Seeing just what I want to see on Mastodon has made Instagram feel especially icky these days.

I counted this morning: for every photo from someone I know or love, I got served two ads and three irrelevant images or videos from total strangers.

Visiting Instagram is like trying to see the Sistine Chapel while hawkers pummel you with opportunities to buy cheap knock-off jewelry and dubious packets of unsavory food "you might like."

You know what I *could* do? I *could* set up my own server instance, and then only federate with servers that interest me, and then my "Federated" timeline would be all servers from instances I'm interested in following.

I do not need to be thinking thoughts like this.

While grateful for my current instance, where I've been since 2018, I think the value of my local feed is diminished by the sheer number of people on mastondon.social (and the scope of their interests).

I think I need to move to a smaller instance organized around my interests. What I really want, though, is a way to follow all posts from instances I choose -- my own "Federated" view, where I choose the communities represented there. Can't be done, as far as I know.