[eeZah7Ux]

> as an individual i see no problem with resisting the manipulation of large corporations.

> it's peer pressure that i can't entirely escape

You are contradicting yourself.

Peer pressure and society are simply stronger.

> amish culture seems more of an all or nothing approach

Perhaps to them our unquestioning acceptance of corporate technology used to create addictive behaviors (games, smartphones and gadgets, web stuff...) is equally extreme.

E.g. You can't refuse to use [facebook | twitter | javascript | closed source software | smartphones] without people asking for justification on daily basis.

[em-bee]

that's what i meant by peer pressure. it is not corporate manipulation that drives me to use facebook, but the need to stay in touch with friends and family. or at least it's not direct corporate manipulation. for comparison, i can easily avoid google, because apart from google+ and hangouts nothing on google is used to talk to other people (and gmail still uses an open protocol)

so googles manipulation leaves me cold, while facebook manages to reach me through my peers.

and it's not just pressure in the form of: if you don't have that you are not cool, but if you don't have it we will not be able to stay in touch.

only as a group we can resist that and switch to alternative ways to communicate. i have actually managed to resist facebook and twitter (but i use others that i'd rather avoid if i could). the only long term friend i am still in touch with is one who runs his own private weblog. i am pretty sure i could find others on facebook if i decided to look.