I’m starting to wonder what the real benefit even is anymore. Between the technofeudal landscape we live in, where billionaires own the means of communication, data is constantly mined for profit, and surveillance is baked into every layer, it feels like I’m standing at the beach, using my bare hands to push back an endless tide.
Even when I take the so‑called “liberated” path through Linux, self‑hosting, and privacy tools, it often feels futile. The web itself is poisoned. Browsers are turning into tracking engines. Sites rely on manipulation and dark patterns. Social media is full of misinformation and ragebait.
Even open-source projects are being pulled under corporate influence (ex: Firefox adoption of AI).
It feels exhausting to route around a web that’s already been captured.
So I’m asking myself: what’s the point? Why not just step away?
Why not trade the illusion of digital control for actual peace, get a dumb phone, a CD player, and check out books, movies, music, and games from the library as my entertainment?
Does anyone else feel this way? Have you found ways to reconnect with technology?
I do sometimes, but I always try to recognize that this is EXACTLY how someone trying to bring you down wants you to feel. If basically nobody exists any more that practices and advertises a way that avoids the abuse, then the path will truly become dead until something radically changes. Until that moment, and not a moment later. And tricking you into apathy is just a very effective strategy to accelerate that.
I still remember getting into tech, and just constantly expanding my horizon with new tools and tutorials. Without those, I probably never would have gotten there, and would probably just have been like the rest. Knowing such people are out there looking for that spark, it want them to be able to find it too. Some things you must do without being able to know if it’s working or not.