Not in UFOs and aliens that will save us from ourselves, that’s to be determined.
But I do believe in the power of us as individuals to resist big tech, to take back control, and, if incrementally, make the world a better place than it is now.
When I talk about The Culling, it’s not just a list of services or products I’m dropping to save money, it also represents taking away access from giant tech companies that are long past providing a good user experience and simply looking to extract as much value as they can from our personal data (and money from our wallets, if they can get that, too), it’s about regaining autonomy over my digital life and the collective data I’ve put out there since I connected my first 1200 baud modem1I skipped the 300 baud era, I’m not THAT old. to an online service. When I choose to put my photos and pictures on a local drive or NAS instead of “in the cloud”, it’s a decision to deny direct access to my personal files to a tech company that cares nothing for me as an individual except as an entity to be squeezed out of as much money and information as possible, to make it richer, even though it already generates more wealth than it could ever need.
So yeah, it’s also, in a way, a protest of sorts against the unfettered capitalism that has poisoned the western world in particular, where avarice and the constant need for more has perverted companies into rent-seeking, data-pillaging monsters.
I’ve said it before and will echo it again now: There are no more tech good guys when it comes to the big tech companies, if there ever were.
None of these companies truly want to do what’s best for their customers. They just want your money and all of your personal information:
- Apple
- Microsoft
- Meta
- And so many others that aren’t quite as big as these four
That isn’t a ranked list, BTW, but if it was, Meta would be #1 with a bullet, as they are quite literally OK with people dying if it gets their platforms engagement. Anyone using any of their services should stop right now–you are enabling one of the most monstrously rotten companies on the planet.
In the meantime, I’m over here, still trying to determine the best new home for my blog, to get it away from WordPress and the control of a single person who has started an unhinged crusade to “protect” it, no matter how many people or companies he hurts or destroys along the way, and reducing my online presence across the board. I read blogs again. I participate on Mastodon, a social media platform that has no ads, no algorithm and no incentives or structure to add either. It’s quieter, it’s nicer, and it’s more human.
We can have a better future, we just need to keep pushing for it, and put in the effort to make the changes we want to see.
