It feels like all the joy I used to feel from being an enthusiast has been completely voided as computing has become the modern vector for fascism and surveillance. I find myself recoiling from all online spaces, even independent and open source ones that I’d loved and supported in the past.
It’s been an exceptionally strange impulse to go from having an elaborate online presence to now feeling like the only acceptable way to engage with the network is to have as minimal of an online footprint as possible.
This especially hurts when it feels like an issue of skilling, where I know how to do certain tasks with computers, but have to teach myself for the first time the analogue alternatives that my parents and their parents likely already knew well.
How have you chosen to deal with it? Do you find yourself moving away from computing and the internet, despite formerly loving it as a hobby? Have you replaced things that computers used to do for you with analogue replacements?
I’m curious how other people are experiencing this.
knowledge is power. I’ve grown to really hate technology, but being knowledgeable about it has helped me to stay safer in the dystopia. buy a phone with an unlockable bootloader and install a custom ROM. code your own apps, I learned java within the span of 3 days to make my own WebView apps of mobile sites instead of making a Google account or using the play store. people who have never been into tech can’t do this kind of stuff. you’re smart about the digital footprint though, I’ve been minimizing where I can since 2024 because I saw the writing on the wall even back then.
My view is that most technology is a tool, like a screwdriver. You can carefully and enjoyably use it to build something useful, helpful, enjoyable. Or you can use it like a psycho.