Comic Strips

Cutting out the middle man does not involve technologically regressing.

Cutting out the middle man means stepping up and learning how the tech you use in your daily lives actually works. The only reason some tech bro can step in and ruin your life is if you let them keep you ignorant through convenience.

You want to cut out the middle man? Use, and support, open source. Fight to make everything that requires a server, be a server that you own in your own home (or is federated and in your local community). Use, and support, repairable technology... And actually repair your technology!

Is this supposed to be satire? How is print media owned by massive conglomerates, flip phones with no OSS firmware, handwritten letters delivered by a literal middleman, avoiding the middlemen??

No. The capitalists are the problem. Not the tech grunts.

I see a few comments about self hosting stuff to escape the clutches of big tech, and while all that is effective to a high degree, it is beyond the abilities of the general populace.

Besides, I am also of the opinion that not everything has to be digital or smart.

I relish writing and receiving letters, it is tangible and indicates commitment. Fortunately, postal system isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

I like reading newspapers and it was sad to see all shops in my neighbourhood stop selling them during or after COVID. It was equally sad to see a lot of magazines not survive that period.

I miss my old TV that was simpler to use and started quicker than my newer smart TV. It does not matter if I disconnect the latter from the internet, it takes its time to load up. Besides, I don’t see any perceivable difference in picture quality from the distance I watch from.

Older laptops, though heavier, were more repairable. In certain aspects, they are better than modern ones: more tactile keyboard, nicer screen ratio (4:3). Of course, the newer laptops decimate the old ones when it comes to performance and screen quality but that is just technology progressing.

I could keep going on with a plethora of product categories. But across all my points, I wish some companies could continue offering such products, at least to a customer base that is willing to pay more just to support the existence of those products.

I've been wanting to convert my life to "off grid tech". I have a nest camera i bought in 2016. So it's pre Google. Starting about 6 months ago, Google told me unless I allow them full 24/7 access to the cam then I can't use it. A product i bought almost a decade ago is useless unless I let them spy on me. Fuck you Google.

So anyways, off grid tech. Home surveillance on my own local server protected with physical data and VPN. No more streaming, pirate everything with local server. No more Google or Amazon anything. Music? Mp3. Email? No Gmail, maybe Proton or something. I'll do all banking through home desktop through VPN. Etc, etc.

I hope to have all these things achieved by 2030

I think the issue people have with "tech" is that much of the software and devices sold take up too much space and do things people don't want them to do, without offering choice, configurability, and options for full control

When ceiling fans and AC units requires an account, yeah, something's wrong.

I hate to break it to you, but your personal consumption choices will not make a meaningful difference to the amount of enshittification you experience in your life.

Too bad they crushed all the old cars

This post and several comments agreeing with this I feel are made with some level of ignorance on "Civil Disobedience".

Minimizing participation in the orphan-crushing machine but also debating politics on available platforms are not antithetical. Debating online is as important as doing the rest of the things that are perceived as "real" worthwhile pursuits. For instance: How can we pursue a cure for cancer if the political climate ensures scientists are scorned and distrusted? If evangelising about the "real" problems you care about is labelled as politics then can you really make progress without "political" action such as boycotting, protests and civil disobedience?

In the same vein, doing the small things in protest is the stepping stones to doing bigger things. It works the same way for any pursuit. Why shouldn't I practice discipline with my disdain for all the evil in small ways while also pushing for more?

Jeff Bezos makes billions of dollars, But He didn't get the $100 from me this year. Sure that sounds like a waste of time and energy for not much impact. But It didn't cause me any hardship. But believe me that $100 had either a compounding effect on my own wealth this year or to some people i gifted essential food to. That impact was felt a lot more by me or one of the people i gifted food or essentials to.

Please use windows XP and connect it to the internet and see what happens LOL

Basically how i try to live my life! Buy physical media, setup a nas, unplug from the internet on most weekends (or limit it).

I've never been in an uber. Never used an Internet account to order food on an app. Never signed up to spotify or netflix. Never owned an alexis or siri.

I just stay away from that stuff... And it all first started with refusing to subscribe to World Of Warcraft. I stuck with Warcraft 2, and StarCraft. None of that big tech subscription nonsense for me thanks!