This is exactly it for me. If you give me cash, I will appreciate it but just end up saving it. If you give me a gift card I will use it to buy something I wouldn’t have otherwise.
Plus, you can be more intentional with gift cards. Was your dad talking about how much he’d like a new fishing pole? Getting him a gift card to an outdoors store shows you were paying attention. Maybe your wife really likes manicures but never gets them for herself. A gift card to a spa shows thought.
Fuck dude, it’s all so goddamned depressing. The only sliver of hope I have is that I can pass my knowledge to my kids and teach them better much younger. Hopefully enough people do this sort of thing that we might finally pull ourselves out of our bullshit ignorance. I know it’s worth nothing, but I’m sorry all the same.
I think you’re correct. We were taught about manifest destiny but not the genocide of Native Americans, and that’s just one instance of the institutionalized racism we were taught was good. SO MANY PEOPLE never grew out of that or tried to be better.
I was also gifted firearms as a child. They were kept inside a locked safe that I didn’t have the combination for when not being used for hunting or target shooting. As much as I enjoy guns, hunting, and shooting, I can also see that responsibility goes beyond “it’s guaranteed in the constitution” or equivalent bullshit.
Drag queen story times are of the devil! ( The Christians say while attending church where someone dresses up and reads stories).
Except responsible gun owners wouldn’t buy their child a gun and give them access to it whenever they please. Any firearms I may or may not possess would be locked in a safe which no one but any spouse I may hypothetically have had access to. Unfortunately I lost all my firearms in a tragic boating accident a few years back.
What I’m trying to say is that, while the government shouldn’t be allowed to come check that people have their guns locked up when not in use, there should absolutely be repercussions for anyone found to not be doing so.
Strong Poe’s Law energy with this comment.
I haven’t tried that one yet. Heard of it, but Mastodon has kinda stuck with me so I haven’t really moved on to something else.
Sorry for the late response, I don’t check my notifications very often.
To answer your question: I like that you can follow specific hashtags instead of people. For example, my feed is a combination of #nature, #astrophotography, #hiking, and #catsofmastodon. There are hashtags for just about any interest, and that’s all you have to follow if you want.
Like many commenters here, I am glad that I left Reddit because of the enshittification, but I do miss some of the communities that were there that didn’t want to move. I don’t think Lemmy has completely filled that void, but it’s done a good enough job that I’m here to stay.
I’ve basically stopped using all other social media except for Mastodon (which I actually like way more than Twitter, even if there aren’t as many users) and I feel like my life is better for it. I spend less time mindlessly doom-scrolling and more time doing things I actually enjoy. Since the Reddit blackout I’ve read 60 books, played more videogames, and spent more time outside.
TL:DR touch grass sometimes, it can help
“So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide.”