Filtered Cigarettes

One of the characteristics of self-actualizing people… is their relative independence of the physical and social environment. Since they are propelled by growth motivation rather than by deficiency motivation, self-actualizing people are not dependent for their main satisfactions on the real world, or other people or culture or means to ends or, in general, on extrinsic satisfactions.

— Abraham H. Maslow, Motivation and Personality (1954)

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I tried out Bluesky for a few weeks. I disdain the place and find it worthy of scorn. Like an 8th-grade cafeteria at lunchtime, it’s a cacophony of self-conscious depressives, narcissists, and bullies yearning to fit in with the other self-conscious depressives, narcissists, and bullies. However, unlike teenagers awkwardly doing their best to make it through an unavoidable stage of life, these folk are adults who have grown into such dispositions and now revel in their meanness.

People are giving Bluesky a pass because Facebook and Twitter/X are so ungodly awful, but don’t kid yourself.¹ Even with its moderation tools, Bluesky is toxic. Trawling through the muck to find a few gems (or only to keep up with friends and colleagues) exposes you to extreme levels of negative emotional contagion, propaganda, and, for lack of a better word, what I’ll call spiritual poison.² I recommend avoiding it.

Footnotes

1. Don’t even get me started on LinkedIn! What the hell is going on there? That place is profoundly weird. ↩

2. Emotional Contagion: Why Emotions Are Contagious | Healthline ↩