I know Google is a big corpo but its hardly the only reason behind the state of the internet. It is a major factor, but to single out Google when Microsoft and others have played just as significant of a role is odd.
noodle
On Lemmy it is more like 40 something year old neckbeards that haven't seen the light of day in 2 decades. They claim to struggle to make friends at parties but could easily run a country.
When I was learning programming I wrote a small program that I called for_you.exe. It printed an animated ASCII penis ejaculating on some boobs. I emailed it to my girlfriend and thankfully she thought it was hilarious. We're still together.
They are a lifestyle brand and play on that to keep people trapped. People who buy Apple like the aesthetic of appearing wealthy. It's classism through consumerism, even if the consumers don't realise it.
Apple's terrible privacy policy (yes, despite the word privacy appearing in the ads), atrocious right to repair stance, and aggressive software lock-in tactics should put any person who cares about those things off.
There was a purpose to buying Apple when they were the only player in the specific niche. Audio engineering is a great example of this. In the 90's, Apple were really the only valid choice in a highly specialist field. Microsoft caught up in the 2000s, with Linux not too far behind in the 2010's.
So nowadays, the limitations are effectively self-imposed. You can spend whatever money you want on a setup that will do whatever you need and the OS is a personal preference.
If you'd told me I'd miss 2006 back in 2006 I'd have laughed.
Let the kids have their cringe phase
I was quite active. But less and less as time goes on, sadly.
The content is drying up, the only really active communities are either tech or political, and my main interests either never left reddit or have a home elsewhere. The nail in the coffin for me will be when my instance dies, which is looking increasingly likely given that the admin is AWOL.
It's ok here, but it's too fragmented to be a full replacement for anything else.