Greetings, readers!

A little bit of digital housekeeping. Welcome to my blog’s new home! For the past week, I’ve been working on getting myself set up on a brand-new, shiny server in Switzerland for increased reliability and privacy. Not to mention, I’ve been among those “hosers” divesting from American big tech companies insofar as it is possible, so it seemed like the right time to make this change, which I’ve been thinking about for some time now.

So, how will this affect you all? As I say, I made this choice in part for reasons related to reliability, customisation, and privacy—which are all great things that you may notice. My blog’s going to look a bit different.

The biggest change, though, is the site address, which is more of a return to my roots than anything else: elfilosofo.ca. That’s right: I just couldn’t drop the name. And this time I’ve got non-antiquated Spanish spelling and a .ca address, showcasing some of that Canadian pride that’s been so fashionable lately. Now that you’re here, have a look around!

I’ve also had to find a new way to do newsletters, but not to worry: I’ve automatically ported all of my subscribers, so there’s no need to sign up again. You should be receiving my “Filosofical Fragments” in your inbox next Sunday. After that, posts on this domain will be cancelled, and it’ll redirect to the new URL.

I realise this is a tad inconvenient (though I hope not!), so I thought I’d work in an extra post this week, broadly related to things I’ve said already. You see, if I had to choose a theme for myself in the year 2025 it’d be intentionality. The whole #ElbowsUp boycotts (that’s a popular Canadian response to the Trump tariffs) got me thinking a lot more about the things we consume and why, as well as how they entrap us.

If you’ve ever studied economics, you might have heard the term “opportunity cost” but you may never have heard of “switching costs” before. It’s something one of my long-time favourite authors, Cory Doctorow, talked about in his book, The Internet Con. Cory is, as usual, speaking about the ethics surrounding technology; but I daresay this idea can be applied to many things. How often do we put up with something because switching would be a pain in the ass? That’s what a switching cost is. By raising switching costs, companies can keep you in their ecosystems, however bad they are, through sheer bloody inconvenience.

To give an example: Facebook. I don’t hear many people speak well of Facebook. At all. Probably none, actually. Regardless, if you’re looking to connect with friends and what not in a digital space, where else are you going to go? So, you stick around where the people are. But do you ever think that maybe everyone else on Facebook is thinking the same thing? Many people would like to leave, or switch, but doing so would mean sacrificing those connections in a very depressing way. FOMO is real, man, and it sucks.

Put this way, we find ourselves the victims of a bizarre collective inaction. It’s a perverse kind of game theory where nobody changes anything because it’s more comfortable to go with the trends. Now, I’m all for going with the flow, but enough’s enough! So, I think, how do trends start? How are changes made? How do things get better? By being intentional about your choices.

I’m probably more active on Mastodon now than any of the other corporate social media, I’m switching to Linux, I’ve cancelled Netflix and gone back to DVDs, and even changed my music streaming service from Spotify to Qobuz. Why? There were various reasons why I made each of these choices, but what it essentially boils down to is being a little more intentional, a little more in line with my values than before. And sure, maybe it’s a little inconvenient.

Mastodon isn’t anywhere near as big a Facebook or Twitter—excuse me, X—but it’s decentralised and community-oriented, not based around harvesting your data.

Qobuz isn’t as algorithmic as Spotify, so I have to put in more effort to discover new music, but the sound-quality is *chef’s kiss* and it pays more to artists than any other streaming service.

Linux doesn’t have all the same apps as Windows or Mac, but it’s free and open-source, and (again) community driven.

I cancelled Amazon and now shop local (or at least small-business) as much as possible, and sure, it’s not always easy to find things, but I sleep well knowing that I’m not supporting a more equitable economy.

It’s not perfect, but I refuse to go blindly through life any longer. I had a spiritual director once who told me that making decisions is all about what you can make peace with. You can never guarantee the experience you’ll have, but you can make a decision that you can live with even if that experience sucks. That’s what being intentional is about, and that’s what’s been on my mind this year.

I appreciate you bearing with me through that little rant. I’m getting quite passionate about it, I know. So, let me ask you, what are some of the ways you are or would like to be more intentional? I want to emphasise that this isn’t about gate-keeping or purity tests. Rather, I want you to think about how maybe we can all do that little bit better tomorrow than we have today.

All that being said, Greetings, readers!

A little bit of housekeeping for you all. I’m moving. Not literally. I mean, this blog is moving. For the past week, I’ve been working on getting myself set up on a brand-new, shiny server in Switzerland for increased reliability and privacy. Not to mention, I’ve been among those “hosers” divesting from American big tech companies insofar as it is possible, so it seemed like the right time to make this change, which I’ve been thinking about for some time now.

So, how will this affect you all? As I say, I made this choice in part for reasons related to reliability, customisation, and privacy—which are all great things that you may notice. My blog’s going to look a bit different.

The biggest change, though, is the site address, which is more of a return to my roots than anything else: elfilosofo.ca. That’s right: I just couldn’t drop the name. And this time I’ve got non-antiquated Spanish spelling and a .ca address, showcasing some of that Canadian pride that’s been so fashionable lately. You can even go have a look now, if you like 🙂

I’ve also had to find a new way to do newsletters, but not to worry: I’ve automatically ported all of my subscribers, so there’s no need to sign up again. You should be receiving my “Filosofical Fragments” in your inbox next Sunday. After that, posts on this domain will be cancelled, and it’ll redirect to the new URL.

I realise this is a tad inconvenient (though I hope not!), so I thought I’d work in an extra post this week, broadly related to things I’ve said already. You see, if I had to choose a theme for myself in the year 2025 it’d be intentionality. The whole #ElbowsUp boycotts got me thinking a lot more about the things we consume and why, as well as how they entrap us.

If you’ve ever studied economics, you might have heard the term “opportunity cost” but you may never have heard of “switching costs” before. It’s something one of my long-time favourite authors, Cory Doctorow, talked about in his book, The Internet Con. Cory is, as usual, speaking about the ethics surrounding technology; but I daresay this idea can be applied to many things. How often do we put up with something because switching would be a pain in the ass? That’s what a switching cost is. By raising switching costs, companies can keep you in their ecosystems, however bad they are, through sheer bloody inconvenience and needless sacrifice.

To give an example: Facebook. I don’t hear many people speak well of Facebook. At all. Probably none, actually. Regardless, if you’re looking to connect with friends and what not in a digital space, where else are you going to go? So, you stick around where the people are. But do you ever think that maybe everyone else on Facebook is thinking the same thing? Many people would like to leave, or switch, but doing so would mean sacrificing those connections in a very depressing way. FOMO is real, man, and it sucks.

Put this way, we find ourselves the victims of a bizarre collective inaction. It’s a perverse kind of game theory where nobody changes anything because it’s more comfortable to go with the trends. Now, I’m all for going with the flow, but enough’s enough! So, I think, how do trends start? How are changes made? How do things get better? By being intentional about your choices.

I’m probably more active on Mastodon now than any of the other corporate social media, I’m switching to Linux, I’ve cancelled Netflix and gone back to DVDs, and even changed my music streaming service from Spotify to Qobuz. Why? There were various reasons why I made each of these choices, but what it essentially boils down to is being a little more intentional, a little more in line with my values than before. And sure, maybe it’s a little inconvenient.

Mastodon isn’t anywhere near as big a Facebook or Twitter—excuse me, X—but it’s decentralised and community-oriented, not based around harvesting your data.

Qobuz isn’t as algorithmic as Spotify, so I have to put in more effort to discover new music, but the sound-quality is *chef’s kiss* and it pays more to artists than any other streaming service.

Linux doesn’t have all the same apps as Windows or Mac, but it’s free and open-source, and (again) community driven.

I cancelled Amazon and now shop local (or at least small-business) as much as possible, and sure, it’s not always easy to find things, but I sleep well knowing that I’m not supporting a more equitable economy.

It’s not perfect, but I refuse to go blindly through life any longer. I had a spiritual director once who told me that making decisions is all about what you can make peace with. You can never guarantee the experience you’ll have, but you can make a decision that you can live with even if that experience sucks. That’s what being intentional is about, and that’s what’s been on my mind this year.

I appreciate you bearing with me through that little rant. I’m getting quite passionate about it, I know. So, let me ask you, what are some of the ways you are or would like to be more intentional? I want to emphasise that this isn’t about gate-keeping or purity tests. Rather, I want you to think about how maybe we can all do that little bit better tomorrow than we have today.

All that being said, if you haven’t already, be sure to bookmark elfilosofo.ca or follow me on Mastodon [@paul@cosocial.ca]. And if you’re not subscribed, now’s a great time to join the newsletter (there’s a sign up at the bottom of the new homepage).

So, thank you again for sticking around. Hard to believe I’ve been doing this for nearly three years (as of this August), and I’ll admit to being a bit sad at the thought of moving from what was my blog’s first home. But c’est la vie : here’s to new beginnings! Cheers!