Mr. BombasticFeb 4
Windy city

I am writing a post on rise of software that help bring back sanity to the web. Please help me expand the list 😎✨

https://thatshubham.com/blog/2026

#indieweb #distraction #enshittification #technology #internet #socialmedia #adhd #depression #mentalhealth #sysadmin #retro #youtube #facebook #google #firefox #chrome

Phoenix's Web Corner! - The Rise of Sanityware

Jan 28 at 4:56amWeb
Show threadThreeOfUsJan 28
@pheonix love this article 🤩
Show threadWindy cityJan 28
@threeofus thank you so much! I'm glad to hear that 🙏🥰
Show threadThreeOfUsJan 28
@pheonix the term ‘sanity ware’ is genius. Imagine if all software was genuinely designed to just help us.
Show threadWindy cityJan 28

@threeofus You're right! I was thinking about this a few days ago and was like we need a new term to encapsulate this new category of software. The web wasn't so distraught, especially before 2015 or so.

Your comment got me wondering about incentives, which led to more searching and I found Goodharts's law, I added another para to the original post, so thanks for helping me learn a new thing! ✨🙏

Show threadThreeOfUsJan 28
@pheonix that’s cool - did you invent the term? I think mastodon is a perfect example of sanity ware. Ultimately I guess it’s capitalism that poisons software. Without the profit motive all you have is a desire to help.
Show threadWindy cityJan 29
@threeofus invention sounds such a heavy word but yes I did indeed coin it for this post lol. You're bang on! One of the best parts of mastodon is lack of incentives to milk the users for profit ☺️
Show threadThreeOfUsJan 29
@pheonix kudos to you!!
Show threadMr FryJan 28
@pheonix Well written and interesting! I do feel compelled to give (hopefully constructive) criticism though: instead of using a tool that desenshitifies an "unsane" service, wouldn't it be a stronger statement to just stop using this particular service altogether?
Show threadWindy cityJan 29
@mrfry Of course, I agree! Using alternatives wherever possible is the way to go. Especially when it comes to tools that help you diversify away from too much centralization and bring back control of your data in the user's hand. But realistically speaking, sometimes it is not possible to seek same quality alternatives for the regular folks for whatever reason. For them, these tools will continue to act as a defense shield. Thanks for the kind words btw 🙏⭐