A funny thing happened to me last summer. I inadvertently left the house without my phone. What makes it more interesting was that I happened to be heading for Ohio Amish country and did so in the old old 56 year old car. Well under way, I reached for the phone to open Google maps since I hadn’t been down there for years. No phone. Momentary panic! And then relaxation and a certain joy washed over me. This is how everything used to be. Not a computer in sight.
A word popped into my head: “autonomy.” I hadn’t felt this autonomy and personal agency in years. Since smart devices came into their own.
I consulted the faded Ohio map folded up neatly in the aptly named map pocket, shook out some dust and a dead fly and presto it worked! Batteries not required. My situational awareness bloomed and I stopped at various places that weren’t on any app, and even asked local folks for a good place to eat. Found a place with home cooking again not on an app. It was the best day trip I’ve had in years. A full tank of gas (in a non computer car) and some cash is all it took. I even felt somewhat subversive that day,haha.
Many of us of a certain age could go back to that if necessary. The young don’t even feel the intrusiveness of the surveillance state. It’s like the air to them. Not their fault really. But the neofeudalists have a lot to answer for. If they are ever asked.
YES. I hadn't made the leap from surveillance capitalism to surveillance fascism in my head yet, but that's what it is. Have been slowly working toward going analog for a few months and yeah, it's a little more lonely but also, the quiet is nice. I think that's the key - you can't just get rid of tech and create a void, you have to work to replace it with actual community (the thing tech stole from us!). Sometimes it's helpful to create a runway using the tools you already have (FB, IG, etc.) to build an offline community, and you can give up less data by using a browser like DuckDuckGo. Also, go create your own website! You'll be invisible to search, but there are IRL ways to work around that.
Number 1 has been hard. Facebook should have deleted my account at this point, but damn it... that is where community posts events and get to-gethers. Insta, has activist info, and was where artists found and supported each other, especially during the early pandemic and a lot of pop-up events were happening. It will be REALLY hard to let that go. As you mentioned... we must work hard to rebuild what we built on social media... IRL. We need to pick up the phone and talk to each other, or email info to each other, use community bulletin boards again (those are also hard to find, especially un-curated ones). We also need those 3rd spaces, and be really consistent so people know when and where to show up, where to look for info, etc. I'm ready to figure this out! I come from before the 'net. Before the iphone, and we used to make it work just fine.
Follow up: my original 10 + year old Facebook account is gone-gone. I did rebuild a more blank profile just to follow local the lgbtq group events, but mostly to retain the easiest connection with my Dad, who prefers video chats and prefers a message poke through Facebook over cell or landline. Both reasons will help my IRL.
I’m trying! I am realizing it’s not an easy one and done processes! It takes work and time, and I’m just your average Joe, not a techy. I had had no idea how interconnected products are, and how reliant some simple things we got used to doing on our phones or wirelessly are with those tech giants. Printing becomes harder, or using online banking, things require finding a work around and thinking about which devices we use for what. It’s interesting, eye opening, and a process! :/
I'm planning to switch my Android phone to a different operating system, but it's hard, ditto losing Google docs and drive, insta is where my distant family is, I don't log into twitter, but buffer posts my Bluesky posts there, gradually moving some people to Signal, but with some alternative OS you can have a sandbox where you can run playstore apps safely.
Kash Patel, a longtime loyalist to President Donald Trump, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation — an agency he has talked about drastically restructuring while echoing Trump’s claims of the “weaponization” of the bureau’s powers in its Capitol riot investigations and other recent cases.
Again this could not be done without the republicans towing the line 😑
Well fucking said! Thank you for mentioning feudalism. I’m seeing this word start to track and it feels a little more fitting that just sleeping everything with ‘fascist.’ Love this piece. Especially the disinformation element, as I've covered some of the other ways in a recent essay of my own:
No worries! I read Surveillance Capitalism when it came out. It was a slog of a read but so enlightening. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things I was, up until that point, very naive about.
Do you really think this algorithm is 'safe' from the DoD? I'm not saying people should also abandon substack. I'm saying we must adapt and evolve. Substack is a 'better' 'social' media in many ways, but have you seen all of the memes and videos lately? It's turning into Twitter and TikTok. You think that's not by design? Let's create something better. Something that actually encourages people to get offline. Something that actually changes the rules of the game... www.humbledeeds.com
I was thinking this too. Is Substack really better in the long run? For now, it's probably safe to say that it is. No advertising so far and the algorithm doesn't seem to want to sell you something all the time... Yet.
Totally endorse these recommendations and hope people act them out. We need to make this stuff cool and contagious. I have been thinking along the same lines for a while. Seeing that lineup at the inauguration, I thought—we must divorce from all of these people.
Many reactions here are of concern. Mission accomplished - they should be. Hard to plug back into the matrix, but you won’t know if you elect to do that - bliss.
Great information and advice, thanks! I don’t FB or instagram and never will. Left X when it was still Twitter and never looked back. I am here, I play games on my phone and text. I read books. I read Substack. I will consider going Analog!
If this happens it will only possible be because over the past fifty or so years we've undergone -- Globally! -- intensive political, economic, governmental, and scientific centralization, even just reverting to where we were on those fronts in the latter 1970s could be more than enough to prevent it...
I agree, it's not about quitting entirely but it's about creating some space between what the online machinations have trained you to do and what you are willing to accept going forward. It certainly requires becoming more conscious about how and what you are thinking. The great thing is as a real functioning human, you get to decide.
A funny thing happened to me last summer. I inadvertently left the house without my phone. What makes it more interesting was that I happened to be heading for Ohio Amish country and did so in the old old 56 year old car. Well under way, I reached for the phone to open Google maps since I hadn’t been down there for years. No phone. Momentary panic! And then relaxation and a certain joy washed over me. This is how everything used to be. Not a computer in sight.
A word popped into my head: “autonomy.” I hadn’t felt this autonomy and personal agency in years. Since smart devices came into their own.
I consulted the faded Ohio map folded up neatly in the aptly named map pocket, shook out some dust and a dead fly and presto it worked! Batteries not required. My situational awareness bloomed and I stopped at various places that weren’t on any app, and even asked local folks for a good place to eat. Found a place with home cooking again not on an app. It was the best day trip I’ve had in years. A full tank of gas (in a non computer car) and some cash is all it took. I even felt somewhat subversive that day,haha.
Many of us of a certain age could go back to that if necessary. The young don’t even feel the intrusiveness of the surveillance state. It’s like the air to them. Not their fault really. But the neofeudalists have a lot to answer for. If they are ever asked.
Yes! So true! Beautiful experience! One is almost afraid to give it a try. Idea: a holiday in that style!
YES. I hadn't made the leap from surveillance capitalism to surveillance fascism in my head yet, but that's what it is. Have been slowly working toward going analog for a few months and yeah, it's a little more lonely but also, the quiet is nice. I think that's the key - you can't just get rid of tech and create a void, you have to work to replace it with actual community (the thing tech stole from us!). Sometimes it's helpful to create a runway using the tools you already have (FB, IG, etc.) to build an offline community, and you can give up less data by using a browser like DuckDuckGo. Also, go create your own website! You'll be invisible to search, but there are IRL ways to work around that.
Number 1 has been hard. Facebook should have deleted my account at this point, but damn it... that is where community posts events and get to-gethers. Insta, has activist info, and was where artists found and supported each other, especially during the early pandemic and a lot of pop-up events were happening. It will be REALLY hard to let that go. As you mentioned... we must work hard to rebuild what we built on social media... IRL. We need to pick up the phone and talk to each other, or email info to each other, use community bulletin boards again (those are also hard to find, especially un-curated ones). We also need those 3rd spaces, and be really consistent so people know when and where to show up, where to look for info, etc. I'm ready to figure this out! I come from before the 'net. Before the iphone, and we used to make it work just fine.
Follow up: my original 10 + year old Facebook account is gone-gone. I did rebuild a more blank profile just to follow local the lgbtq group events, but mostly to retain the easiest connection with my Dad, who prefers video chats and prefers a message poke through Facebook over cell or landline. Both reasons will help my IRL.
I'm incredibly happy to hear that!
Thank you for your service in the fight against surveillance fascism!
I’m trying! I am realizing it’s not an easy one and done processes! It takes work and time, and I’m just your average Joe, not a techy. I had had no idea how interconnected products are, and how reliant some simple things we got used to doing on our phones or wirelessly are with those tech giants. Printing becomes harder, or using online banking, things require finding a work around and thinking about which devices we use for what. It’s interesting, eye opening, and a process! :/
I'm planning to switch my Android phone to a different operating system, but it's hard, ditto losing Google docs and drive, insta is where my distant family is, I don't log into twitter, but buffer posts my Bluesky posts there, gradually moving some people to Signal, but with some alternative OS you can have a sandbox where you can run playstore apps safely.
Great read!
And I feel you on the heaviness of writing. I've called it the Perfect Cage (our own minds are trapped in it) but surveillance fascism makes sense...
https://open.substack.com/pub/heyslick/p/a-perfect-cage-how-the-system-consumes
Kash Patel, a longtime loyalist to President Donald Trump, was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday as director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation — an agency he has talked about drastically restructuring while echoing Trump’s claims of the “weaponization” of the bureau’s powers in its Capitol riot investigations and other recent cases.
Again this could not be done without the republicans towing the line 😑
Saw that—very scary times!
Well fucking said! Thank you for mentioning feudalism. I’m seeing this word start to track and it feels a little more fitting that just sleeping everything with ‘fascist.’ Love this piece. Especially the disinformation element, as I've covered some of the other ways in a recent essay of my own:
“Analog is the new blackout.”
https://lokiexcelsiorsmith.substack.com/p/a-portrait-of-the-citizen-as-data?r=fd4u4
Great work, man!
Thanks Craig! Appreciate you saying that!
No worries! I read Surveillance Capitalism when it came out. It was a slog of a read but so enlightening. It really opened my eyes to a lot of things I was, up until that point, very naive about.
Got nauseous halfway thru and decided to quit reading. Might delete substack too.
Sorry about that. I know it is a lot.
Tbh it has been a little overwhelming just writing this shit lmao
Do you really think this algorithm is 'safe' from the DoD? I'm not saying people should also abandon substack. I'm saying we must adapt and evolve. Substack is a 'better' 'social' media in many ways, but have you seen all of the memes and videos lately? It's turning into Twitter and TikTok. You think that's not by design? Let's create something better. Something that actually encourages people to get offline. Something that actually changes the rules of the game... www.humbledeeds.com
I was thinking this too. Is Substack really better in the long run? For now, it's probably safe to say that it is. No advertising so far and the algorithm doesn't seem to want to sell you something all the time... Yet.
Totally endorse these recommendations and hope people act them out. We need to make this stuff cool and contagious. I have been thinking along the same lines for a while. Seeing that lineup at the inauguration, I thought—we must divorce from all of these people.
Fantastic essay Max.
Many reactions here are of concern. Mission accomplished - they should be. Hard to plug back into the matrix, but you won’t know if you elect to do that - bliss.
One app deletion at a time resistance - doable.
Great information and advice, thanks! I don’t FB or instagram and never will. Left X when it was still Twitter and never looked back. I am here, I play games on my phone and text. I read books. I read Substack. I will consider going Analog!
If this happens it will only possible be because over the past fifty or so years we've undergone -- Globally! -- intensive political, economic, governmental, and scientific centralization, even just reverting to where we were on those fronts in the latter 1970s could be more than enough to prevent it...
Great read!
I agree, it's not about quitting entirely but it's about creating some space between what the online machinations have trained you to do and what you are willing to accept going forward. It certainly requires becoming more conscious about how and what you are thinking. The great thing is as a real functioning human, you get to decide.
really genuine and good work! thank you for this.
depressing as fuck but a needed read
Yes yes and yes. (Number 3 had me lolling hard. Done.) ✊