I think the invasion of privacy will become more intense in the near future. Of course, there will be those who will say that remaining immune to the control that states seek to intensify is already impossible.
Unfortunately, I think they are partly right. Unless one decides to become a digital hermit, and why not? A real one.
I use most of the social media you mentioned, but with considerable reluctance because of what you point out: toxicity and gossip. But the greatest risk of negative effects lies in the information we give to megacorporations and governments.
I propose an exercise. Ask any of the online AIs associated with internet browsers what they know about you. You might be surprised! But rest assured, they will only tell you the tip of the iceberg; they will keep the rest to themselves, God knows for what purpose.
Hive is a space of freedom within the digital prison we have already entered of our own free will, and as you say, it offers services similar to those of megacorporations. I think Hive is great, despite the learning curve obstacles. It's still somewhat difficult to find content. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it's due to its decentralized nature, where the immutability and security of the blockchain make content indexing processes inefficient. I'm confident the Hive developer community will overcome this.
In my particular case, incorporating my family into Hive has been an uphill battle. Why? They find it complicated and very demanding. I don't think so! Have I gotten used to it?
Anyway, I don't feel like a slave to social media anymore. I use it when I should and when I want. By the way, the one I use intensively is YouTube, a replacement for traditional television channels (broadcast and cable). I think I'd regret giving it up altogether. 3Speak is a good alternative, but it still needs a lot of improvement and a wide variety of content available in all languages.
I'm not sure I want to know. 😅
It's still very fragmented in this regard on Hive. I think there are search engines you can use, but the problem is trying to remember what they are. It would be easier if they were included in one of the commonly used front-ends. It's not easy to find older posts in our personal blogs, either, as it would be if we were blogging on our own website.
YouTube has been going for much longer and has a much bigger user base, which means it's going to be way ahead in that regard. We have a lot of catching up to do. Anyone building on here invests a lot of time and, I'm guessing, money into it. We've had a few failed projects too, which isn't surprising.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I always enjoy your input.