# Take the less traveled road

> Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—\
> I took the one less traveled by,\
> And that has made all the difference.

(Robert Frost, [The Road Not Taken](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/59824/pg59824-images.html#THE_ROAD_NOT_TAKEN))

[Infrastructures](https://xkcd.com/743/), by Randall Munroe

The prisoner's dilemma describes situations where people can choose to act in their own interest or collaborate with others.
I believe the prisoner's dilemma is present everywhere in our daily life and can explain many behaviors and situations.

One such scenario is when we choose services to use on the Internet.

Frequently, we choose services that are easy, popular, and even have no cost.

In the past, even non-technical people got shared hosting and ran WordPress to blog, with nearly total control about their communication.
Nowadays, mostly everyone uses something like Twitter and cedes control to a company.

Using Twitter is easier than self-hosting WordPress.
Twitter is so popular, that your message will likely reach more users on Twitter than on an independent blog.
And you can use Twitter for free, whereas shared hosting costs you money and time.

Twitter became dominant and nowadays, many are frustrated by how Twitter has changed.

Dominance implies lack of competition, which is nearly always bad for the consumer.

Which means choosing which services to use frequently is a difficult choice.

We all have limited time and energy, but I propose that whenever you can, you should take the less traveled road.
The easy alternative likely benefits you in the short term, but can easily contribute to a monoculture that will damage everyone in the end, including you.