people who simply don’t have the time to make so many stops. There’s a reason the big stores get most of the business, and it’s not that we approve of their practices.

For my part: We do use the butcher. We don’t have a fruit and veg store. Markets are twice a month, but they’re an unreliable source of produce here. Specialty shops are also limited outside of cities, and often more expensive.

I’ll continue muddling along as best I can, which already involves sourcing things from non-duopoly options when I can. But that’s a far cry from the ideal.

I just think it is too simplistic to say “just stop shopping there”. Many people don’t have that luxury of choice.

Coles is getting into bed with Palantir . We already decided to stop shopping there.

Now Woollies is doing this.

The only other option in my town is Aldi. They’re great for some things, but don’t have the range of the duopoly.

What do you suggest as an alternative?

(At least this AI thing Woollies is implementing seems to be only online orders. I usually shop in person, so ought to be able to avoid it… for now.)

Facebook and Instagram.

10 years ago they were very helpful for keeping up with friends I didn’t see very often. Now, Facebook is full of sponsored posts and politics rather than the personal updates I want; and the Instagram feed has more posts from people I don’t follow than from people I do.

I stepped away from both a year ago. In the main, I don’t miss them. The unfortunate part is that Facebook is the only place local community stuff is posted, so I can’t quit entirely. But I no longer have the app on my phone; I just open it in Firefox when I need to look do a specific thing.

Bushfire.io is another good tool. Similar to the RFS map, but it’s not limited by state and they have more than just fire data. They have an app as well as the web map.

Iirc, the Hazards Near Me app replaces the old Fires Near Me and some other things. E.g. there used to be a separate app for floods; now it’s all amalgamated into the one Hazards app.

We’re on the last day of a heat wave. It’s been affecting my sleep. Tonight the heat should break, and I am really looking forward to nicer temps tomorrow (and hopefully better sleep tonight).

Does pineapple belong on pizza?

Got to know a couple of my husband’s online friends, who turned out to be pretty amazing people as well as being very supportive friends. I really would have struggled without them, these last few months.

MCCAIN FOODS (AUST) PTY LTD - McCain Cheese & Bacon Pizza Pockets 400g Published 12 December 2025 Red box with yellow McCain Logo

McCain Foods (Aust) Pty Ltd are conducting a recall of the above product. The product has been available for sale in Woolworths, Coles and independent retailers including IGA nationally and online.

Date Markings: BEST BEFORE OCT 2026 A (289, 290, 291)

Problem: The presence of foreign matter (plastic, metal).

Food safety hazard: Food products containing plastic and/or metal may cause illness/injury if consumed.

What to do: Consumers should not eat this product. Consumers should return the product(s) to the place of purchase for a full refund. Any consumers concerned about their health should seek medical advice.

For further information please contact: McCain Foods (Aust) Pty Ltd 1800 000 422 [email protected] mccain.com.au

This morning I have opened: Lemmy (aussie.zone), Discord, WhatsApp, Bluesky, Messenger, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube.

None of them have asked me to verify my age, neither the ones that said they would nor the ones explicitly exempt nor the ones about which we know nothing.

My Facebook and Google accounts are probably old enough that they don’t need to verify. All the other accounts are too young for that to work.

Bluesky asked me to enter my date of birth, but did not require anything to substantiate the date I entered.

I’m a Millennial, so my age isn’t an issue. But I don’t want to give anything identifying to any platform. (I like the approach aussie.zone is taking.) So I am relieved that thus far my accounts are unaffected.

But I’m also feeling a healthy dose of “where’s the boogeyman we were promised?” and wondering when the shoe is going to drop.

Tbh I would be amazed if anyone in the government knows that Lemmy exists. But we’ll see.

As of Nov 5, this is as far as the list of sites affected goes:

Services that eSafety considers will be age-restricted social media platforms

• Facebook
• Instagram
• Kick
• Reddit
• Snapchat
• Threads
• TikTok
• X (formerly Twitter)
• YouTube

Services that eSafety considers will not be age-restricted social media platforms

• Discord
• GitHub
• Google Classroom
• LEGO Play
• Messenger
• Roblox
• Steam and Steam Chat
• WhatsApp
• YouTube Kids

https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions/which-platforms-are-age-restricted

Thanks for the update.

I really should get back on Mastodon…

I’m currently playing around with Debian on an old laptop of mine. If I can get the setup to a place where it feels sufficient for me to take my hands off, it could be the answer for this other computer.

(Thanks for DE recommendations. It does my head in trying to keep straight which ones are suited to which uses.)

I had Zorin on my own computer for a while and really liked it, but it was crashing every few days and I decided I didn’t want to put up with that. I’ll give it another try one of these days - the issue may have been resolved, or my hardware my be different by then. But I won’t use it on a computer whose user can’t do thryr own tech support.