I’ve been on Rednote for a while now and learning and chatting with Chinese folks has made me less anxious, more mindful, and generally more positive. It’s teaching me Taoism, QiGong, and given me tea and food recipes.
I’ve since deleted every Meta account because western social media has given me nothing but meaningless, empty scrolling, anxiety, and bombarded me with ads—a lot of which were extremely questionable.
Another major shift has come in online shopping, where Americans are flocking to digital Chinese marketplaces such as Temu and Shein in search of ultra-low prices on clothes, home goods, and other items.
I don’t shop at these places but this is what happens when you make absolutely everything in America way too expensive while paying people shit. They find cheaper alternatives.
Western social media will use all of your data to spy on you on a daily basis. If we’re going to criticize Chinese social media, the spotlight needs to be turned on America also. Meta is predatory, and has helped fuel genocide, and TikTok is now a compromised mess.