I don't have an organized post or thread about it, but I said on tumblr that one of the ways to resist tech assholes controlling what you buy/watch/do is to stop using tech as much. Which requires breaking the habit to check soc med whenever bored, and that can be difficult. But.
Do it anyway. I've been trying to do it as well. Google/Youtube are requiring ID, changing yt-ers images with AI, forcing AI on us in general, manipulating recs to keep you on the app longer, giving bad search results to keep you scrolling google longer, etc. Paypal/Visa/Mastercard/Stripe want
to control what you buy (thanks to Vought and others like him). Gen AI slop is everywhere, poisoning search results while destroying the environment and it's not even helpful. The UK is being fashy af to "protect kids" (suuuure, Jan). My senators are pushing KOSA bullshit. META is garbage AND evil
AND manipulating people with search results and AI, plus Zuckerberg gleefuly got rid of DEI as well as moderation protections for vulnerable groups (oh and remember FB starting a genocide?). Audible is stealing from smaller authors (allegedly). And Palantir is trying to monitor all of it. Oh and
the tech bros all tweaked out on a bad AI theory from a bad HP fanfic author want to keep up isolate, scared, and angry. So much so that people are falling in love with the chatbots being forced on us all in directions. And now they've got me ranting about it like the Unabomber or something
because they took cool, fun technology that was for everyone and ruined it with stupidity, greed, and arrogance (with some white supremacy and christian nationalism thrown in). So anyway. I am breaking the habit of glancing to my phone when bored or idle. It's not a boycott, exactly, but it's
a protest. And it's better for my time and mental health. And it hopefully will frustrate them. Remember when Google was like "Don't be evil?" Good times. So that's why I am not on as much. I've been reading and learning new things and meeting people in person. Freedom. Or something closer to it.
I’ve found removing the apps from my mobile devices and therefore having to use my browser instead has contributed to a huge decrease in usage.
yes! i got rid of FB though since my Instagram is "business" it gets weird about it. but it's on the second page of my apps so I rarely see it at least. youtube is the one I am used to using a lot. it's been the trickiest so far.