Are you aware of lemmy.world blocking VPN connections? Might be the reason you aren’t able to post most of the time.

Wouldn’t find a good minute of sleep smelling and touching that amount of metal…

I prefer to answer without giving too many details. In general, situations where things just clicked, I had some realizations about my life that were hard to accept. What this boils down to, which also was causing the difficult time after diagnosis, is understanding that I am the way I am and react different in situations than others would or how even I sometimes wish I would.

Regarding your second question, I experienced both.

I’m not sure I get your last point. Being on the spectrum or gay/queer isn’t something to make jokes about.

A few thoughts (about my own experiences), maybe it helps…

I feel like taking the steps it needs to get any diagnosis can be very exhausting as these processes usually take time and a lot of energy, so I get that point. I think the most important question to ask yourself is whether you see any benefit getting a diagnosis.

I know several people that are very likely on the spectrum but don’t see any value in getting one, so they didn’t and are happy about the way it is.

It’s also not uncommon to be misdiagnosed or getting a diagnose that doesn’t take into account the whole picture. If you feel like there might be “more” and if you also feel the need to understand youself better, however, I’d recomment trying it - but it is up to you in the end.

I’ve been diagnosed with a bunch of stuff throughout my life and never felt it was “right”, until I finally found the time and energy to see a specialist again, after which I was diagnosed as being on the spectrum. Now I consider getting a ADHD diagnose as well, and it often feels like a never ending story where I sometimes believe no matter what, I have it all. It’s easy to get lost in symptoms as lines can be blurry.

To me, the main point is probably trying to understand myself better, and how life events relate to each other.

Wasn’t too sure about getting a diagnose at first. I also always thought I was good with reading faces and in social situations, but I’m probanly not, just really good in masking to the point I believe it myself. I had an idea of a few autism traits I noticed over the years, which was mainly sensory stuff, so I decided to write down everything that came to mind, reflecting on my life. I took some time reading though it a few times and also read a few books on the topic to help identify more. After a while I thought, yeah let’s just do it. Guess I needed some time to consider everything first.

I need to admit that I was able to understand how much autism impacted my life only after I got my diagnosis, and it is an ongoing process, but I’m very thankful I am in this situation now. The process of getting the diagnosis and the time after have been pretty rough, but there have been many positive aspects so far. A few social situations are actually a bit harder than before currently but I assume it will change over time.

I’ve been pretty open about my diagnosis so far and I’ve had very good and very bad reactions as I told people about it. I guess there will always be ableist people, and yes, you might also encounter ableism during the process of trying to get a diagnosis, as I have. To me, such negative reactions are a great sign to know which people to avoid in life, sometimes it’s easier to have a clear answer to that, even though it can be extremely painful and it usually takes a bit of time to fully understand such situations.

I guess in the end it’s about you and not someone else or someone else’s opinion about you and the way you feel.

I followdiscussions on this topic so I’m aware of the VPN problems and that a solution would just be fiddling with the settings for a bit… Like I said, I’m tired of it/too lazy to even do that as I made my desicion to experiment with consuming less and independence from Youtube in general and am quite happy with how it goes at this point. There will be time I will get back to watch some very specific creators and the more girlie content I’m into as this stuff isn’t to be found elsewhere. But so far, I also spend a good chunk of that time on Lemmy or outisde irl/nature, which is kinda nice too. Still, thanks for the advice!

Im on 0.27.2, more likely VPN issue

Yeah we need developments like this but I guess that also goes hand in hand with educating people and empowering people, especially those that usually fall under the radar. You know, instead of just helping someone (say, elderly people or your little sister) out with their PC, actually taking the time and explaining how things work, the issues at hand etc.

We need people to have not just a better understanding of the tech they use in general but also and primarily about solutions on how to publish whatever content they produce themselves. It should be norm that people don’t rely on somebody else for sharing pics, music, videos whatever it is. You could go as far as to also say this about messaging and whatnot. Unfortunately we are far from that and the last decade(s) amd their media have made it all so convenient for most of us.

Besides the fact that technologies have their history and their infrastructure has always been to build ‘for the masses’, so this actually a huge step to make a u-turn now, thinking about decentralizing basically all that came out of years, decades of refining and building businesses by white males and whatever capitalist institutions they belonged to.

Agree, probably the majority of content creators won’t be able to earn enough money in such a decentralized/subsciption-based model, at least not enough to make a living. Then it’s more a question of how many people actually love doing this stuff enough they continue to fight for it (again). I’m not sure if this trend we’ve been seeing of super-rich or super-famous creators is kinda an illusion at this point for most that pursue this path currently, maybe it feels more like a trend of us watching each other entertain us while a few human slaves take care of providing the stuff we actually need, like food. On the other hand it’s just… well, made possible by this exact industry and connected business practices we’re critisizing here.

This industry exists for a reason, and maybe we should start loking there for solutions as well. We as a society just keep feeding this machine, and I don’t think it’s even possible to exclude Foss folks even if we try to avoid it or try to find our ways around certain technologies. It’s the mindset of consumerism, of being able to watch free content that we are conditioned to consume - plus kinda that greedy selfish habits we got into over the years, exploiting other people’s labour that can be similarily applied in the same context and for most other aspects of our lives as well - and that are so prevalent in our everyday lives, to a point it’s shocking to just watch humanity exist.

There’s something deeply wrong with humanity, and I don’t think we will be able to solve any ‘smaller’ issues if we can’t solve the bigger picture.

If you think about it, it goes deeper into society as a whole and capitalism etc. We kinda lost that feeling of being content. instead crossing the lines of wanting more and more on a daily basis, at the same time losing that deep human connection with every minute we spend isolated clinging to our devices instead. we are monsters. idk theres so much more to all of this. I’m rambling at this point and lost the plot.

One can only hope things change but we surely won’t move forward by just watching and doing nothing, especially not by avoiding that look in the mirror. At least thats what I figured for myself.

People roll their eyes constantly bc it’s kinda the only topic I talk about but it’s too important to not do it. I feel like as a millenial, its kind of my duty, as probably the biggest mistake our generation has done so far was to stay silent for way too long.

There have also been a few people extremely thankful for sharing a bit of knowledge here and there, and I don’t even consider myself as tech-savy. that’s what keeps me going.

In the same boat. Besides other problems NewPipe hasn’t worked ever since the last 2 months, and honestly, I’m tired of chasing for different solutions.

I saw it coming and tried to work on my habits over the past year. Slowly reducing watchtime and cutting down the number of channels in general. It helps a lot. Also moved everything music related to other platforms.

I now gave Odysee a go as I feel its a very familiar experience. But it’s a disaster especially if I take a look at content in my native language. I’m happy with the few tech channels on there however, it will keep me afloat for a while if I have a particularily bad day and need to watch some stuff to regulate my feelings. So I’d also be interested in channel recommendations on other platforms and the like.

I was wondering if it wouldn’t be more important to take action at this point. You know, this could be a controversial topic, but I was thinking about some uniform text that everyone could use to send to their favourite content creators, informing about the situation and asking them to at least consider mirroring content to other platforms or move elsewhere. idk, just an idea. maybe it’s a starting point for further discussion on how to solve this mess.

Maybe it seems weird to do sth like this but in the end, it’s still YouTube, things tend to spread pretty quickly on there and I guess a few creators are very aware of whats going on already. So why not try. If all those still cling to this platforms, idk if things will ever change.YouTube will be happy to have those voices leave the platform anyway, pretty sure about that. But I thought more of the effect it might have if a certain crowd just decides to leave the platform.

The other thing, I know, money issues. It’s not an easy and quick thing to move a viewer base to a different platform, especially if you have the comfort of having a somewhat regular income on the other. We need to talk about solutions for this as well. And we need to ask ourselves the question how much we are willing to sacrifice in this process.

I guess what it all boils down to is: there’s other questions we need to ask ourselves now instead of just thinking about the next best solution on how we are able to consume free content again. And yes, I have a hard time with that myself.

We need more discussion, ideas, solutions, and some brains that can implement those ideas by creating the spaces we need. It’s all so difficult and so much to navigate.

sorry if this went a bit off-topic. hope you have a great day :)

Was about to say the same, definitely a good choice!

Bandcamp. You always have the opportunity to pay as much as you wish as long as the minimum amount is covered, some even offer free Downloads. It might be a question of time however how long Bandcamp will stay this way as it was bought a while back. It’s also a good place to get releases that you might not be able to find locally, for instance some lables in other regions.

It might be difficult to find some smaller Bands however, as it takes a while and a bit of sucess until Bands make the jump from just playing live to uploading Music to Streaming Services. I’d recommend looking for Labels first and dig through other people’s collections on Bandcamp.

I guess in Metal circles attending Concerts and Festivals are still very much the way to go, as many people still appreciate not only Live events but also buying Vinyls or Merch even to support Bands or as Memorabilia. Many Festivals focus on the local Music scene, you can often support them by buying Merch as well, and they are great for networking as (at least in Europe) many organization teams are in contact with each other. You should also keep your eyes open for Vinyl stores, it’s a great way to get in contact with other metalheads or discovering new Music.

I hope that helps :)

Edit: You probably know most of what I said anyway so I hope it doesnt come across in a weird way, I just wanted to express my take on it. Maybe consider getting a high-quality Record player if you feel like going down that road :)

Maybe some of the situations you experienced are what causes stress/anxiety in a similar way, which makes it harder to talk. You might find answers to it once you dig deeper into that topic. The only advice I can give you in all of this is to take your time with it, or better put: give yourself the time you need, it’s the most important part… I’m often super slow with understanding where things come from, how they affect me and so on. I think it’s a good sign you came here to ask, a first step in the right direction, so to speak.

I’ve been occupying my mind with plants a lot a few years ago and found geometry in all the leaves and blossoms particularily interesting. Also, botanical names is a whole topic by itself. The pronounciation or words in general surprisingly often fit the “character” of the plants pretty well :)

Sure, np. It always helps me to read other people’s experiences as well so I thought I’ll share that as it’s no issue for me to talk about it. Try to get into that topic with your therapist, maybe you will need some time or a few attempts, but I’m really wishing you the best with it!

Feeling overwhelmed is a secondary reaction to it that developed over time. Let’s put it that way, there’s been people that have not been as sensitive as my therapist an I’ve been in a few situations where people forced me to answer when I couldn’t + forced eye contact etc., which didn’t make it easier trying to express what you feel/have in your mind. Getting up and leave was the only way to escape these situations. Then, I was also bullied half my life. I think you get a better picture now.

I like your username btw, fellow plant friend :)

yeah, sounds familiar. I’d also say it’s completely different than other situations where I’m usually lost for words, for instance if I need to react spontaneusly, delayed processing and such.

There are some things I just can’t find the right words for and/or not being able to articulate any of the words that would express what I have in my head, even though I have a conception of what to say. For me it’s about expressing emotions too. So I would begin 1, 2 words starting a sentence and then… no chance finishing it.

Usually my brain starts spinning quite intensely in these situations with either memories of similar past situations and thoughts about how to express what I’m trying to say, (kinda like overstimulation in mental images/thoughts leading to me not being able to think about what to actually do) or just turning completely blank, both in my head and verbally. Eye contact, definitely no.

I gave up on it over the years with people around me and avoid these topics and situations. However, my last therapist helped me a lot in this regard, as she always gave me the time I needed to find back to being able to speak again when it happened. Sometimes I sat there completely blank for minutes, just staring outside the window or at the walls, feeling panicky and the need to just jump up and leave the room. I actually did once, but felt really bad about it after as she was such a calm person that I usually always felt safe with. After that incident, and over time I learned to try and rephrase the initial sentence or try to express something else connected to the feeling I wanted to talk about, learning how to navigate the situation. So I guess there’s a possibility to make some progress.

Great tip, thanks, I tend to overlook that option. My local library does offer audiobooks indeed but as I don’t reside in a english-speaking country I highly doubt it would be available.

Discord, definitely!! It might be hard to ditch but it’s worth trying. I was never a big fan of it so it was kinda easy yet I still miss being able to contact some people on there. But the more people continue using it, the harder it will be to change things.

Spotify and Chromium, I agree on both as well. Try the options mentioned above concerning Spotify. And yeah, Music streaming is a hard one… I have a dedicated mobile device for Music streaming platforms of this kind if I feel the itch as well as a modded ipod for on the go. Besides that using Bandcamp on a seperate user profile on a Pixel with Graphene OS, no Google stuff installed however and it works pretty great. Highly recommend getting into a habit of buying Music (digital/physical) and listening stuff you actually own on desktop. Simple cmus or sth will do the job.

Maybe Librewolf or other Firefox fork for Browser.

Edit: typo. Edit 2: I’d keep a chromium-based Browser of some sort, you might need it sometime for something. Just use different Browsers for different things.

I see. Hoped it would be available on some platform I use but that’s unfortunately not the case, so I’d rather buy the book then. Just have a hard time reading anything else than books required for my job, and then,… I already got a few book recommendations concerning autism after my diagnosis earlier this year, so it would have been easy to just listen to it :D I’ll dig through her stuff on other platforms however, so thanks for the recommendation! And if there’s more great books/content to share, let me know, would be appreciated!!

Where can I find the audiobook? Sounds very interesting, might give it a listen!

This feels so true. Modern day version maybe. Always been drawn towards spiritual things and the amount of dark stuff I trigger in others is crazy. It’s been a journey to understand and accept. But it’s good doing some healing, for others and myself.

pure Cashmere or Cashmere-Wool blend is usually not as itchy (I am similarily sensitive) and work great as a in-between layer. No turtlenecks! I own a Cashmere Hoodie for instance, which is great. Unfortunately a bit more pricey but keeps you a long way if you take care of it. I lost the perfect heavy woolen cardigan to a washing accident, so need to find a new one too :/

Actually, does footwear count as well? I got into barefoot shoes about a year ago and can not recommend them enough!