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I decided to move away from big tech for my children and myself

lof.flounder.online

301–305 of 305 posts

Re: I decided to move away from big tech for my children and myself

#301
post #153
post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I check matrix messages and emails and keep up with people and make plans to meet them when I am in my office, or in a stable location on a laptop. that only works because you have alternative ways to communicate with those people. those alternatives are not available here. also as a foreigner i am also expected to do as the locals do, so my argument to use something else holds no sway whatsoever. The world will get…

The vast majority of people I interact with only communicate with Facebook products. That has not stopped me from individually stating my ethical stance every single time it comes up, which has resulted in many moving to matrix so they can reach me. If you are fine with surveillance capitalism, then that is your choice, but if you have ethical problems with it, then you owe it to yourself to avoid living a lifestyle…

Personally if I somehow found myself in a country where literally everyone refused to interact with me unless I accepted the Facebook terms of service, I would suspect I am in a cult and GTFO at almost all costs.

not everyone has the option to leave their country. in fact most people don't have that option. and for those that can leave, in most cases family means leaving is not a decision they can make by themselves.

and even if they could use alternative ways to communicate, if facebook were the only way to keep in touch with some family members, then refusing that would in itself be unethical.

so talking about what is an ethical choice here is really really difficult.

also, leaving is fine if you only want to communicate with people that agree with you. but if you want to reach out to others, you have to meet them where they are. FOSS or the awareness about surveillance capitalism is not going to spread much further if we refuse to communicate with people who won't accommodate our preferences.

Re: I decided to move away from big tech for my children and myself

#302
post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had a private investigator for a father, was once a professional magician, and am currently a full time security engineer, so I am pretty sure I think like one. All of this exposure has convinced me it is generally easier to hack a human mind than a computer, and modern social media is designed to do exactly that. You spend a few extra seconds viewing a white supremacist rant by an uncle on Facebook, and next thing…

Aren't we agreeing?

On first and second read it sounded like you were saying it -should- be on page 83. My bad!

Re: I decided to move away from big tech for my children and myself

#303
post #166
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When all my peers were using AIM, and Yahoo instant messenger on Windows, I was on Linux communicating via online forums and IRC learning from mostly adults willing to mentor me as an anonymous username on the internet. I was homeschooled and moved every 3-6 months growing up and in spite of all these "handicaps" I still learned to make several IRL friends within a week or two of every new city I ended up in. I would…

> Stop worrying about making kids popular and making them conform in ways beyond basic manners and respect. They dont worry about them being "popular". They worry about them being excluded. > I would say hi, show them a magic trick, do some comedy bits I had been working on, or share the latest anime I was into. Whatever. Making friends is the skill to build in a kid, not technology conformity. How do you show latest…

Why do you assume lack of android/ios devices means lack of computers. I would 100% help a kid build a desktop computer and maybe give them a linux tablet. App culture, which revolves around the major smartphone platforms, is where the addictive data harvesting apps come from, many of which refuse to run on anything but ios/android specifically because they are far more limited in data harvesting in a web browser where one can install privacy plugins.

A kid can use Freetube on a laptop or tablet for instance with no need for a Google account, and without targeting or ads.

Re: I decided to move away from big tech for my children and myself

#304
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if an algorithm amplifies local activities to everyone around, then the wrong kind of people will find out. Who are the wrong kind of people?

the kind that call the police when they see kids playing unsupervised in the park.

Fair point

Re: I decided to move away from big tech for my children and myself

#305
post #298

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if an algorithm amplifies local activities to everyone around, then the wrong kind of people will find out. Who are the wrong kind of people?

the kind that call the police when they see kids playing unsupervised in the park.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31097578
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