Ask Lemmy

Make your shit work for you again. Learn to self-host and embrace open source.

How have you chosen to deal with it?

Moving back to analog wherever I could, re-learn and re-use the old ways as much as possible. And also taking back control, and ownership, over my tech.

I've been using a computer since the early 80s and have been online regularly probably somewhere around the late 80s, first through BBS. Luckily for me, while I was self-learning that new computer and digital stuff, I was also taught the classic ‘analog’ ways of doing things. Things like writing longhand, or using snail mail. So, the moment I realized I could not trust nor agree with techs, I started:

• Using physical and/or low-tech objects wherever and whenever I can.
• I got rid of all streaming and subs, an always growing, always less privacy friendly (and more expensive) list of services and apps.
• After years mostly reading ebooks, I moved back to reading actual print books, and using physical media for music and movies (discs).
• Relying less on a computer on my everyday life. Doing math in my head instead of needing that high-tech crutch that is a calculator. Using an actual dictionary to lookup for a definition (a paper dictionary does not track what word I’m checking, like no print book is reporting back what I’m actually reading), Stopped relying on a spellchecker (aka, improve my writing skills and also learn to be fine with doing as few mistakes as I can even more so in foreign languages like English). Small things like that.
• Use older tech (more repairable, sustainable, less connected) wherever I can. See, I recently purchased a 90s digital voice recorder that uses good old AA batteries (that last for months, plural), that requires no Internet connection to operate and no subscription either (so there is no tracking going on, no constant updates or security threats, and there is no ads). Sure, it doesn't have the latest and greatest AI summarizing tool but... I don't care. And I certainly don’t want AI to feast on my own voice, nor on my most personal notes, doing god knows what with them.
• Use Free Libre software instead of the most widely known proprietary ones. Apps and tools that respect my privacy and my rights as a user.
  After 40+ years being an Apple user, a few years ago I fully switched to GNU/LInux and to Libre software. My only regret? I should have switched years earlier.
• Last but certainly not least, I barely use my phone at all. On mine, there is only a handful of apps I need to have access to (finance/security/pro stuff). There is nothing personal, not even ebooks or music, and certainly no social or games. The phone is the least trustworthy of all the 'digital' device I own, so it's the one I use the less.

Self hosting, trying to get progressively more serious about privacy and security.

I've gotten into the Amateur Radio, you need a license to transmit but you gain access to a lot of cool stuff. The Ham bands are a non-commercalized space where experimentation and the sharing of technical knowledge are highly esteemed. There's no ISP or hidden tech bro to moderate the experience, your limits are your skill, equipment, and the privileges of your license. On High Frequencies there are propagation effects that cause your signal to travel thousands of miles enabling the potential for worldwide communications given proper conditions.

I have thought about this also. Especially when it comes to mobile technology. For most of my career I have been an advocate of mobile technology like smartphones, I have recommended it, I have set it up for people, and now I look at the world and honestly wonder if we wouldn't be a better place without smartphones.

Thing is, we are iron mongers. We build tools. We give people tools. "It is not the tool that determines its work, it is the mind mind of the man who holds the tool that does." (-Brannon LaBoeuf).

Does that absolve me of all responsibility? No not a chance. But it does offer s or a suggested path forward.

The harm that comes from computing for the most part, IMHO, doesn't come from users. It comes from people who exploit the users and users who don't realize they are being exploited. Meta, TikTok, Snap, Google, etc. these are the guys causing the problem.

So as technologists, we have an opportunity to change course. To show those who rely on us ways to use technology without being exploited. Yeah I realized to some degree it's a drop in the ocean, trying to piss up a rope but there are little victories to be had.

In short, be the change.

For every bad thing there are good things.

Linux starting to go mainstream and duel boot is 90% not required anymore.

I know a kid that uses a local AI model to help him write. Where he couldn't barely communicate before.

For every social media site there are places like this or the tildeverse that let people communicate and build relationships.

For every tech bro there is a kid that doesn't feel like they belong anywhere making friends online that he finally clicks with. There is me helping some person in a chat room on IRC fix a Linux issue that I don't know and will never meet and get nothing from just because its nice and fun to help people.

That's like saying you don't like shooting targets because there are wars in the world. Or your love of flying your drone has gone because drones are used in war. Keep things in perspective.

Compute to battle the evils.

Make open source tools to remove dependency on corporate spyware.

Create smaller low power AI assistants to make the giants redundant.

Create websites that inform rather than misdirect and out-market the evil ones.

Not proposing it's easy or even realistic, but it's the same battle that always was.

Make new hobby gym. All health. No evil.

This is exactly how I feel right now.

I turned my hobby into a career and now I fucking hate it. Soulless evil billionaires turned it into a fucking dystopia machine. I really can't see any exit from this other than changing my entire field. But, no other field I could work into would pay my mortgage and enable me to afford food.

My parents got a new car and they thought I’d be impressed that it has an iPad for a dashboard and knows who’s driving by using your phone.

And 20 years ago that would have been cool. But now? Now all I see is data harvesting, bad UI, and expensive repairs that must be done at the stealership.

Tech used to be something fun and new, that gave you freedoms and abilities you never thought were possible. But now it’s just another way for companies to ship expensive crap and exploit us. I’d much rather have my dumb car that makes fart noises and won’t even shift without my help.

One thing I did like is that the interior door handles are well-made and easily accessible.

I have always looked at computing as a form of power and control.

On the other hand I like to play PC games. I enjoy exploring and learning how to play and how to win. I don't see anything negative or power hungry about it.

As a career IT professional I had all the joy of computers sucked out of me. I stopped enjoying creating firewalls out of old PCs or trying new Linux distros. I don't want to self host anything except files and a media server.

Computing was never as great as it is now. Never before did we have so much free open source software at such a high level of quality to use and tinker with. Never before was it this easy to find help for the most obscure problems. Never before was playing on Linux a viable option.

But online and offline social networking really got enshittified a lot. 3rd spaces online like offline are fully commercialized. Online, everything is remembered and if it can be used against you, it will be used against you either by the government or some rando just because they can.
But you can use a VPN and as many pseudonyms as you need to properly separate your community-specific personas. And if you live in a city of religious fanatics, the internet also is a great to find like-minded people. There are communities for everything.

Just all the evil that's making you feel that way it can't do the cool stuff it used to is no longer liberatory takes lots of work to stay safe in high school I was a shit head black hat I have to be way trickier and know more than I ever was or did then as a grey hat now to just search and write my smut anonymously its tedious and bad

Personally, I think local AI will make computing far greater than it ever was. You can use it to recreate niche software like Stars!, you can play tabletop D&D without having to deal with human issues like scheduling or infighting, you can have original software created to do whatever you need, you can have manga from the 80's fully colorized.

There are many possibilities, and it is one of the few things for me to look forward to as I get older. As someone without friends nor enough wealth to explore the world, a home AI server will be the closest that I can get to having genuine autonomy and happiness in my life.

I'm dealing with it by spending my time around you fellows. It feels like the old days of the internet over here, back when it was just us nerds. Honestly though? I feel like I'm going to end up one of those Amish like hermits, living in the woods and swearing off technology. Especially when the surveillance becomes suffocating.

Cut it down, your computer is not a source of evil. Especially if its a second or third hand buy. People think life is about control, its not. Life is full of things that we cannot control, can only influence, or can only really observe on an individual scale. Now what really helps is activism. Get out with a group of people to affect change. Put more good into the world than evil and your hobbies matter a little less (given they are benign)

Can't help you with the last. I am just old enough to have been alive and experienced a time when most of society did not have digital devices and kinda watched digital come in and grow up. I get what you mean about the disenchantment but free/libre has never been better and it still has bright potential.

I feel the same way sometimes. Here's what I've been up to:

• Self hosting as much of my digital footprint as possible, with federated technologies and Foss at the forefront
• Focusing my computer time on my own hobbies and curiosities, just tinkering with the computer, or contributing to open source projects
• Volunteering to help with conferences where I can, and attending hacker and hardware conferences. I have a nice little international group of friends and confidants thanks to that. It helps me to connect with people in person.

Absolutely, was in the same boat as you.

Got burnt out with the corporate job but now I've moved to another discipline, I have my mojo back for messing with PCs.

The last few years I've delved into all the things I've wanted to but never took the time. I'm all in on Linux from mid-last year - which in itself has reinvigorated my curiosity for everything.

I've recently started leaning html to create a basic web page with the intention of joining the indie web, then when I tire off those, I'm keen to contribute to oss projects (support because I can't code)

knowledge is power. I've grown to really hate technology, but being knowledgeable about it has helped me to stay safer in the dystopia. buy a phone with an unlockable bootloader and install a custom ROM. code your own apps, I learned java within the span of 3 days to make my own WebView apps of mobile sites instead of making a Google account or using the play store. people who have never been into tech can't do this kind of stuff. you're smart about the digital footprint though, I've been minimizing where I can since 2024 because I saw the writing on the wall even back then.

It's not computing that is evil necessarily. It's the corporate privatization of compute that is going to be the issue in the coming years and decades. Like so many things in the modern world, they want you renting it, not owning it.

Keep working to own it yourself, and use it to help fight the battles that need to be fought.

I use to love playing video games. When MMOS hit I was all for it. It would be like play D&D all the time with your friends. I just wanted to hang with my friends but the min/maxers hit and then the constant grind. I quit caring.

Q: "How have you dealt with this?"

A: Poorly.

They way I see it, computers are tools. They can just as easily be used for good as evil.

If people were going around smashing vehicles with hammers, we would (hopefully) work on better law enforcement than ban hammers. Same sort of thing with computers, we need standards and regulations.

Yeah I get it. I stopped posting on Reddit, and only will on the fediverse, but even that feels like a surveillance nightmare.

Honestly, these days I try and spend as much time just not on the computer, going outside, building physical stuff, and hanging with friends.

And I would say that, while still problematic, video games honestly feel like the least toxic part of computing these days. Buying a $60 game and playing the hell out of it with friends, (or a genuinely well written game like cyberpunk or control) is still rewarding and feels non toxic.

Fascism? I hate to break it to you, but nearly every form of government benefits from the surveillance capabilities of computers.

Fascism : a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition.

It just seems weird you're focusing on the obscure governments of places like North Korea. If you are a young adult, you're at the age where mental health issues would first occur.

Have you looked into tech not corrupted by big corporations? I found meshcore recently, no internet required to connect people, you can easily do something to make your local network more robust and it's so niche that I can't imagine any money moving into it to monetise it somehow.

I'm reading your replies here and your comment history, and it sounds like you are simply depressed and need to find a new outlet for your time.

I got into an outdoors hobby. Healthier for me anyway.