Creating Human-centric Communities Online
The Uncomfortable Truth:
After almost twenty years in social media and content creation, I’ve realised something slightly unfair, and uncomfortable: the modern internet doesn’t feel like it was built for people anymore.
Not for you. Not for me. And not for anyone trying to be a human online.
Most of what we call “the internet” in 2025 is just a collection of overly priced billion-dollar ad magazines shaped by ego and defined by perceived share holder value.
Yes, money drives everything, I'm not anti-money (not yet), businesses are there to make money, but beneath that, is something worse: unchecked and unregulated personality cults disguised as companies: ego.
Human greed is powerful, but the ego of a single person with unlimited power and unchecked authority can drive even the most intelligent people to go a bit insane.
Which is why I'm actively making a choice.
Real Online Communities:
Gone are the days of online communities where we could simply share space with friends, family, and people who shared our interests.
A recent interview with Twitter founder Jack Dorsey went further, highlighting how modern social media revolves entirely around algorithms, programming us to engage with what they want us to see.
For me, this is yet another sign of the complete breakdown of our digital lives and norms, the very reasons we came online in the first place.
Add to that the influx of spam, AI-generated slop, “work slop,” and other forms of diminishing content, and we’re left with an internet that no longer feels built for people like you and me. It’s built for ads, and for the people who profit from them.
YouTube, while slowly developing the same issues, still feels like a safer place to create. At least they pay us. But even more so, I value Patreon and Twitch for maintaining some sense of authenticity and humanity.
The Authentic Goal:
That’s my goal: authentic, humane use of technology. It has been for at least the last five years.
I love technology’s potential to improve human life, but in the hands of the arrogant and the foolish, it rarely leads anywhere good. In many ways, it’s devolved into something that’s harming our daily lives, not benefiting them. Sure, with effort, we can still optimise these platforms for our own purposes, and I do, but overall, they’ve become dreadful places, with more noise than real value or use.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to put my social media presence into a holding pattern. I’ll engage when, and only when, I want to, without the goal of promotion or chasing growth.
Instead, I’m focusing on growing our Patreon, Discord, [Twitch](https://twitch.tv/, and YouTube communities, and now, this lovely website at Bearblog.
Those platforms still allow for authenticity, humanity, and real connection, free %28for now%29 from heavy corporate control. Discord, in particular, feels like a refuge.%28Depending on that buyout)
Channels like those still maintain the best popular representation of the true internet: connection and let us humans speak and engage healthily.
We owe these companies nothing. We must protect our own sanity and humanity, and embrace what makes us great: creativity, idealism, altruism, and community.
So, this is both a heads-up and an invitation.
If you care about genuine human connection online, join me in this move toward something more real.
For too long, we’ve been lulled into dependence on these companies. Yes, we may need some of their technology for specific purposes, but I hope we can still keep enough of our time and headspace for ourselves, not their profit margins.
To summarise my guiding principles for all my digital projects:
- Authenticity
- Humanity and Community
- Creativity and Craft
- Freedom of Information
Anyway, my friends, that’s where I’ll leave you for now.