What everyone seems to agree on is that the gamification of Big Social throttles human interactions.

It's almost as though, when you're not focused on playing a game, you're more likely to speak to real humans.

@atomicpoet I find there's a lot more interaction here. I figure a large part of it is the fact that there's no algorithm to boost the "big" accounts, which means that people who follow me are more likely to see my posts.

(After all, if the algorithm boosts posts, it has to be at someone's expense)

@atomicpoet I have no idea how it stacks up in terms of how many people interact with me. I’m not being shown numbers all the time, so I’m just not thinking of it that way. It’s a relief. I love it.

I’ve been making a conscious effort to reply more often when I have the time and brain for it. It’s far less taxing than on platforms like twitter or tumblr, since I’m way less stressed. It’s among the most rewarding things to do on Mastodon, because conversation is its own reward. Other kinds of interactions don’t feel inflated in importance so much that they eclipse human connection. It also doesn’t seem like being disruptive or shitty for its own sake is nearly as likely to be rewarding, so people just don’t do that as much. Replying to things doesn’t feel like making a commitment to potentially do conversational battle, which can be fun sometimes but not too often, and definitely not on the blue hell sites with their ruinously high stakes.

@atomicpoet

only been about 45 days...

I will feel more confident to answer in a couple more months