Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer / The slings and arrows of losing digital convenience / Or to take arms against a sea of distractions and surveillance / And by opposing end them?

Shakespeare said something like that, yeah…

A few months ago, I had the realization that every time I touch my phone, the following happens: I go brain dead, an hour instantaneously passes, and when I come to, I have taken some amount of psychic/emotional damage. So, I started looking into how current day social media algorithms addict us (I actually have a blog post in progress about it), and I decided to majorly limit myself and see what happens. It went miserably at first. I mean, like, I was jonesing for reels any time even the slightest stress or boredom hit. But with time, I realized how much more engaged I was with the real world and how much easier it was to focus on long form content.

On a similar note, there is a massive push for increased tech and surveillance in places you shouldn’t or wouldn’t expect. For instance, I have seen a lot of talk about advanced in-cabin surveillance in upcoming car models, Flock cameras being set up en masse, and the rising popularity of smart glasses with AI and cameras. These examples jeopardize our privacy from other individuals (ex: men using Meta glasses to record women without consent), corporations (ex: dynamic/surveillance pricing, where companies charge you more based on information they’ve collected on you), and the government (ex: Flock cameras having already been used by law enforcement officers to stalk and harass). Additionally, previously good digital platforms/products are rapidly declining in quality, coined “enshitification.” Once companies have you hooked, they up subscription prices, increase the amount and length of ads, put sponsored products over top results, and find ways to reduce your media ownership. Tell me why a Pinterest search returns mostly ads, and the rest of the posts are a coin toss if they’ll be AI slop on top of that? What happened to searches returning the appropriate results? I have two examples below of how unusable Pinterest has become.

Putting this together, a solution (although more like a slightly sturdier band-aid) is “going analog.” This term can mean a lot of different things, but I want to use it here as reducing the amount of tech/digital items in regular use. Or even more so, making changes to get away from highly-surveilled-highly-addictive-probably-costs-a-monthly-fee-to-avoid-ads-and-you-definitely-don’t-own-anything digital devices, content, or apps. Technically, whipping out my old Nintendo DS and playing Zoo Tycoon is *not* very analog of me. But also technically, it’s better than scrolling and I own that device and game, unlike many new games now where you buy a license for digital download (that can be revoked) and often requires “always-online” Internet access to play. So like, no, I don’t want to listen to my music on a turntable, but I am sick of realizing songs are missing from my Spotify playlists (a service I pay for)! If I had them on a CD or downloaded to an MP3 player, this wouldn’t be an issue. Even Google’s automatic AI answers have rotted my ability to use search engines, and in (mostly) switching to DuckDuckGo’s no AI search engine, I found myself mildly struggle at first when going back to searching the way I have for most of my life. It sounds pathetic, but I’m a pretty strong-willed person, so if it’s affecting me, it’s probably affecting a lot of others, as well.

My phone needs to be mostly just a phone again. It needs to be a boring tool rather than where I get dopamine hits from. (It’s funny to think that my old Blackberry phone during high school was actually annoying to have to remember to charge and bring with me.) Unfortunately, stripping my smartphone of its power over me is unfeasible to do suddenly. It requires both advanced planning and intent to avoid losing everyday tools. For instance, I am looking into using CDs/USB drives for music in my car or a small MP3 player for when I’m at lab or going on a run. That adds up in terms of time to find decent products with the specs I want, saving for that additional expense, then organizing my music and getting it onto that storage/player device to use. But, once done, I can finally cancel my Spotify subscription! I actually got the subscription in the first place as a way to organize and download music for offline listening, since I have never had a data plan for my phone. The subscription allowed me to essentially save space on my phone/iPod while always having the latest music. At this point, it’s cheaper to burn some CDs than keep paying what has become $12.99 a month. For other phone uses, I am considering only using Instagram on desktop, getting a noise machine for sleep, bringing my camera with me more often, more library and local bookstore visits, restarting using a physical planner, and giving myself allotted “desk time” to organize my day/review vocab/read the news/check emails/etc. on a computer rather than on my phone in bed.

However, there are some things I don’t know if I could swap out or stop at this point. My Fitbit watch records heart rate while being waterproof and comfortable. Having a heart condition, this product has been a massive boon in my ability to stay on top of my symptoms before they get too bad. Similarly, I want to switch back to a regular GPS, but it is too cost prohibitive right now. I also want to stop shopping at stores with electronic price tags. Depending where I’m at in the world at a given time, it can be hard to avoid these stores, or you choose a different evil in exchange. Finally, I’m going to try to avoid products with built-in ads/subscriptions/surveillance, but it’s honestly tricky! We don’t want smart devices that need apps or have microphones or connect to the Internet, but for some products, like TVs or cars, they can be hard to find. Thankfully, our current (bought used) TV is from a time before all those types of features, but I’m worried for the day it breaks.

Now, reading this back to myself, I think I essentially want a 2010’s era level of technology in my life. I like digital cameras. I like playing video games. I like reading blogs and watching YouTube videos. I like a GPS or other device over a paper map. I like visiting the Internet (but not constantly living in it). I don’t want a tech-free world. But, I’m getting pretty done with living my life through a screen. Or, more specifically, a tiny, addictive, anxiety-inducing screen that wants your time, attention, information, and money. As for the whole increase in surveillance, I’m still figuring that one out. If you have feasible suggestions (read: that aren’t something a child could point at and call illegal or painting geometric shapes on your face every day), please let me know.

Happy reading,
-Beppa

P.S. I’ve been asked by a decent number of people over the years for the point of this website. I don’t have any ads or directly sell anything here, so why put time, effort, and money into having my own little blog? I’m hoping that for those of you who read this post, you may gain a little bit of insight into my feelings on this topic. One of the things that made the early Internet great was how many people were willing to do things for the love of the game. People made websites, blogs, tools, and joined forums to share their passions or help others with their unique skills, whether that be documenting the history of some cartoon they liked or answering questions about niche bassoon reed making techniques. Not to say that there was never a monetary benefit for any of them, but a lot of people did it just to connect, share, and learn. In my case, this blog lets me practice and hone my writing skills, gives me an excuse to look into topics that aren’t in my field, share tidbits of my life for friends who want to check in, and is a way for me to look back into my thoughts over the years. Things may change and move on this site now and then, but anyone who chooses to stop by does not have to worry about “enshitification” here. And by owning this site myself, I can say that with confidence. I might move this P.S. to its own dedicated post one day, but for those of you who read this, I hope you know that this is a tiny way I can keep things alive and human.