You are being abused.
Here are 12 points for you to consider. This is not an exhaustive list. Click each point to read additional information.
1. Computers are everywhere and you own none of them
All aspects of life are now facilitated by computers (phones, watches, TVs, cars, tablets, fridges, doorbells ...)
All computers follow instructions. You are given no serious ability to control the instructions that are followed by the computers in your possession.
The restricted options and hidden processes smuggled into your tech serve a similar function to the parental controls one enables on a phone before giving it to a child.
Possession ≠ ownership.
2. Software is invisible and tells lies
The instructions that computers follow are not made available to you and they are written in a language you likely do not understand.
What you see on a screen makes up only a fraction of what is actually happening behind the scenes.
By design, software can "say one thing and do another".
The necessarily invisible nature of software has created a culture of unchecked deceit.
The average user enthusiastically welcomes liars into their life with every app they install.
3. Knowledge is power and you have none
A significant amount of consumer tech is produced by a very small number of people. Almost none of us have a reasonable understanding of what is going on.
Older generations are being deliberately abandoned and "left behind" as rapid technological development governs more of daily life.
Younger generations are being groomed through reliance on omnipresent technology they do not control, a life without which they have never known (and therefore struggle to seriously critique).
Parents abdicate their safeguarding responsibilities by allowing their children's minds to be shaped by apps run by men in boardrooms.
4. Big Tech knows you better than you know yourself
Technology never sleeps. It's always processing and storing data.
The more of your life you live through technology, the richer the digital log of your life becomes.
Who is creating this log? You.
Who has access to these digital logs? Not you.
Who appreciates just how precious these logs are? Not you.
Who has the expertise to extract the rich information out of these logs? Not you.
5. Big Tech play dirty
Big Tech companies play by their own rules and do whatever gives them an advantage.
Their track records are poor and consumers should be significantly less trusting of them.
Consider what interests these companies really have and you should discover that they do not align with yours.
6. Apps are constantly lying to you
There's an app for everything. But once that app is on your phone, who can say what it's really doing?
Your camera app is tracking your location (probably).
Your music app is tracking your contacts (probably).
Your social media app is using you for training AI models (probably).
Apps are always running background processes so they can continue their activities uninterrupted.
7. You own nothing in the cloud
Cloud storage is nothing more than just some random person's computer, accessible over the internet.
Once you put data on the cloud, you no longer own it. It has been copied onto other computers that you have 0% control over.
8. Big Tech hates you
Plain and simple. Strong language, perhaps, but still true.
Big Tech does not see you as somebody worthy of respect. To them you are a mere data point.
9. Digital is physical
Actions in the digital world must also be understood as actions in the physical world.
The digital world must be taken as seriously as the physical world.
When you step outside, you protect yourself. When you get home, you lock your doors. What digital precautions are you taking?
Physical violations produce visceral reactions. Consider how it must feel to be stalked in real life. Or burgled. Now apply it to your tech.
"I don't care about my data" is not an acceptable response.
10. Convenience can constrict
Big Tech are experts at creating feel-good, convenient software. Their aim is to make it easy for people to enter their world and get set up, whilst making it difficult to leave.
Consider for yourself if it's a good thing that most people cannot live without a Google or Apple account. Does this "convenience" provide you greater control over your life or less?
Here are a few things that many people cannot do without first signing up to Google/Apple: navigate within their own city, buy groceries, book a taxi, entertain themselves, speak with friends, secure their home, find a spouse. (It look less than 1 minute to think of these)
11. Big Tech are desperate
Big Tech's business model focuses not on the selling of quality products, but on the creation of surveillance technologies that scrape data from every corner of your daily life.
This shift towards a pure focus on private data seriously removes the incentive for tech companies to create products that actually improve your quality of life.
Since your private life is so lucrative, Big Tech will gladly create junk and spend millions on marketing to convince you to use it.
Consider how many apps you have accumulated on your phone. You probably do not need/want many of them. Each one is an access point into your life.
Convenience tech may feel good, but who is really winning?
12. Social media is not your friend
Social media platforms actively develop algorithms that encourage destructive behaviour.
Social media platforms are focused on studying and controlling users' behaviour. To this end, endless algorithms generate nonsense to aggressively stimulate users for hours on end, all of it serving as a front for silent experimentation.
Social media platforms are pushing people apart. Their claims to building 'community' are empty.
The world of streaming and "influencing" is a pyramid scheme wherein participants receive, in return for their priceless time and precious data, a fried brain. Artificial goals of "ad revenue" and "follower count" somehow convince thousands (millions?) to take part. Is this really something worth aspiring to? Who is the winner here? Go and do something else.
After reading this, what next?
Check out SUBDUE YOUR TECH in 3 Steps. For a more lengthy handling of the topic, read THE SUBDUER’S MANUAL
