Internet wild west
Complaining about popular websites like Youtube, Instagram, Facebook or Twitter is a recurrent theme expressed by people who benefit from those same sites, for example influencers and streamers usually demand better conditions, consumers (including myself) are concerned about privacy or the increasing amount of ads, politicians want to regulate the content provided on these platforms, businesses want to control the traffic and recommendations (this one is also applicable to streamers and influencers) to get more engagement.
Some arguments are valid and some aren’t at all; however sometimes it feels there isn’t any other choice, is this true?, From my experience the answer is off course no. For instance with youtube there is a project called Invidious, a technology designed to replicate youtube front-end but without ads or tracking stuff. Still not convinced? Why not give odysee a try?, It’s a platform which prioritize content creators, Do you like to share opinions but Twitter is not for you?, Try making your own website with WordPress or Hugo.
There are hundreds of similar examples like these, the point is can’t keep complaining if something goes wrong, search for an alternative instead. After all, maybe that new site is greater than the original, or even better try to create an alternative yourself. Worst case scenario, you will just “waste” some time learning how to make something, which in my opinion is better than wasting time doing nothing more than grumbling. That said, complaining is not bad at all just don’t get mad if some sites decrease in quality.
To finish the article let me show you some alternatives I have found over time, maybe you like one of them.
Youtube
- invidious: A great replacement for Youtube.
- odysee: I haven’t used it much but it seems to be a nice platform to produce videos and make some profit of it
- youtube-dl: this is not a website, it is a program but it is an awesome tool for downloading or streaming Youtube videos with the help of an external video player like mpv
Social Media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, etc …)
- I don’t really use any social media sites, my alternative solution to that was making my own website 🙃.
- Mastodon: It is an interesting idea which intends to give control to the user about social media.
- RSS: An old but pretty good protocol to stay updated about blogs or news on the web. To use it you have to download a specific program for this protocol, In my case I use Newsboat or if you use Firefox or Chrome there are some extensions that support it.
Google Search Engine
- Duckdukgo: is one search engine which claims to be concerned with privacy, right now it is not my favorite but it is a starting point in the search for something more private.
- searxng: an awesome program hosted by multiple people around the world that uses other search engines without compromising your privacy.