Twitter: The world is literally burning and we are all seriously going to die screaming.
Masotodon: Yep. Do your best! We believe in you! Do you like my art? You have such a great instance domain name!
I wonder to what extent this is due to an average age difference? Does Mastodon skew younger? Is this just what the world has more or less been like for the adult lives of many of the users here, just turned up a little?
@mykola I don't think it's about age, really - more likely about community.
Twitter nurtures cynicism, any positivity gets drowned in mockery or dejected counters...
Here, people have tried to *purposefully* foster a more agreeable environment, being mindful of each other instead of "Oh you don't like gore? Here, have a picture of a mauled body you snowflake, welcome the Real World™!" kind of attitude...
@mykola This kind of deliberate *work* for positivity & kindness tends to come from groups who have been harmed (or at least hurt) by life, rather than the opposite. People who know being stoic or apathetic isn't the same as being strong & resilient. That cynicism isn't maturity... :/
@mykola But again, isn't it because of environment? If you've been through shit & the only socially acceptable reaction is to shut up and endure, you (try to) do just that...
But groups that welcome & encourage talking, emotional support & all will see more diverse forms of coping...
Of course Internet & social media play a huge part in that, so technically there's an age component to it: who has access to these supportive groups... But I think it's a consequence, not a cause?
@anarschtroumpf oh, I agree with that.
I'm saying that I think that the younger generation (say, people under 30) were brought up in a culture that valued emotional well-being, and they learned how to build communities to foster that.
Not saying older folks don't do that too - but at scale it feels like a defining trait of young folks I know.
@mykola Yes OK, so we perfectly agree; with the addition that I think it's specifically Internet & social media that enabled this for us, by allowing us to regroup by affinity, instead of being stuck with whoever you live around IRL... ^.^v
@anarschtroumpf Yeah, I totally get that, but I also feel like there have been generational differences in how trauma was handled.
My grandparents lived through hell and it made them hard, not kind, you know?
Something about better views towards mental/emotional health makes this shift possible.