Tech and Technology Are Not the Same Anymore
Almost exactly half a decade ago my wife stopped eating meat. It happened overnight. It happened during the first COVID-19 lockdown. She could no longer reconcile eating animals while also loving animals. Perhaps the quiet or relative calm (to some it was distressing) of lockdowns shoehorned these thoughts and feelings.
More than 20 years ago I had the same thing when it comes to non-free software. I realised I could see no reason to use things that were proprietary and it was feasible to only ever install/use Free (libre) software. The same could not be said in the 90s, as back then workplaces and schools pretty much demanded the absorption of particular tools.
As time moves on it seems like society worldwide regresses, not progresses. The same seems to be happening in "tech" (which became somewhat like a religion, not a branch of science called technology). People speak of "apps" and "hey hi" (AI). They don't seem to understand the connotation of those words and who stands to gain from the change/devolution of terminology.
The other day, for instance, I mentioned "apps" for parking a car. Why on Earth would I download, install, and then run some proprietary programs with access to location and so much more (perhaps even address book and microphone) for something banal like parking a car? No, thanks!
Society, or the "tech" religion/cult, will "normalise" such things. People will get accustomed to having to get some "app" for all sorts of things which worked fine before anyone carried around a skinnerbox constantly triangulating or beaming out signals to high-voltage towers, operated by private corporations in service of the state. Should people take it for granted? No, resistance is needed. See, at the moment there are well over a million people in England who don't have a cellphone (we call them "mobile phones") and have no intention of getting one. They get by. Many of them have a good, simple life.
"Are you into tech, Sir?"
"No, but thanks for asking, I use technology where it suits me. I'm not a religious person." █