I am not saying it's impossible to live a life free of Microsoft, Apple, and Google. I'm saying it's Too. Fucking. Hard for most people.
We're all just trying to survive in a world that is stacked against us. We're all just trying to get by and do the best we can.
We have to continue exist within the system while we try to repair it.
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@jik It deeply worries me to see conversation that seems to normalize fascism (or any other aspect of our current reality). How to explain? Any pretense at normalcy scares me. Nothing is normal. From current US politics to climate, and I feel like I've been living in the "It's fine meme" for 15+ years.
Again, I'm mostly thinking here of the pundits/tech enthusiasts that often go out of their way to avoid the politics "because this is about tech" as though it can be separated.
@dennyhenke I hear you.
Sometimes I think denial is the national pastime.
It's not just about the fascism. It's also about climate change, COVID, economic inequality, racism, the housing crisis, the higher education crisis, our collapsing healthcare system, multiple concurrent genocides, the AI con, for-profit algorithmic social media rotting people's brains and destroying social cohesion, and on, and on, and on.
We're in a poly-crisis, and most people's coping strategy is pretending we're not.
Sometimes I think denial is the national pastime.
It's not just about the fascism. It's also about climate change, COVID, economic inequality, racism, the housing crisis, the higher education crisis, our collapsing healthcare system, multiple concurrent genocides, the AI con, for-profit algorithmic social media rotting people's brains and destroying social cohesion, and on, and on, and on.
We're in a poly-crisis, and most people's coping strategy is pretending we're not.
@dennyhenke People way smarter than I have tried to figure out how to wake people up. I don't know what the answer is. There may not be one.
I think things are likely to get much worse鈥攕o that people have no choice but to see what's happening鈥攂efore there's any chance of things starting to get better.
I think things are likely to get much worse鈥攕o that people have no choice but to see what's happening鈥攂efore there's any chance of things starting to get better.
If you read my #TechIsShitDispatch threads, you know that I feel passionately that tech should be better. But I don't blame the people forced to put up with the bad tech. That would be blaming the victims. These are systemic issues, and they require systemic solutions. Some rando throwing his iPhone off a bridge isn't going to do shit to fix what's broken.
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If you read my #TechIsShitDispatch threads, you also know that I spend time every single day, sometimes hours, dealing with all the broken tech I encounter in my life. I do that for three reasons: (1) sometimes the work I do helps other people, and living a life of service is literally my prime directive; (2) I'm a stubborn cuss who often can't resist the challenge of fixing something that's broken and making it better; and (3) some of that shit is just too annoying to tolerate.
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But at the same time I am cognizant of the fact that being able to spend time every day dealing with tweaking tech to make it work exactly the way I want it to is a HUGE FUCKING PRIVILEGE that the vast majority of people don't have. They don't have the skills, they don't have the knowledge, they don't have the time, they don't have the money, they don't have the stubbornness. They just don't.
Expecting them to is unrealistic and shitty.
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@jik It really is a privilege and one I have as well. Agreed. And again, my intent is not to be shitty to folks that don't have a choice. I do get it.
I go out of my way to help those around me with their tech, Apple or otherwise and always for free as a service (as you say, a personal Prime Directive 鉂わ笍 ) because that's something I can do.
Going forward though my focus will always be to help educate on the other options and offer full, free support and training when those when adopted.