I think we would also do well to consume less content frankly. I’m closing in on two years since I’ve stopped viewing YouTube videos, and watching creators on platforms like Nebula or just buying indie media has been fine enough honestly. I also donate a fair bit to a creative focused PeerTube instance for my short videos.
Don’t take this as an all or nothing call though. Reducing reliance on the YouTube monopoly for your eyes, and being more adversarial to YouTube to any degree more than before is a net positive. Run ad blockers, use alternative front ends like Invidious, directly download videos with YT-DLP, and redirect your content consumption to more friendly platforms (or just reduce watch time in general). There is no true alternative to YouTube, but that doesn’t mean we should throw in the towel, or refuse to reclaim any bit we can back.
Adding to say I have the same experience. Not banned, never used a TPA, but downloaded RIF Is Fun when people were writing up a storm just to see what was even going on. When the blackouts happened, I saw the more and more unhinged shit the Reddit administration was doing to stifle the protests and decided to make my blackout permanent from then onward. My exposure to the Fediverse has entirely changed how I interact with megacorps and software now. If it’s not FOSS or DRM free stuff on my device, I don’t want anything to do with it. Obviously getting to 100% on that is a very tall order, but I’ve been making a lot of headway since 2023.
Even in spite of the vast disparity in quantity of content, I would vastly prefer Lemmy to current Reddit without contest. Even aside from the massive brain drain the blackout had, and all the ad related enshittification, imagine being punished for even upvoting awesome things like Luigi Mangione? Now instead of the countless years I spent leaving my art and constant comments to boost some boneheaded corporation, I can post them here and be involved with a movement controlled by individuals. A movement made for and funded by each other, instead of lining greedy pockets.