I’m for it. Tbh I would rather more people opt out of modern tech then try and fail to become ethically engaged in it.
Of course ethical engagement (like the fediverse, self hosting, using opensource, contributing to opensource, supporting community controlled tech projects, etc) is better than that but the harm reduction of addiction, survelince, etc tech is still way better imho
Tech is good Uber rich tech bros is bad
I hope its all busted or out of date stuff to begin with otherwise its as stupid as the book burning.
misguided. people should be against corporations as they are the ones who make technology a problem.
Neoluddites 💅
Heres everyone’s daily reminder that the luddites were not anti-technology.
They were the high-skilled tech workers of their time! They were concerned with the power and wealth concentration that came with industrialists that used automation and abused low skilled labour to make obscene profits. They even proposed plans to phase in the new tech in a humane way before turning to the (ultimately failure of a) strategy to target and destroy specific machines.
Groups like the EFF and tech labour unions have more of a connection with the luddites than people who get together the bust their own iphones.
I would have never guessed the iPad babies would turn on their cyber nannies. Good on you, kiddos.
Fucking conservatives in my opinion. Its not a bad way of spending time, its different. It has a different set of advantages and disadvantages. If you’re too stupid to understand it, just stay away from it. But don’t ruin it for the open minded people who are open to new ideas.
You don’t read a whole lot of scientific articles do you? There is plenty of research (a lot from norweigen studies) that proves you wrong pal. Ipads and phones is a fucking disease for our youngsters, pretty much also for any boomer out there.
Thats because they treat it like a toy, not a tool.
They? We treat it as a toy. All of us. And it’s all because the system is designed that way. Don’t go blaming the young adults, the teens; and the children for something you might also be doing.
Narcissism won’t get you anywhere - our internet is capitalised by corporations and you’re blaming people that are trying to do something about it. To raise some awareness.
have been using semiconductor based tools for a few decades now. phones and tablets certainly only fit the toy category.
Society has to decide as a group how much we will allow people to harm themselves with various addictions. Noone lives alone in this world so why act like it?
I am completely against addictions, including those like algorithmic social media. I am also against people who dont understand tech blaming it instead of blaming the real problem. If we just took a second to understand it we would understand how to use it responsibly.
You could make the same argument about heroin, cocaine, marijuana, pornography, alcohol, video games, etc.
If youll notice, we as a society agree to different levels of restrictions based on the potential harm. Many new technologies cause harm but we find out after the technology is in use, so we need to constantly review and revise things.
Thats a good reason why alcohol is increasingly restricted whole marijuana is decreasingly restricted. New information is available that suggests we adjust our risk assessment.
Which technology are you implying is safer than most people think?
Paywalled article. Pretty fucking apt.
Strange, it’s not paywalled for me. Does this community allows to paste whole articles?
Generally, don’t post the text, post an archive link. You can create such links by appending ‘archive.ph’ to the front of the original url, then opening the link in your browser.
I did not know you could archive a link like that. Thanks for the pro tip!
Thanks for the advice! Here’s the archive then: https://archive.ph/sDvch.
Nice! It’ll probably also be helpful to most readers if you edit it into the main post
Done :-)
Posting the whole text of the article is against the whole instance’s rules.
Because the instance would get sued?
For every second you have your headphones in on the train, you’re not talking to anybody and you’re not taking in the world. For every one of those seconds, how much of your life do you let pass by?" one man asked.
Lmao what the fuck
I think Germans would prefer if I stabbed them than talked to them on the train.
Yeah that’s a bit much tbh. Personally I find the train to be way too loud usually. Other people talking, train noises, maybe a screaming baby or something. I’ll just listen to some music and stare out of the window (if it isn’t dark).
Sounds like a pretty legitimate question.
I watch the scenery.
Well I consider talking to strangers in public a waste of time, so what now?
For every one of those seconds, how much of your life do you let pass by?" one man asked.
Well, one second I’d estimate
Every 60 seconds, a minute passes in Africa.
Together we can stop this.
Dear god.
That was my first thought as well, but I think he means things, not time. You miss this thing and that as you stare at your phone. So in that second of mindless scrolling, you missed things around you that might have added something to your day, to your life. So ‘how much of your life do you let pass by’ is not asking how many seconds of life did you let pass by (though that is the first thought upon reading), but ‘how many things that could have affected your life- for the better or worse- do you let pass you by?’
Yeah I totally get what he’s saying here and do agree with the message overall, just thought that was a funny way to put it.
Probably should have said “looking at your phone” instead of “have your headphones on”.
Its a call to be present.
There is nothing inherently wrong with wearing headphones on the train, but ask yourself why you’re doing it.
If you put on Headphones to keep people from talking to you, you’re making the choice to opt out of the human experience.?Make that choice every day on a 45 minute commute and after only a week 7.5 hours where you’ve opted out of chance encounter, conversation, possibly meeting a new friend or partner. It might not be a bad idea to make the choice to NOT disconnect, actively choosing to engage in the world around us makes a huge difference in how we percieve it, and how it percieves us.
An experiment I’d suggest, if you’re the type to default to using your phone as an idle activity:
Next time you’re idle and get the urge to pull out your phone, instead look around you and find the most interesting thing you can see. Why is it interesting? Is there anything abnormal about it? Is it’s place significant? Take that and note it in your mind, have a conversation with a coworker about it later. Then take note, how did this pointless conversation make me feel?
Being present by choice, especially if done often, will create chances to engage with the World, and its inhabitants.
The other day someone told me life was boring. Put the phone down, make more than the 2 meter cone you can see from around your phone visible, and you’ll find the World has a lot of engagement to offer.
Sometimes I leave my house to to other things that besides “being social” I can only imagine horror when trying to get my errands done but all kinds of people everywhere I go keep trying to talk to me I mean I get, maybe a bit more eye contact and general nods to acknowledge people’s existence, but when I go out to be social vs when I don’t are separate things and I think that’s okay
Great if your culture encourages that I guess? I do that in East Asia and I’ll get weird stares from everyone. And they’ll ask you to mind your own business which, I agree. It’s basic respect here to not talk on the train.
I don’t any randos talking to me on the train. Commute is worse enough without people trying to “connect with me” during it.
Lots of research shows that random social interactions are far more enjoyable than people expect them to be.
It’s like 90% drunk homeless people that talk to you on trains and buses though. It gets tiring.
If I want chance encounters with sober people, I’ll go to the bar. I mean eventually the people there get drunk too, but it’s a nice “5 hours and 10 beers” drunk not “what month and/or year is it” drunk.
I’m the guy who takes a shot at a random conversation on the plane.
Doesn’t often turn into anything, but sometimes it’s a nice little glimpse into humanity.
Guess I don’t know what trains you’re on that are so full of the drunk and homeless, but that sounds like a problem in its own right.
I once took an overnight flight from the west coast to the east coast. The flight wasn’t very crowded and I intentionally picked a seat away from other ocupied seats.
I get on the plane, as I’m warking back to my seat I notice there’s entire rows that are empty. So instead of picking a seat in an open row, and this. fucking. guy. picked the window seat closest to my aisle seat, and he talked for most of the flight. In hindsight I should have just sat somewhere else when I first noticed him.
Heh yeah that’s rough.
Baffling that you didn’t switch seats though.
Leave me alone.
On a plane? That’s much worse, you can’t just change seats or get out if you want to avoid the person. Oh god
Or… shudder… shut down the conversation with your words and body language.
Oh god the anxiety of it all.
It’s not that the trains are so full of drunk homeless people, but that trains are affordable and also conductors aren’t going to physically throw out a person that could get violent. Planes you don’t really get on without a ticket. An entire class of people are filtered off the plane because of that.
And anyway, said group are a minority, but they’re the only ones who randomly talk to strangers most of the time. Everyone else minds their own business in my experience.
the [drunk & homeless are the] only ones who randomly talk to strangers most of the time
I’m not going to question your experience too much, but it’s sad to me that this would be true.
A random conversation in a random interaction with somebody you could have easily not talked to can be great fun.
I expect it not to happen and hope it stays that way since. Please jusr don’t bother me while I’m on the train
Noted. If we ever see you we’ll ignore you.
Just post your name and photo so we know what you look like. Thanks.
I’m the person on public transit
But I don’t mind people talking to me so how do others differentiate us?
Or getting hit on. I’m just trying to go home, I have no desire to chat with you. I’m busy go away.
That’s kinda what I’m saying though. Those aren’t randos! They’re other people taking the same commute as you, every day. Make a connection with one and you might start to notice them more. Maybe you have a similar hobby or interest.
Give people a chance to enter your life and they often become more than randos on the train. Maybe you find a commute partner, someone to chat with or bitch to about Jane in Accounting.
I’m not gonna try to convince you, Clearly you saw my point and chose to reject it, that’s your choice. I’d urge you to give different thinking a chance though.
They’re random people I most likely have never seen before and probably won’t ever see again. I live in the city, not a small town where everyone knows each other. The idea of trying to connect with the poor sobs who ended up in the same train as me sounds both crazy and draining as fuck. Not the least bit because where I live, most people cherish that moment to themselves and you’d be fucking that up and bothering them.
If I was commuting with the same four people every day I’d be more likely to talk to them but not in a full ass train with random people.
They’re random people I most likely have never seen before and probably won’t ever see again.
And why do you think that? Have you paid attention to the people around you? If you and another person get to work at the same time, and live in the same area then odds are you will encounter them again. There might be a million people in your city. But how many of them have the exact same commute as you?
Also so what if you never see them again on the train? What if you end up really liking them, get their number, and stay in contact?
And why do you think that
Because I have eyes and easily recognize faces. And a shitload of people have the same work schedule and commute in and out the same time. And it’s a big ass train.
At least it’s a practice what you preach example. I know far more people that love to preach and the attention it gives them and then mostly does the exact opposite. Sometimes so much to the opposite that they’re more predatory than things/people they preach against
Throwing the baby out with the bathwater because they think all tech is is walled gardens on toy hardware. Sad. We failed the next generation.
Late stage capitalism is what this is.
The term “late stage capitalism” is not a call to action, it’s a call to apathy. It’s promoted by online influencers to make it permissible to participate in capitalistic endeavors (it doesn’t matter the collapse is inevitable) so they can entice people to buy their merch so they can be rich. It’s a sign that leftism has been successfully captured by capitalism.
As an IT person I get it.
Especially printers.
Fuck yes. Especially printers.
But my IT guy advice on the matter is this: ink jet is a scam, don’t buy one, ever; don’t accept one for free. If you print a lot, get a laser printer for home, if you only print a few times a year, get a laser printer for home.
Inkjet printers are good for furry artists who sell prints at conventions. Hmm… that’s actually so specific that it reinforces your point.
I got a 90$ laser printer for home 5 years ago. I’ve printed at least 600 pieces of paper, and have only had to change the toner cartridge once (recently). I can get a 2 pack of toner for about 24$.
This is how i think about printing now: i needed some black paper in a pinch once, so i printed a solid black image on both sides of a sheet of paper.
laser all the way
PC Load Letter?! The fuck does that mean?
That brought back some printer PTSD
It means load Letter size paper. The printer is out of paper.
Got love the fact that the world both has standardised paper, and predictably the US, exclusively, refuses to use it.
Haha. I know. 😁
I was quoting Office Space.
Cheaper to buy a new one than more ink. Fucking extortionate.
I want this bad boy: https://www.crowdsupply.com/open-tools/open-printer
If it would run a open source firmware or be open source hardware, it would be nice. But they are using a non-OSI/non-FSF license, so it is not open source.
Yeah but the cartridges that come with a new printer are usually only 1/3 full. As another guy said, get a printer that uses toner. They’re more expensive (because you’re actually paying for the printer) but you don’t have to worry about ink drying out because it’s toner, it’s supposed to be dry.
Inkjet printers are basically a scam, if you don’t print all that often, the ink will probably be dried up when you go to use it, and if you print frequently, it’ll be cheaper to have a laser printer that uses toner in terms of per page cost.
Refillable inkjets are starting to become a thing. Cool thing about those is that they’re often smaller than a color laser.
Given that I don’t print very often these days. I like having a small printer that I can chuck in a drawer or a closet during the 360 days of the year that I don’t need it.
Toner all the way.
Being anti AI is one thing. Being anti tech is just stupid. Gen Z really is the useless Generation.
Remember, no war but class war, stay focused grandpa! Now is not the time for enemies, but for understanding, support and communication.
If you understand tech, computers and the ramifications of how this work, then teach it. Tell them about linux and the libre world of tech they could have. If you’re just here to rant about young people, then you lost yourself.
More like your pissed off older millennial brother who watched Gen Z literally piss everything away by siding with the boomers and Gen X and then act stupid when things went to shit.
Okie dokie boomer
I’m a fan of taking back control over my tech, not giving up control. They’re treating it like there’s no other option.
If you listen between the lines we are given by tech companies, right now there is no other option.
Its hard to believe that someone would be aware enough to go to something like this, while not being aware of the existence of alternative solutions that give you more control. But these people do definitely exist. At the same time i think that this group of people is probably quite diverse with some being complete hardliners that want zero tech while others are just against the kind that is extremely damaging to society and the world.
The author works for business inside. He’s 100 % on board with all the heinous shit tech companies are doing
I dunno.
Multiple people in my friend group are aware of the issues with big tech companies.
But the second you bring up FOSS with them, or Linux gets mentioned, they either disengage completely or get angry. One of these people heads an IT department.
I don’t know why they react that way. The weird part is, they’ll happily use FOSS software like VLC or something Minecraft launcher. The second you say it’s FOSS they actually seem less into the software, not more.
I think it’s a product of having grown up during the time when accessing commercial applications was about as easy as accessing the free ones at a time where many of the free ones were just pale imitations. And before the enshitification had really gotten going.
This comment makes me sad. But I also feel like I’ve seen this. I honestly don’t know where the hate for FOSS comes from. Has this person that hates FOSS ever explained their hatred? Genuinely curious how someone could hate options.
I get it. My first introduction to FOSS was getting insulted by people for not knowing about FOSS, and it really put me off of things. It was made abundantly clear to me that only smart people know about Linux, and if I didn’t know about Linux, I was too stupid to run Linux and needed to stick to Windows like the loser I was.
So I stuck to Windows because I’d rather be a loser than an asshole. I have since tried linux, but everybody hates that I think Ubuntu is good for n00bs, so there is no winning.
Angry about what specifically?
I think few open source projects enjoy the user satisfaction that VLC does. Even Linux itself is not as friendly to its users.
VLC (by cause or by effect?) also doesn’t have evangelists trying to push it. It doesn’t need them. Contrarianism is a strong motivator in today’s culture.
VLC definitely has evangelists, they have just become the dominant culture so you don’t really notice it. They don’t have an advertising budget, it got popular through word of mouth.
I think Linux enthusiasts appear more evangelical because of the deep entrenchment of Windows; you are noticing the push back and debate, whereas with VLC you just see people recommending it and people being grateful for the recommendation.
It’s the same with vegan food
Yeah i know these creatures exist, but i will never understand them. Im always maximally hyped when i see good FOSS alternatives even if they have some minor drawbacks. For example this beautiful app which does OCR and translation completely offline in one app https://f-droid.org/en/packages/dev.davidv.translator/
Came here to say this lol
What’s the reference here?
Old school runescape gnome child. Don’t think there is more meaning to it then just that they are dressed as gnomes lol
