For those who choose to read my work, you may have noticed a trend as of late; I have dedicated many words to technological creep, the ubiquity of technology for tech’s sake, and the like.
I am reading, and recommend, a stunningly prescient book from 1992. The title and subtitle say it all: TECHNOPOLY: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. By Neil Postman.
I killed my LinkedIn account about six months back. It was a pain in the ass, but not as difficult as your experience. I had to do a search in Kagi, then using Safari go in and then follow the instructions provided in a separate window to close the account. About 8 years ago Facebook decided I was under the age of 13 and suspended my account. I thought I’d simply wait until my birthday and log in again, but when I tried it said that my account had been suspended for six months so I had to send a copy of my drivers license or passport to them for verification. This was right after a data breach at Meta that gave up the credentials for 6 million accounts so I decided to pass. I haven’t had Facebook for 8 years now. In a world that has become so dependent on the internet of everything, where everything has a connected app, I’m becoming increasingly more of a Luddite. The absence of human connection, the reliance on AI and automation seems to be driving me back to the 1980s. Unfortunately anything that involves customer service is now so dependent on automated systems, it’s impossible to completely remove myself.
Where’s Kafka when we need him?
I am reading, and recommend, a stunningly prescient book from 1992. The title and subtitle say it all: TECHNOPOLY: The Surrender of Culture to Technology. By Neil Postman.
That is pretty good for 1992! Jeez, what was he complaining about, Smart calculators? Ha...
No, but seriously, prescient, indeed..
I killed my LinkedIn account about six months back. It was a pain in the ass, but not as difficult as your experience. I had to do a search in Kagi, then using Safari go in and then follow the instructions provided in a separate window to close the account. About 8 years ago Facebook decided I was under the age of 13 and suspended my account. I thought I’d simply wait until my birthday and log in again, but when I tried it said that my account had been suspended for six months so I had to send a copy of my drivers license or passport to them for verification. This was right after a data breach at Meta that gave up the credentials for 6 million accounts so I decided to pass. I haven’t had Facebook for 8 years now. In a world that has become so dependent on the internet of everything, where everything has a connected app, I’m becoming increasingly more of a Luddite. The absence of human connection, the reliance on AI and automation seems to be driving me back to the 1980s. Unfortunately anything that involves customer service is now so dependent on automated systems, it’s impossible to completely remove myself.