Opinions - Techonology - Internet Services
Music streaming
If you've clicked through my site before or are one of my close IRL friends, then you'd know that I'm 100% an iPod person. I got an iPod nano for my birthday in 2020, and since then it's been pretty much the only way I've listened to music on the go. And I'm definitely a supporter of buying music, since you own it and it supports the artists more. So I really don't like streaming because it's too Net-based for me, it doesn't support the artist as much, and you don't even own the music! And Spotify and Apple Music keep pushing their algorithmic playlists. The closest thing I want to that is Genius playlists on my iPod.
Tumblr
One of the only social media sites I even visit and enjoy these days, and even then, it's only a couple of minutes before I get bored and go to do something else. I go to Twitter every day or two, but have really been meaning to kick that habit since I hate that site. Anyways, I've found that Tumblr is really good for fanfiction (in my opinion, better than any of the dedicated fanfic sites), but I haven't been reading as much lately, which is probably the biggest reason behind my decreased usage.
Update 10/9/2022 - I also feel the need to add that Tumblr can be kind of annoying sometimes. Obvs not all the time, but sometimes, and that's part of why I use it less. Also, can anyone tell me what the hell a blorbo is?
Tik Tok
Personally, I don't really get the appeal. I've downloaded it a few times to try and get the hype, but all of those times I lasted less than an hour before deleting it again. Maybe I just needed to find my niche or whatever, but given the addictive effects it apparently has, I think I'll just stay away from it for now.
I've met a couple of nice people there, including a group of friend I still chat with occasionally, back in the olden days when I was on fandom twitters (I was on Dan and Phil Twitter for two years - I would very much like to forget that time period!), but it wasn't really a fun place, and so I try to avoid it these days. Generally one of the worse social medias in my opinion. I mean seriously, people on there are so toxic! You're either some perfect angel of morality or some horrible demon of evil. And that's not even mentioning the addictive effects of social media! So yeah, Lizzie's Lesson (hey, alliteration!) Of The Day: NEVER USE TWITTER!!!
Vine
My GOSH, I miss Vine! Even though I was barely concious (a.k.a. like eleven) when it closed down (Vine shutting down is another reason Twitter sucks!), I still think it's way funnier than most online humour today. To this day, anytime I see a "road work ahead" sign or any similar sign, I still quote that one vine. (You know the one!) And people tell me that Tik Tok is "sooooo funny". 1) I highly doubt that, and 2) have they ever watched a Not Even Emily Vine compilation? I think not. Anyways, "get off my lawn, people the same age as me" rant over.
iCloud
My feelings on the cloud overall are pretty conflicted. It's super convenient that I don't have to carry a flash drive around (especially since I don't have a USB-C flash drive to use with my MacBook), but at the same time, it's nice to have my own data in my own hands, since I don't really trust someone else's computer, and then privacy concerns as well. But iCloud specifically is... meh. iCloud photos is nice, I guess? But iCloud Drive has traditionally, in my experience, had semi-frequent troubles syncing, which really sucks, especially since it's always when I get inspiration to work on something that it's failed to sync. At this point, I might just start e-mailing stuff to myself. Ugh.
Nekoweb
So the other day as of my first writing this, I was surfing the Net when I found a forum post about a new small Web host called Nekoweb. I checked it out and it was obviously pretty new, since in my brief sampling of sites, I didn't find any sites with more than a page or two finished. But I look forward to seeing what it can bring to the small Web community! Neocities pretty much has a hosting monopoly in the indie Web space, so I think some variety would be a good thing. I wonder if the two will end up attracting different crowds... this may be a pipe dream, but a k-pop-themed Web host would be so cool! But I digress,
Nekoweb even has a webring of all its members---another really cool idea! Though, of course, Neocities is much too big for that these days. I'm interested to see how Nekoweb grows!
