Several weeks into the #TwitterMigration it seems clear to me the value of Mastodon is not that it is a Twitter replacement, but that it is a gateway technology to decentralization. Mastodon has flaws, I'm not claiming it's perfect, but many criticisms I've seen stem from expecting centralized services from a decentralized structure. It's up to us to try and explain the differences and set expectations for what alternative services can look like.
To this extent I'm really interested to know how the age breakdown of people on the #Fediverse. On one hand it would seem to make sense to me that most people here remember the "old internet" before the centralization and they're here to rekindle that flame of independence. On the other hand the youths are generally pretty up on this whole technology thing. I grew up on the internet and since then smartphones have become even more ubiquitous.
(Please boost for reach)
@jynersolives that last option LOL
I almost made the last option "Old like dirt"
@mcneely Both feet in the grave 👻
@SusanneAmman @jynersolives @mcneely no, no. Just told someone on here that it's nicer than the 🐦 because people are kinder. Be kind, one day you too will be old, or have both feet plus everything else in that grave.
@lostgardening @SusanneAmman @mcneely It’s all in good jest here, I‘m in the geezer category myself and I have a deep respect for anyone older than me and still going strong. Now, young people on the other hand… 😉 *na, the kids are alright too*
@jynersolives @SusanneAmman @mcneely No worries, sensitive subject old age, but it's just the usual generalisations! The young on the other hand are essential, my grandchildren sort out all my techy problems. The polls are fascinating.
@lostgardening @jynersolives @mcneely I still sort out my children's and soon my grandchildren's problems. Who knows how all this stuff works if touching the screen does not help? ^^
@SusanneAmman @jynersolives @mcneely does shouting help?
@lostgardening @jynersolives @mcneely Depends on the device. My husband's new smartphone needed a good shout to shut down.
@jynersolives @mcneely just joined mastodon, yep one foot in the grave. 70
"Old like dirt" would have to be an extra option, Shirley ... I'm 75, pushing 76, and would fit right in there.
@mcneely well that would be me, 65 yr old OG punk here!
@mcneely @jynersolives
Happily old like dirt here!
@mcneely @jynersolives old like dirt isn’t that old. If I remember my biology right it normally takes 7 years to decay to dirt.
But I didn’t know what to answer, I’m 60 since two weeks ago, so am I 60+ or in the 40-60 category? 😁
I know I’m a Boomer though! So I’m told. 😉
@mcneely @jynersolives 🤣 I’m 61 and worked in IT from the before times. #Mastodon feels more like those days.
@twokatmew @mcneely I said it to someone before today, the fediverse is the Portlandia of the internet 😂
@twokatmew @mcneely @jynersolives I'm 56 and got started on HP Timesharing BASIC at 300 baud, Apple ][, cassette file storage, 5.25" floppies, BSD via 1200 baud dialup, uucp, C-News (USENET), archie and veronica, ftp by mail, so though I'm 6 years your junior, I too feel old as dirt. High five!
@opalmirror @mcneely @jynersolives Ah, such fond memories of the pioneer days! 🤣❤️
@twokatmew @mcneely @jynersolives I recently found all the tapes of the HP-2000F BASIC system available on the Internet and have been trying to resurrect a favorite star trading game from there (rewriting in C++). It... needs work, I don't know that flavor of BASIC as well as I once did.
@jynersolives @mcneely It's interesting that these two polls give seemingly very different results. Jin's poll is constructed with equal 10-year intervals (at least the first three intervals) and therefore it's more accurate than the poll at the start of this thread that compares 15-year interval with 20-year interval
@generegulation @mcneely Thanks for the flowers 🌸 Both polls show that this is a Xennial platform – and it is all the better as regards the conversations we have. Btw, if you scroll down in "my" thread there's also a little poll (with only a handful of respondents) for the over 45yr olds. The majority here (80%) fell into the 45-54 age category. So I guess it's safe to say that the 35-54yr olds have this platform quite strongly in their hands. At least for now.
@jynersolives @generegulation @mcneely Polls may be skewed because those of us 65+ take longer to figure things out. I haven't figured out how to yet ;-)
After seeing your pools, we are doing the same into the French speaking community.
@jynersolives @mcneely
I have a question for you to. I did the same king of pool about the age on Mastodon in the french speaking community and a lot of people are angry and rude with me in the comments.
Did it happen to you too?
Ooh, why's that? The only complaint I got because I joked about the over 45yr olds as "one foot in the grave" (I am in that category).
@AlicePotiron @jynersolives @mcneely why would anyone do that? If they don't like polls, or aren't interested, just move on. It's not compulsory to do any of this. Love your hair, it's beautiful.
@jynersolives @mcneely Polls are interesting, but there are many more categories of us. Consider operating system versions, for example. I am Macintosh System 2.0 (1984) generation. In the beginning I had to swap a System Disk and Application Disk to perform work. So this interface is challenging, but I expect that with early app versions.
@jynersolives @mcneely not sure anybody mentioned this already but the younger people probably have build their communities arround discord, where each discord server = Mastodon Server. They in my perception have never used Twitter as news feed as the old folk tends to do, they either use Instagram or TikTok for that, ask the move at a lot faster pace and far more multi modal, with text, pictures, videos and sound ...
@tamahandy @jynersolives @mcneely I agree with this. Is there a strategy or even a need for one to bring the younger ones on the Fediverse? The promises are vast here, but Discord and TikTok are very accommodating for the thing they provide (of course they lack privacy/decentralization/personal information control)
@mcneely Most are 41-60?!! I wasn’t expecting that! Cool, that is my group (but not for long, unfortunately)!
@tlsmith63 @mcneely I'm in that category until Weds. Then I move up to 60+ so I voted for 60+.
@tlsmith63 Im not *that* surprised considering a large part of the influx is academics and journalists. Not exactly groups that skew young.
@mcneely @tlsmith63 well all academics and journos were once young academics and Journos… right?
@mcneely @Htaggert @tlsmith63 It’s people who had access to Usenet and other tools that worked on similar logic to the Fediverse so the learning curve is flatter. The barrier for entry is a lot higher than it was for Twitter.
@randimason @mcneely @Htaggert @tlsmith63
If you remember Usenet from your 20's, before it was relentlessly spammed (and pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter), Mastodon likely makes a lot of sense to you, and you are likely in the 41-60 (or better) age group. (As am I.)
@cfclark @randimason @mcneely @Htaggert I did use Usenet back in the day.
@cfclark @randimason @mcneely @tlsmith63 I really don’t! I remember computers coming into vogue in grad school - but no one owned one and we all had to go to a computer lab to type papers… it was such a social hub…
🇺🇸🇺🇦
@Htaggert @cfclark @randimason @mcneely @tlsmith63 They still must need computer labs, right?! Probably for special purposes.
@tlsmith63 @mcneely I'll be out of that group in exactly 5 months.
@tlsmith63 @mcneely I was actually suspecting this. Mastodon is the most GenX thing I've seen since the 90s.
@dubikan @tlsmith63 @mcneely I kid you not, a couple days ago I saw someone on here say "today is a good day to watch Clerks"
@dubikan @tlsmith63 @mcneely As a Gen Xer I remember the IRC days. I'm thoroughly enjoying meeting others with similar interests and new interests that I'm curious about.
@dubikan @tlsmith63 @mcneely So Gen X is 40s?
@princelysum @mcneely @tlsmith63 @dubikan Gen X was born ~1965-1980, so they’re in their 40s and 50s. Millennials are in their late 20s to early 40s.
@pjie2 @princelysum @mcneely @tlsmith63 @dubikan I think my son manages to be 3 gens younger than me. (I'm lateish X, Mike is early Millennial, we skip Z and Matthew is Alpha)
@lnr @pjie2 @princelysum @mcneely @tlsmith63 @dubikan when I read Generation X I was told I wasn't in it but apparently I am now.
@ailbhe @lnr @pjie2 @princelysum @mcneely @tlsmith63 when were you born?
@ailbhe @lnr @pjie2 @princelysum @mcneely @tlsmith63 so am I. You're totally genX
@dubikan @lnr @pjie2 @princelysum @mcneely @tlsmith63 yes but in 1992 I wasn't.
@ailbhe @lnr @pjie2 @cunobaros wait what 1963? You?
@cunobaros @pjie2 @lnr @ailbhe still seemed the more likely option
@lnr @bjorn @ailbhe @pjie2 @cunobaros you’re all sooooo young
@dubikan @tlsmith63 @mcneely Perhaps everyone under 40 has only known algorithmic casino platforms, and experiences low-level panic if they’re not being monetised?
@mcneely Here's a poll I did last week on that topic, let's compare once your's is finished. But I think it'll be very similar, this is an "older" platform:
https://mastodon.social/@jynersolives/109284558365232027