if you're capable and have a server, i recommend spinning up pixelfed and friendica instances for your parents and families. they're probably the simplest fediverse apps to install too.
it's one thing for you to move, it's another thing to be able to get your parents and family to move over.
This is something that I hope fediverse developers and OSS developers start focusing on: making installation and self-hosting much simpler. Currently trying to set up self-hosted anything is a gigantic pain in the ass if you’re not already an experienced sysadmin.
Not much though :) you can add a subdomain via the web control panel, run the server diagnostics, go back to the new domain and apply a Lets Encrypt certificate - done.
so uh ... I've been sorta contemplating preinastalled hardware. Think a mini pc you plug into your router. Or even a minipc that replaces your router and has a clean UI for picking a handful of curated self-hosted stuff you want.
You could buy the hardware as a simple jumping off point to learn more or (and here is where I am not sure if there's a market) you could pay me (or other sysadmins like me) to support it.
What if self-hosted stuff worked a bit like your HVAC,. electrical or plumbing?
how would you recommend pitching it? I know all the sweet unix/linux things, and freedom and such, but how would you pitch it in a way that your parents would care about?
well most of the time - at least for me - they're just there for the rest of the family so if you can get the rest of the family on there and then maybe let them invite their friends, that's all they really need
you'll also need to remember to interact with the platform like you were with them in public, for a few reasons. Plus the Internet could stand to be less harsh