Back to the old school

When I first started raving, we found out about raves mostly through flyers, word of mouth, and message boards like the Hullaboard and Purerave. There were no algorithms or digital ads inserting themselves into the community.

The advent of big social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at first seemed like a huge asset. Now we could easily find each other and stay in touch between raves, and we could quickly and easily share events with each other. It was a very exciting development.

Those days are gone. As is so often the case, capitalism reared its greedy head, and gradually platforms that originally provided a useful service became increasingly exploitative, invasive, and "enshittified". Algorithms shoved ragebait content in front of us for clicks, driving conflict and anger. Platforms suppressed organic reach (what you might call "talking to each other like actual humans") to force people to spend money just to have their posts seen by their own community. AI slop, misinformation, and outright bullying spread like wildfire, fueled by bots and for-profit "influencers". Increasingly, these platforms are just Skinner boxes, trying to addict you and manipulate you, consuming your attention to milk more advertising profit out of you.

In other words: most social media fucking sucks now. I do not want to be an "influencer". I do not want to be a "content creator". I do not want to wade through a sea of bots and bullshit to find one decent conversation. I would like to have real human connections with my real human friends and build my real human community.

So I am getting off the ride.

I've already fully deactivated and deleted my Twitter account. Next, I intend to deactivate my Facebook account and pause my Instagram account. I cannot fully delete either of them just yet, as they are also tied to accounts I use for my job, but I expect I will eventually do that as well. I simply do not see a useful future for ad-driven, billionaire-owned platforms for anyone who cares if what they read is true or the people they connect with are real.

What gives these social media platforms value to their owners is our attention, time and energy. I'm reclaiming those for myself and my community.

What gave these platforms value to us, as users, originally, was the ability to connect easily and quickly with people we care about, and foster community together. I believe we can still do that in places that are not driven by the toxic incentives of advertising-driven models and ideologically-motivated billionaires. And I'd like to do stay in touch with you. We have more raves to enjoy; we have more memories to create; we have more conversations to share.

So here's how you can stay in touch with me, if you so desire:

• If you would like to know about raves and other events I'm organizing, the best way is to sign up for email updates. I will also post flyers for them on Bluesky and, where applicable, on Purerave, the OG Toronto rave forum. Oh, and I'll print real flyers too. This will include my DJ Dynamic event series, a forthcoming family friendly series of events called "Rave Dad", my DJ bookings, and community events I'm involved in creating. The signup form is on the main page and at the end of this article; I'll never share your email with any other list or sell the data, it's just so I can quickly email you from time to time when events are coming up.
• If you would like to shoot the shit, hang out online, and have discussions around shared interests like music, gaming, politics, etc., the best way for now is to join Discord. I've set up a server that is, roughly, for "Toronto underground ravers and other friends of mine who are pretty cool". This is the best way to "hang out" online with me. This is also where my Orion photos will be going from now on, if the stuff you most enjoy from me is the adorable baby pics. You can join my server here.
• If you enjoyed my Twitter or public social media accounts, the only public social media account I am actively maintaining is Bluesky. Bluesky is a decentralized and billionaire-proof social media platform with no ads, and it's the only widely-used platform I currently trust enough to continue using.

I certainly understand people are not ready to quit billionaire-owned social media en masse, and you should use whatever platforms suit your life and needs. Use what works for you! But I do encourage you to be wary. Guard your mind; be intentional about how you use your time and your computer; remember that there's so much more to life than the internet. I'll let Prince sum it up:

Thanks for being part of my life. I look forward to much more joy and connection together in the future. Happy rave!