[lyapunova]

Why is it that tech brand names (including people like Altman) have just become so cursed?

I feel like society at large is tired.

Everyone buys the thing but basically does it because it's required to continue to play the game - not because it brings them joy.

[noman-land]

What game is it that is required? Opting out of bullshit social pressures is a step toward psychological freedom.

[dTal]

Chunks of society, including basic services like gym, laundry, and transport are now locked* behind "apps" on proprietary app stores, and you need an officially sanctioned (Google/Apple has root) smartphone to even download them. If AI becomes "the next big thing", there will be no opting out of that either.

*list will vary depending on location

[hashtag-til]

Refreshing to see comment like this.

Pro tip: ditch also Twitter/X, Insta, Facebook, TikTok and all that crap.

[saulpw]

Okay now imagine you're a plumber. How are you going to advertise your services to get business? Put an ad in the Yellow Pages? Post flyers around the neighborhood? Make an ad on Craigslist?

It's easy to say "ditch all that crap" when you have other people in your corporation who use all that crap so you can just show up at your job and do your work. But the crap is still there, becoming a necessary tool for functioning in society, one impressionable teenager at a time.

[otteromkram]

Fun fact: Business and personal accounts don't have to be the same thing.

[saulpw]

Sure. But this is what is meant by "required to play the game". And it's also happening on a personal level--witness the number of events I haven't been invited to because I'm not on Facebook.

[throwaway290]

You can't opt out of owning a smartphone in most places on earth can you?

[bombcar]

Because everything is promised as the next iPhone or whatever, but they all turn out to be Segways.