暑中お見舞い / Summer Greetings

Dear friends, It's another scorching summer in these parts.

Wherever you are, stay cool and have a splashing time!

いよいよ本格的な夏の到来ですね！

身を守って、涼しくして、水しぶき時間をたのしんでください！

Well readers, you may have noticed it's been quite a while since I updated this blog. It's a symptom of a wider disillusionment I had with social media as a whole over the last few years (due to the increasingly maverick actions of Zuck, Musky, and the AI robber barons). The explosion of generative AI was the big one - fearful of AI bots, I stopped regular posting to Instagram and contemplated unsubscribing completely, cut back on Facebook, and (thanks to Elon) quit toxic Twitter/X in favour of Bluesky, but then slowed my posts there too. It made me feel morally righteous, "good thing sir! That'll show them!"

But of course, it's not showing anybody anything, quite literally. Avoiding the web isn't preventing AI bots trawling stuff that is already out there, the more immediate problem is that by avoiding social media, in this day and age we become quite invisible.

I really miss the longer blog posts I enjoyed writing on Blogger back in the day. Life was simpler then! Since I moved my blog to my website framework, I've found it harder to post. Blogger was easy, Wix makes you leap through menus just to find the 'new post' button.

People have recommended Substack, I did consider, but then heard some very offputting revelations, like Substack recieving income from extreme far right content, I'm uncomfortable with behemoth silicon valley companies that expand quickly, then evolve into the same old stuff as the other platforms, becoming yet another tech-bro run exploitative machine.

However, while I slowly ponder more ethical alternatives, I'll be posting a little more on the platforms I still subscribe to, so expect a bit more activity on Instaspam, Facedook and Brewsky, not to mention LinkedSin. For artists at least, invisibility on social media has become a form of self-imposed exile, the only one who notices and cares, is yourself.

Rest assured I haven't gone anywhere, I'm still here, still creating! More soon!