[washadjeffmad]

Not being glib, but have you ever tried just getting rid of your laptop, smartphone, internet, TV, etc?

They certainly add the occasional convenience, but it's actually really easy to go a week or three at a time without any of it.

That's always an option, and it's a fairly good one if it's making you feel how you describe.

[pixl97]

Getting rid of my laptop and internet for a few weeks and I expect to make a living how?

[nixpulvis]

This is part of the problem. People feel trapped in their ecosystems. Despite the value added, the technology is suffocating a lot of people (think broader than just "Tech Workers" too).

[0235005]

I think that this is for certain true but the solution of the problem is where the onteresting part is because most people do not want to go and live im a cabin

[asdff]

Taking a break from your laptop doesn't mean you become a hermit in the woods.

[notatoad]

i've got a desktop computer at my office. it's still "having a computer", but i find there's a good difference between having a computer that you think of as "yours" versus a computer that's just a work tool.

i've also got a laptop right now, but i've gone years at a time without having a personal computer at home. it's perfectly doable.

[infogulch]

So your advice is to throw up your hands, back off from technology entirely, cede all territory to bigcos, and just sit back and watch them run rampant right over everyone else too. Stepping away is not stepping "out", there is no "out" anymore.

I'm gonna come camp out on your front porch, it's fine ok? Not to be glib but if this bothers you have you considered just moving out of your house? Maybe house living is just not for you man, just walk away.

[errantspark]

I have spent many a summer at a cabin with no internet, potable water or plumbing. I love it, it's a beautiful time. It's one of my favorite places to be in the whole wide world.

That being said I also love technology. It's fucking magic and I'm a mage. I have immense power over one of the most effective forces in the world and I spend a depressing amount of it to circumvent annoyances forced upon me by people trying to part me from my money. It's so frustrating because I love what technology is and what it can enable for people, and I hate how trash the baseline is, and I especially hate most people don't even know how good things could be if we y'know had open standards and shit. I know that there isn't an easy fix, but my frustration is none the less valid. So much of humanity's effort in tech is spent on bullshit that doesn't add value at best, and is actively detrimental to all but a few humans on average.

[nixpulvis]

Um, oh how I've dreamt of this reality... despite all the problems they have caused, computers are just too damn useful to give up on. We just need to learn to control the larger system that produces them better.