I just go full anti tech, which people find ironic since I'm in the tech industry, and they poke fun at that

No matter what you do, no matter what you think or say, people will try their darnedest to poke holes at it

But what you *don't * do? That's pretty hard to poke holes at.

"I don't have a Facebook account" is a brickwall to the conversion. That way in their mind, it's not that I don't trust the company, it's that I don't even slightly value the product. I have a damn phone, I have to am required to_ pay for the damn phone. It has group chats. What is the value of Facebook again?

Marketplace? I buy everything brand new and keep it until it's dead

Doomscrolling? Bad habit, not interested

Family connections? I cut most of them off but maybe 4, who know to call/text

Now even thermostats are getting microphones and listening devices, which will absolutely be used to collect data on people from their homes see ecobees new TOS, and the new HoneyWell/ring camera integrations frankly I'm just done with the bullshit. I'm full blown get any phone home technology the fuck out of my house levels of done

But I don't say that when people ask why I changed my thermostat from the $400 Ecobee, which was a standout feature in my home when they walked in.

No. I say "their servers kept going down and causing issues when I needed it to work", because people who somehow manage to live without concerning themselves of targeted pricing or snooping practices do care about slight inconveniences, and for whatever reason "they changed their TOS to get people to agree to let them spy on them without legal reprecussions, and if you don't agree they'll lock you out of your account barring you from using half the stuff you paid to use" is less logical to their pre-occupied brains than "I got inconvenienced twice a year from down servers"