Technology can often abuse us. Learn how and fight back.
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 ability to seriously 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 lies constantly
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 (often hiding behind the title "Software Engineer") 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, causing most of us to have no reasonable understanding of what is going on.
Older generations are deliberately abandoned as their established mechanisms for completing basic tasks are forcibly made obsolete and replaced by opaque software.
Younger generations are groomed into reliance on omnipresent technology that they do not control and have never known life without.
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 is busy studying these logs and using them to modify your life? Not you.
5. Big Tech play dirty
Big Tech companies play by their own rules and do whatever gives them an advantage.
Many tech companies have appalling track records and consumers should be significantly less trusting of them.
Consider the interests these companies really have and you should discover that they do not align with yours.
6. Apps have hidden agendas
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 probably tracking your location.
Your music app is probably tracking your contacts.
Your social media apps are studying your every move and manipulating your desires. To whose benefit?
Apps are always running background processes so they can continue their activities uninterrupted.
Many tech companies spend a significant amount of resources on ensuring that you do not know the truth about their practices. Terms and conditions are a scam.
7. You own nothing in the cloud
Cloud storage is nothing more than just some random person's computer accessible over the internet.
Once data is in the cloud, ownership is lost. It has been copied onto other computers that you have 0% control over.
Whether or not the computer is in a bedroom, an office or a data centre makes no difference. They all equally do not belong to you.
8. Big Tech has no respect for you
If Big Tech respected you, their business models would not rely upon your constant covert exploitation.
To many tech companies, the user is seen as a nothing more than a manipulable data point.
9. Digital is physical
When you step outside, you protect yourself. When you get home, you lock your doors. But what digital precautions are you taking?
Digital violations occur silently and are therefore often ignored or treated as insignificant. The success of many tech companies is dependent upon your continued inaction in this regard.
"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, whilst making it difficult to leave.
Consider for yourself if it is a good thing that most people cannot live without a Google or Apple account. Does this "convenience" truly provide you with greater control over your life? Or are you actually implicitly creating a lifestyle that requires you to ask for permission before doing anything?
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. The list goes on.
Nothing in life is free. Let no app store deceive you.
11. Big Tech are desperate
Data from your personal life has become so lucrative that many tech companies now scramble frantically to embed themselves into your private life, knowing that this access point is the lifeline of their business.
This modern focus on private data significantly shifts companies' incentives away from high quality products that truly improve quality of life and towards anything that keeps users engaged.
The next time an app reminds you about your precious "streak", take a moment to remember that the company is on its knees begging you to keep it alive.
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 millions to take part. Is this really something worth aspiring to? Who is the winner here? Throw away your ring light and get serious.
What next? For a more lengthy handling of the topic, read THE SUBDUER’S MANUAL.
