Something to do when there's nothing to do

When I was a kid, there was a book in our house called "Something to do when there's nothing to do." It was written for parents and contained suggestions, activities, and ideas for how to respond when the children whined, "I'm bored! There's nothing to do!" The lesson I learned from this book is that there is always something to do - whether we are just bored, or when we are overwhelmed with helplessness and despair in an increasingly insane world. There is always something we can do.

As artists, we can continue to work. We can create work that calls out injustice and imagines a better world, and share that work with our networks and communities. When despair numbs us to the point that we can't create, we can pay attention to others' work to find support and solidarity.

Outside our creative work, the many other things we can do will depend on our individual circumstances and capacity. One thing that has felt fundamental to me is to withdraw support as much as possible from the multinational corporations and tech oligarchs that are not only driving so much of this chaos but also profiting from it. We have all become enslaved in a web of corporate technology that is now overtly pushing a right-wing agenda, but we do still have choice in how much we collaborate with or reject it. Under the guise of harmless convenience, these proprietary platforms gather and monetise our personal data, spy on us and track our digital and physical movements, and flood us with misinformation, conspiracy theories and AI slop that is designed to make us feel overwhelmed and helpless. (They're also quietly throwing out their emissions targets to feed energy-hungry AI projects).

Following Meta's announcement that it was ceasing fact-checking and abandoning its diversity policies, I became one of many many people to leave Meta's platforms Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp. Actually this was easy for me as I never used Facebook as myself, and barely used Instagram. Before I deleted Whatsapp from my phone, I invited my contacts there to use Signal instead. Many were already also using Signal, most of those who didn't were happy to switch, and several thanked me for the nudge. It was pretty easy, really.

Start small

I know that many of you will find it difficult to leave these social media platforms, so here are some tips to at least make yourself and your data less valuable to these companies if you are going to keep supporting them:

  • don't use apps such as Messenger, Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook etc. on your phone at all. These apps require you to agree to terms and conditions that give the app access to pretty much everything on your phone, including data from other apps, your location, contacts and more. Your data is then monetised for advertising, used for AI training, passed on to government agencies or simply stored in case it turns out to be valuable in the future.
  • always log out: only log into these platforms when you actually want to use them, and log out when you've finished. It's easy to get into the habit of doing this, and it will reduce how much these platforms are able to track your browsing history and other activity. It's also a good security habit, in case your phone or laptop is stolen or hacked.
  • start to train yourself and your contacts into other platforms and channels: install Signal and see who of your contacts are also using it; use email rather than Messenger; update your website instead of your Facebook page; if you don't have a website, think about getting one.
  • find more tips here to make yourself less valuable to Meta and reduce the monetisation of your personal data.


Join the resistance

If, like me, you're ready to ditch the monopolistic, data-stealing, profit-driven behemoths such as Meta, X and Google, the good news is that there are plenty of alternatives. Sure, they don't (yet) have massive user-bases, but neither did Facebook when it started out. And, let's be honest - how big is your network, really? How many people do you really need to reach? Let's go for quality rather than quantity!

Here's how you can divest from toxic tech and put your energy into nurturing our own digital gardens. Pick what's easiest for you and start with that:

  • this website! The Magdalena Poject website is available to you as a place to post your events, news and thoughts, and to engage with others in the Magdalena network. If you don't already have an account, you can sign up here. We are about to begin a complete overhaul of the website so in the not-to-distant future it will have a fresh new look and more user-friendly features (if you can help with that, let me know).
  • Signal instead of Whatsapp: this is so easy. Signal is an open source encrypted messaging app, owned by a non-profit company. It has all the same features as other messaging apps, no ads, full encryption and is cross-platform, for smartphones as well as the desktop app for computers.
  • social media alternatives: at the moment I'm trying out Bluesky (not open source and owned by a profit-making company) which is effectively a replacement for Twitter/X; Mastodon, at the Systerserver instance which is a techno-feminist collective; and Friendica and MeWe. These last two are similar to Facebook - Friendica being an open source decentralised network, while MeWe is not open source  but is owned by a non-profit company and has a strong privacy policy and no ads. I don't know which of these networks might prove to be the most useful for me, the only way to find out is to give them a try.
  • I'm told that Pixelfed is a good alternative to Instagram, but I haven't tried it myself as I never found Instagram particularly useful.
  • De-Googleing may seem impossible, especially to the many of you who use gmail. If you have an ISP (Internet Service Provider) who you pay a monthly fee to for internet access at home or work, find out if that company offers email as well. Change your default search engine (in your browser's settings) to something else - I use DuckDuckGo. And instead of Google Drive, look for alternatives such as the very comprehensive Nextcloud, or for simple collaborative writing there's always Etherpad - just name your pad and start writing.
  • Jitsi instead of Zoom or Google Meet: it's free, no time limits, no log-in required; just name your meeting and send the link to your participants.
  • UpStage: don't forget to check out this fantastic artist-led online platform for live performance!


Follow me ...

helen varley jamiesonIf you would like to connect with me on any of the platforms I'm trying out, here's where I am:

I've created a Magdalena Project group on MeWe, in case any of you would like to try that out as well.

So, don't tell me you're still bored, or feeling helpless - do something!

Submitted by helen on 18 February 2025.