I ignore the shorts. The app still has them lol. Sorry if that was unclear. I just choose to watch normal length content on there. I think you can use NewPipe and filter out shorts content with your settings though, if that's something that interests you.
Saurok
I use Jerboa currently. I was using Relay for reddit and the two aren't really similar, I just switched to it because I saw it recommended the most when I was leaving reddit during the API fiasco. I haven't tried any of the other apps because I'm used to this one now and it gets the job done.
I deleted my Instagram a couple weeks ago out of anger and spite when the TikTok ban briefly went into effect. I also uninstalled TikTok and kept it uninstalled even after it was unbanned and really only have Lemmy and YouTube (not shorts). It's been a nice reset for my brain. My deleting Instagram has made a couple friends a bit sad because they liked to send me memes, but we still text so honestly I haven't missed it at all. All that to say, I highly recommend deleting Instagram.
Do you have a source so I could read more about it?
What happened in 1984?
The social credit score stuff is basically a Western myth. There was some local level rumblings and plans, but most of it has been unpopular or axed. The only thing that exists at a national level for individuals is the equivalent of a credit score in the US and western countries. I believed this narrative at one point, but then I delved deeper. https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/22/1063605/china-announced-a-new-social-credit-law-what-does-it-mean/
I think you're assuming their intent is to make it sound expensive and that it's a right wing talking point, but they've already said in their comments that they agree with a publicly funded healthcare system and are actively for it. They've also said their reason for wanting to use another word besides "free" to describe it is to explicitly deflate the right wing talking point that it's being called "free" when it's really not. If you call it publicly funded or something else besides free that gets more at the essence of what the thing is, then the right wingers can't use the point that it "isn't free" against you and the public discourse around it will then have to shift.
At point of service, yes. But not entirely. It's still paid for lol. Which is the entire point that the person you've been replying to was trying to make.
Your country has publicly funded healthcare that is free at point of service.
No worries, it's okay to be skeptical! Especially in this day and age when this could be some deep fake, Photoshop, or AI imagine. I get it.
Here's the first thing I found when I went looking. https://www.shareable.net/driving-change-the-story-of-the-drivers-cooperative-colorado/
https://www.coloradodrivers.coop/