andr0meda

... I finally put my foot down and placed my self ship community oriented Tumblr blog into permanent hiatus.

I was initially hesitant to let go because I'd met a lot of cool people there and I didn't know if my self ship art would be accepted outside of that sphere. However, after spending time on Cohost amongst Gundam fans who didn't yell at people for violating their three page DNIs and who weren't unhealthily obsessed with bullshit shipping discourse, I realized that the culture there had negatively affected me. When I made the choice to just stop logging in, it was like a huge weight had lifted off my shoulders. The digital panopticon was no longer a threat.

I know a lot of people glaze the everloving shit out of Cohost, but I do have Eggbug to thank for showing me that I actually didn't need to cling to toxic internet communities for acceptance and validation. I know I'm not alone in that respect, either, I ran into people who said that Cohost is what got them to finally ditch Twitter.

I suppose I've learned that you truly don't need toxic internet communities as much as you think you do. The lightweight social media acquaintence-ships you may have formed with a few users aren't worth it, especially if you can talk to them elsewhere. Neither is the occasional crumb of good content you receive. Putting your foot down and committing to leaving is truly the hardest part. Once you're out and you've established yourself elsewhere, you'll wonder why you even chose to stay in the first place.