Fediverse

I'm almost 48. My profession: foreign languages and literature. I have had a computer since I was 7 years old. I know how to use Linux and I have played video games all my life. I know a little code. I'm good with computers. A lot of people my age in my profession are not all that good with computers. They think they are because they can make a PowerPoint presentation or took a class on how to use a spread sheet as a grade book. So, I don't know, I don't think everyone on here are older tech nerds, so it's not exclusive to them. They could be the majority, though. Am I a nerd? Yes. But a different type of nerd. I speak three languages and read six. I can diagram a sentence and correct peoples' grammar and vocabulary in my sleep. I know all about literature from the 16th and 17th centuries. I play video games and I like technology enough, but it does not consume my life. Are there lots of people on here like me? I don't know. I DO know that I've interacted with a lot of younger people on here. To understand how to use this new type of social media you have to understand technology pretty well. It isn't for people who just want to tap or click on stuff that "just works." You need a basic understanding of how decentralized social networks function to be able to navigate it and you have to have patience with things that might slow down or do strange things every once in a while. There are lots of people my age that would not have the patience to learn how to use this space on the internet. In a lot of ways, they are very similar to the stereotypes of "average twenty-somethings" I've seen mentioned in this thread. No worries about privacy. In some cases, perfectly happy with their privacy being invaded because they want to see ads related to products they would buy. I also enjoy shopping. It's fun. I don't like ads, though.

I've literally just signed up because of the Reddit policy changes killing off third-party apps, and I'm already confused by some of the conversations on here about the "fediverse" and some stuff about Threads and EEE (whatever that is).

I'm just like, I wanted an alternative to Reddit, what the hell is all this? 😂 Even signing up to this was confusing and I consider myself more tech-savvy than most. I think the process needs to be made simpler to encourage more ex-redditors to sign up.

have been around on mastodon for years (was one of the first few thousands accounts). it really depends where you look. i'm under 30 and the majority of people i see + interact with are under 30 too.

the "professionals" side of mastodon absolutely does skew more to that age range, but the more shitposty social groups skew way younger, and with a lot of them existing on other instances.

lemmy also has a mix and again depends where you look.

tl;dr i'm not sure i'd totally agree with that 90% statistic

There is natural overlap in ideology between the fediverse and FOSS (Free and Open Source Software so including Linux). The same principles apply like building something together without big corporations*. But that does lead to a rather narrow demography I'm afraid.

* I know a lot of big corporations ARE involved in the Linux kernel but I'm talking about the various distros in case of Linux.

I've just blocked the linux communities. I quite liked Linux when I still had reason to use it, but it's just not something I care to see so frequently when scrolling the FP. Just keep blocking the /c/ you don't want and eventually you'll have a curated list of posts you want to see. But maybe i'm just old, ya young bastard. :p

Represent

No. Not really. But I’m sure it did a month ago.

According to this poll, fediverse definitely skews older. There's some sample bias for whoever is in this guy's circles, but I think it's relatively valid.

https://mastodon.art/@jsstaedtler/110668308409683502

1. fail
2. pass
3. pass

Yep, I'm all three...

Well heck, that looks like me. I was thinking about running back to Fidonet.

frick, I check all three boxes (36, software developer and currently a KDE Neon user)

• In 10 years
• Check
• Check

Is picking a server/federation too complicated?

Yes, but because 90% of the fediverse is older tech nerds, good luck getting them to acknowledge it.

I feel not nearly as much on Lemmy, but for Mastodon 100% yes. It's actually exhausting talking to them lol, they're so boring.

I think it’s only older people who remember what the internet was like before everything became corporate controlled or SEO optimized.

I would like to get more crafting content on here but tbh most of my friends from that stuff still use Facebook, never mind anything newer. They'll be ready for Fedi by about 2045 if we're lucky.

In the meantime getting to hang out with a load of likeminded nerds does in fact feel to me like a win.

I'm a bit under 24, have the limit of my tech skills being the ability to install and sometimes troubleshoot minecraft and Skyrim mods, and have never used Linux (I've thought about it admittedly, but ultimately didn't switch to it as it doesn't look to be compatible with my vr system.)

So there are some of us here that don't fit that demographic. From talking to some of my friends though, even the idea of having to pick an instance understanding federation/defederation has been hard to explain to some, doable but they generally prefer things that are self explanatory enough to not have to be talked through them. I've tried the whole email analogy but to be honest most of them don't use email that often anyway.

A not so smart genz member here, and I believe we need a little bit more time for other genz fellas to actively post here.

FWIW, someone on my Mastodon TL suspected the same thing and made a poll regarding the users age. About 850 people voted and 63% turned out to be 30-50 years old.

Here's the toot in question. In Spanish tho https://mastodon.social/@batmanyyo/110668830560740847