i met him at work! I don’t know how long it took. I wasn’t really looking.

I think most people don’t find others just on the street or at a grocery store. I mean some people do, but it’s pretty rare. usually at jobs and through friends. volunteering is a really good way too.

IDK if they would care or not, I care!

hard agree, I hope there’s as much money in paintball as there is in mass surveillance

Exactly! Might as well get ahead of it and leave with dignity

I listened to a YouTuber suggest that all these abandoned data centers would be great for the government to expand its mass surveillance programs so probably that

I don’t generally get sentimental about stuff exactly. we lost virtually all our stuff in a fire once though, and going without stuff made me appreciate all of it a lot more. I sometimes find myself being really glad for my dollar tree pencil holders and other things just because they’re useful and I really like the color. I often think about how glad I am to have a bed. I hope I never lose this appreciation.

I wonder if their artists and animators will quit.

Lol good point. The internet was supposed to be democratizing, but it’s just replicated the same bullshit.

i hate this feature of the Internet. there’s lots of accountability if you have clout!

I’d like to know the answer to this, too. As far as I can tell so far, the only protection is that lemmy is kinda small and not really appealing to bot on.

a lot of people have already said some really great things. I want to add a warning about getting into the habit of blaming your parents for everything.

in my early adult life, I had a lot of resentment about the ways my parents bullied and failed to protect me. I could see the way their behaviors and my lack of childhood really made my adult life much harder. however!

over the course of some time I started to fully realize and accept that I controlled my own destiny now, and what I decided to do as an adult had nothing to do with them anymore. no more pushing people away and then blaming my upbringing. I was finally free to change and find my people. and I did!

it wasn’t easy. Changing your mindset takes practice. Learning to make friends and stop repeating negative thoughts is more like working out a muscle to get stronger than flipping a switch. But it felt sooooo good to start taking control of my own life, make my own friends and holiday traditions, etc!

I guess I’m a little surprised at the diversity of where these pages are based, lmao. I thought it would be a lot more Russia, Israel.