Twitter/X; Should I Stay or Should I Go?

I've been considering leaving X for some time now, but haven't yet. I get a lot of my news from the sources I follow there. It has become such a platform for misinformation and there are just so many ads that I spend most of my time scrolling rather than reading.

+ I like that I can follow accounts without being followed back or that individuals can follow me and I don't have to follow them. 
+ I like that there are many sources and varieties of sources available.
+ I like that it is a popular social media platform.
+ It's free

- I don't like the ad targeting, but realize that I'm going to get that (to some degree) anywhere.
- I don't like that I'm seeing fewer posts from accounts I follow and more targeted posts that seem to be aggressively opposite to my tastes.
- I am not a fan of Elon Musk.

I don't know if Blue Sky will be the social media platform that people switch to, or if it will be something else. Blue Sky began in Twitter, before Twitter was bought by Musk, and has since separated. I've done a little reading about it and have opened an account there. I decided to stick with the  magicianary handle even though it really isn't me anymore. Look me up if you are on Blue Sky.

I have been working on spending less time on social media. I do like using Facebook to stay in touch with friends and family, especially since I never actually see many of them in person. Maybe I'll just drop X and not replace it with anything.
Facebook, Instagram, X, etc., can be good connections to news sources, but it's easy enough to go direct to the news sites or get links to breaking stories sent to your phone. The social platforms can be entertaining if you are entertained by the stories, experiences, and stupidity of other people's lives. They can also be educational if you choose to follow sites that share science, history, art, etc.

Since I only have a couple dozen direct followers to Out of My Hat, chances are good that you are here from a social media link. I don't think that people read or follow blogs as much as they once did. Both Facebook and Twitter were pretty much in their infancy when I started blogging and personal blogs like mine were popular. As more and more people turned to those platforms for expression, most of the blogs I followed just disappeared.

I suppose I have continued publishing Out of My Hat because writing helps me to organize the thoughts in my head. I don't expect to be a great influence in the world, nor do I think that my thoughts and ideas are particularly brilliant.
Mostly writing just gives me something to do.

Admittedly, I like when people read my words and feel moved to respond or leave a comment. I miss some of the bloggers that I once followed and that followed me. I wonder what they are doing and why they decided to quit blogging.
Some of us have kept at it, perhaps because we are set in our ways and unwilling to adapt to the changing world. We're like the group of old people you might find gathered for coffee and breakfast at any given McDonald's in any small town in the US. We often have different perspectives of the world around us, but the blogger community seems more reasonable about our areas of disagreement than other social platforms.

For now, I'm just going to leave this here. Maybe the only change I'll make is to spend less time on my social media accounts. 

John