There was a golden age when computers were something you owned, not like before when they were big machines your employer or university would give out access to, nor like after when they went to the cloud, you bought what was essentially a thin client and every software became a service.
At least in the olden days the computers weren’t forced into every single damn part of society!
Now in order to talk with most of your friends and family, you have to sell your soul to every one of the thousand ToS’s. It’s impossible to meaningfully use your personal device you bought with your own money without the internet, as every app and their mom needs to call home for some reason. For some reason, it is morally acceptable for a company to prevent you from being able to have someone you pay to replace parts of your device with third-party components you bought with your own money!
Now, of course, you can simply install some Libre operating system and use Lemmy, or Mastodon or whatever. But computers are so embedded into society that it is simply impossible to go without these services unless you want to get yourself isolated (and potentially in trouble with the authorities).
Besides, from prior experience, most people are unwilling to use technologies unless it is physically placed in front of them, whether through social influences, advertising or word of mouth, which generally corporate services do better than Libre alternatives.
It used to be that computers and programs were made for the end user. Now they are simply tools for ad and data-collection companies to extract every byte of personal data and force every second of advertising on others.
I’ve been seriously considering to remove computers from most aspects of my life, but as paper slowly disappears from our lives, this becomes harder and harder. Now you would likely be fired if you refused to use Teams or Slack or whatever your company uses. No one uses fax or writes mail or watches live TV anymore.
The only other alternative is to take back computers and make them personal again.
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Eh, I think it’s totally feasible to quarantine the problematic parts of tech and retain control. For example:
- GrapheneOS - I have a profile for my personal stuff w/o any Google services running, and then I have a “work” profile for things like Slack
- Linux - no software company or hardware company is going to restrict me from maintaining my own machine; I’ve replaced parts, uninstalled default software, etc; I currently use a Lenovo laptop and a DIY desktop, and I’ll probably replace my laptop w/ a Framework
“impossible to go without these services”
Have you tried? I stopped using Facebook over a decade ago, and I refuse to use anything else Meta has touched. I still keep in contact with those I care about. It turns out that if people value a relationship with you, they’ll work with what you’re comfortable with, provided you’re willing to compromise a bit too. For me, that means SMS and email is my main form of communication, though I’d prefer more private alternatives like Matrix and Signal. Maybe I’ll push my loved ones to switch eventually, idk.
No one uses fax
Nor should they, it’s absolutely insecure and shouldn’t be used by anyone. Period.
Mail is great, many of my friends have old-school watches, and while I don’t understand it, I have friends who watch live TV. None of that really interests me (though I’ll watch the Olympics OTA sometimes).
take back computers
What’s stopping you? Do it one step at a time, and make adjustments as you go. I switched to Linux full-time something like 15 years ago, and it’s all I use today. Since then, I have:
- switched from gmail to my own domain (hosted w/ Tuta)
- ripped all our DVDs and Blurays to a local Jellyfin server and cancelled most of our streaming services (SO convinced me to keep Netflix)
- switched to GrapheneOS after a few years of slowly cutting out Google crap
- self-host all kinds of stuff (I’m really close to eliminating Google Drive)
- eliminated all commercial social media, and only Lemmy is left
Do the easiest stuff first, and keep going until you feel like you’re in control. Your direction will probably look different than mine, and that’s great! But waiting for someone else to solve your problems is what got us into this mess, so do something, and ideally do it today.
I hear what you are saying, but I’m not sure why you aren’t doing what you want to do.
If you have a computer not provided by work, why do you have Slack or Teams?
Use ad blockers and/or Pi-Hole to avoid pesky ads.
Watch live TV.
Write a letter.
Stay away or use sparingly, data hungry services.
I know I feel better for it and I don’t feel as if I’m missing much.
I’m mostly concerned about the general public as many are either ignorant or lack the knowledge on how to use these.
Ads have become the new normal
Ads have become the new normal
I haven’t seen an ad in ages on the internet. Also, ducks in the park are free.
