Mastodawn

spookedbyroaches

This is Depressing

https://lemm.ee/post/2008454

This is Depressing - lemm.ee

Does anyone else feel as if it’s over when it comes to really owning your own things? As of now: - You don’t have the option of having a phone with decent specs and replaceable parts - You have to have really good knowledge in tech to have private services that are on par with what the big companies offer - You have to put up with annoying compatibility issues if you install a custom ROM on your android phone - You cannot escape apps preventing you from using them if you root your device - Cars are becoming SaaS bullcrap - Everything is going for a subscription model in general And now Google is attempting to implement DRM on websites. If that goes through, Firefox is going to be relegated to privacy conscious websites (there aren’t many of those). At this point, why even bother? Why do I go to great lengths at protecting my privacy if it means that I can’t use most services I want? It sucks because the obvious solution is for people to move away from these bullshit companies and show that they actually care about their privacy. Even more important is to actually PAY for services they like instead of relying on free stuff. I’m not optimistic not just because the non privacy conscious side is lazy, but because my side is greedy. I mean one of the most popular communities on lemmy is “piracy” which makes it all the more reasonable for companies not to listen to privacy conscious people. I wouldn’t say that this is the endgame but in this trajectory, privacy is gone before 2030.

Gutless2615 Jul 25, 2023

The walls of the cyberpunk dystopia are being built up around us

Hot Saucerman Jul 25, 2023

SokathHisEyesOpen Jul 25, 2023

We get all of the bad parts, without any of the cool parts. Except for smart phones. Smart phones are pretty amazing, actually.

argv_minus_one Jul 26, 2023

It’s a little battery-powered handheld thing…that runs circles around some of my old high-performance gaming PCs! Yeah, that’s pretty awesome.

kostel_thecreed Jul 25, 2023

Wouldn’t google’s DRM be considered a monopoly? Not in the US, but don’t they have laws and regulations against this type of stuff?

OsrsNeedsF2P Jul 25, 2023

Nah, because it will be considered a service that people choose to integrate with, and you won’t be required to use Google’s authentication service

Brustadnrift Jul 25, 2023

Yes, also pretty sure Meta will roll their own offering too since the main appeal is for advertisers.

sigmaklimgrindset Jul 25, 2023

So my choice is gonna be between Google or Meta?

Real Sophie’s Choice there huh? 🫠

watson Jul 25, 2023

At that point, other than at work, I will stop using the internet.

SokathHisEyesOpen Jul 25, 2023

You will if you want your website indexed by Google.

rainh Jul 25, 2023

Even if it was, it likely wouldn't be enforced, since it's overseen by lawmakers and judges who have only the barest sense of what a webpage even is.

SokathHisEyesOpen Jul 25, 2023

And are all on Google’s payroll.

Turkey_Titty_city Jul 25, 2023

digital media was never a thing you owned. it's a thing you lease.

if you want to own things buy physical copies.

Hot Saucerman Jul 25, 2023

Data is a physical object. Change my mind.

mightysashiman Jul 25, 2023

The value in data is less in the medium than the actual information. Information is by very definition intangible. Data is therefore not physical.

Gutless2615 Jul 25, 2023

I own tons of digital files, stores on silicon and metal in my possession and not connected to the internet. Not owning digital files is a relatively new and entirely artificial construction.

rainh Jul 25, 2023

My X TB music library goes brrr
Spotify who?

Jerkface (any/all)Jul 25, 2023

Me in the 90s.

originalfrozenbanana Jul 25, 2023

Technology creates fiefdoms where rentiers extract value from the rest of us. But I’m not losing hope

floofloof Jul 25, 2023

Don’t blame technology. Blame capitalism.

Hot Saucerman Jul 25, 2023

This is exactly it. Free Open Source Software aims to benefit everyone, but the downside is that it has mostly benefited private corporations who leech off of the free labor of the FOSS community. Capitalism ruins fucking everything.

originalfrozenbanana Jul 25, 2023

You’re right, of course. The end result of capitalism is necessarily feudalism - capitalism doesn’t make universally efficient markets. It makes markets that are efficient for the winners. I should have said technology companies and not technology as a whole

Hot Saucerman Jul 25, 2023

As I like to say, capitalism is just feudalism with extra steps.

sexy_peach Jul 25, 2023

You will forever have these feelings, if you have a better world than the status quo in mind. Be careful to not be overwhelmed by them, if you suffer too much long term you could give up or become a cynic. Nothing is perfect, we strive to make better systems (and smartphones).

Gutless2615 Jul 25, 2023

Being a cynic is entirely reasonable and probably a good thing

JubilantJaguar Jul 25, 2023

Cynicism, i.e. the view that everyone else has base motivations, is the definition of a self-fulfilling prophesy. You’re cynical? Well, soon everyone around you will be too, and where will we be then? All the politicians are crooks and phonies? Well, they sure will be soon if everyone voting for them thinks that. In fact, as far as I can see, cynicism is the rule across the world, and look at the state most countries are in. For comparison (there aren’t many), check out the world’s least cynical countries - i.e., those with the highest social trust, where people believe that “others are basically good”, where they trust their politicians. I won’t name them (you can guess them) but those countries just happen to have the best indicators on pretty much every measure of success - not just economic wealth but also all the social indicators and indeed happiness. To me at least, the connection is plain obvious. Being a cynic is a choice, and a completely counterproductive one if you want to see good things in the world.

Skepticism, on the other hand? I’m all in on that.

brimnac Jul 25, 2023

“Just pretend this dystopia is a utopia and you’ll be fine!”

sexy_peach Jul 25, 2023

No just don’t pretend we live in a dystopia, things could be worse. Could be better as well though…

brimnac Jul 25, 2023

Who’s pretending?

wizardbeard Jul 25, 2023

If you think this is a dystopia, I have a lot of books for you to read.

There’s a lot of dystopian shit going down, but (assuming you hail from a first world country) we are definitively not living in one.

Wean yourself off news media, limit your consumption of it. They literally make their money through keeping eyes watching. The easiest way to do that is to keep viewers feeling like there are ongoing crises constantly and to stoke visceral emotional response in their readership/viewership as much as possible.

This is not some issue siloed off to news organizations that lean to one political side or the other, it is an inherent result of how they all generate revenue in the modern age. They are all optimizing for ad impressions.

brimnac Jul 25, 2023

Your suggestions are appreciated but they were not asked for - I don’t like pretending.

My wife is a journalism major and I’m very involved locally in politics.

Weaning myself off the news won’t make the planet any cooler during this time.

Weaning myself off the news doesn’t stop those with money and influence from being above the law.

Weaning myself off the news doesn’t change anything, except make me less informed.

Ignorance may be bliss to some, but to others it’s just ignorance. Downvote away, but honestly I’ll stick to this until we have an actual Utopia (without slaves).

Hot Saucerman Jul 25, 2023

Fuck yeah, this is the right attitude. It absolutely takes more mental effort and acuity to shift through the piles of absolute bullshit produced by modern media to generate rage and clicks and engagement, however, expending that energy to do so is so fucking important.

Checking out and being like “the news makes me too upset” is kind of part of the problem. Honestly, if you’re not fucking furious every minute of every day for the horrors modern humans suffer under the richest nations on the planet, you’re not paying the fuck attention, and that’s on you.

wizardbeard Jul 26, 2023

And here we have an intense difference in world view.

If you’re actually “fucking furious every minute of every day”, you have a serious emotional issue. And you’re hiding behind this idea that reading more news has any reflection on mental acuity to justify it. Effort, hell yes it takes more effort, but fuck off with elitism over your righteous anger.

You don’t need to sift through all the piles of absolute bullshit to stay informed, or to be aware of all the horroble shit in the world. It doesn’t take a concentrated effort to be aware. It does take a concentrated effort to stay emotionally invested in things that don’t directly effect you, and I’m of the opinion that effort is much better spent taking action, or simply doing what you can to better your small slice of the world every day.

Unfortunately it is extremely unlikely for any of us to have significant impact on large scale issues in the world. Stay reasonably informed, do what you can, and get on with your life. No sense in wallowing when there’s far better uses of time and energy.

wizardbeard Jul 26, 2023

My man are you for real? You commented in a public forum on the internet. You’re going to get unasked for feedback/advice/shit talking/commentary. That’s just how things work.

And no one’s asking you to pretend, whatever you mean by that. I’m assuming you mean that it’s impossible to accept that this world is not a dystopia, so doing otherwise requires one to pretend?

I’m asserting that we are not living in a dystopia as you and many others repeatedly claim. Maybe you disagree, but it’s not something that I personally have to pretend. Again I’ll repeat the last sentence of my last comment: These are hard times, not end times.

Plus, there’s a whole spectrum of news media exposure between “drinking from the fire hose” and “burying your head in the sand”. Everyone should stay informed, but there’s a lot in the news that only serves to get emotional response over things that have no impact on your life, where knowing of it does not convey any significant value besides emotional effect.

I have seen far too many people actively contribute to their own mental issues due to feeling some obligation to engage in news that has no direct impact on their lives, or that they can do nothing about but worry. Additionally, being aware of the emotional and psychological effects of media exposure does not make you in any way immune to it. I know way too many people suffering from depression and anxiety related issues directly and significantly exacerbated by how much they consume news media, which is why I have a hard time keeping my trap shut about this.

Moving past that, being married to a journalism major is not the supporting argument you may think it is. Of course you would bristle at the idea that news media may be harmful when you are married to someone who spent years training to be in that industry. I’m not saying any of this as an attack on journalists themselves or as an attack on caring about what is going on in the world. Ideally journalists and news organizations serve a vital part of keeping people informed, which is vital to a good society and proper political process. Unfortunately the entire way that news media makes money to continue to exist in the modern era is entirely dependant on optimizing for views, which means optimizing for emotional impact.

JubilantJaguar Jul 25, 2023

Your slightly condescending tone is obscuring a decent message. I agree with you.

baked_tea Jul 25, 2023

Lmao but it’s real??? They don’t need to pretend… are you aware of the DRM situation?

Lexi Sneptaur Jul 25, 2023

Nuance status: out the window

brimnac Jul 25, 2023

I find it hard to play make believe as an adult.

I mean “You’re right. Everything is fine.”

Lexi Sneptaur Jul 25, 2023

You threw out the baby with the bathwater here… they’re saying you can be hopeful while still facing reality. Hopelessness like this is useless. Woe is me, let’s do nothing. Worthless perspective tbqh

brimnac Jul 26, 2023

Who said I do nothing?

I’m on the leadership board for my local political party’s senate district.

I help field manage and campaign with leftist candidates door knocking weekly.

I’m pretty involved.

Maybe I do those things because of my “worthless perspective.”

What do you do?

Lexi Sneptaur Jul 26, 2023

Your perspective stated above doesn’t align with my idea of someone who would be politically active. I’m glad you are fighting the good fight instead of simply participating in slacktivism, and I wasn’t trying to imply that you personally did nothing. I’m implying that your stated perspective above discourages action by instilling a sense of hopelessness.

I am also politically active although not to the degree you are; I participate in protests and mutual aid as well as other smaller forms of political activism. I do as much as I can given my mental health, which is an ever increasing amount as I grow and heal.

If you are participating in politics, you should know that perspective and optics are massively important. Saying “we’re all doomed and there’s no point!” can be harmful, actually. Maybe it helps motivate you, but for most people it’s disheartening.

brimnac Jul 26, 2023

Awesome, but who said there’s no point? Like, literally. Where?

Maybe you implied that from what I said, but there was no such verbiage.

It’s important to be clear in communicating. I’m sorry that you misunderstood one throw-away line and made an assumption of who I was based on that.

Lexi Sneptaur Jul 26, 2023

While the fault may be mine for my assumption, it’s also good to analyze why someone might construe your comment in that way. Have a nice day!

brimnac Jul 26, 2023

I appreciate the tone! Have a good one.

SokathHisEyesOpen Jul 25, 2023

Where is the soma we were promised?

kugel7c Jul 26, 2023

You have to at least be able to imagine a utopia to begin creating one, just being unhappy about our collective distopia isn’t gonna help anyone. Systems created and made up of people can be destroyed by people, it’s very difficult but it can be done, and if we think we’re in a dystopia there’s good reason to destroy some systems.

brimnac Jul 26, 2023

Thanks for the reply. I help locally :)

spookedbyroaches Jul 25, 2023

Yeah I guess it never really was perfect. But this one really caught me off guard since I took it for granted that the web is more free than the walled gardens that Google and Apple make. But the FOSS community is making some cool stuff these days that we gotta focus on.

Thalestr Jul 25, 2023

Honestly? As I get older and as the tech industry chokes itself to death in pursuit of infinite profit, I find myself doing more and more things away from the computer or the internet at the very least. Spending time outside doing stuff, exercising, reading books, partaking in art or other creative pursuits, having pets, etc. I have really dialed back my social media involvement and I hardly ever use my phone now.

The internet is absolute garbage now. It’s a completely unregulated trash fire that is only getting hotter as more gasoline gets dumped on it. The internet I grew up with, the internet of seemingly endless possibility and unfathomable amounts of information, is long gone. Search results (from any engine) are all SEO trash, websites are just AI-generated garbage covered in ads, and every app or service is a subscription that promises to suck even more money out of my bank account for basic services. Not to mention that all of the above will also monitor every single bit of my activity and sell it to third party buyers. If tech is just going to exist to be an ad-delivery platform then I can do without it. People did for decades, centuries, and we can too.

This bubble is going to pop eventually. It not might be today or tomorrow, but it is going to happen. This is not sustainable.

Tocano Jul 25, 2023

The internet is absolute garbage now

Well, it always was. The internet was always filled with low effort webpages with ads from top to bottom. The only change is that as people got better at avoiding the old scams, new ones appeared with better CSS and more psychological manipulation.

ad-delivery platform

It is basically this. Most websites just try and dig into your profile, masking it as “personalized customer service”, but the real intention is to know what you do, who you talk to, and try to sell you goods & services.

cakeistheanswer Jul 25, 2023

Not always. Believe it or not it used to be kinda like it is now, here.

With the technical barriers to entry pre AOL the people online were outcasts, nerds, and science departments at universities. The ad driven model is the attempt to lower barriers of entry make profit of that and not the other way around. Lots of the Internet ran on generosity and donations.

It’s been shittier every day after there was an agreement on how to monetize though. The people at the start didn’t ever have the guarantee it would get adopted, so for all the idealism we deal with their compromises.

SokathHisEyesOpen Jul 25, 2023

It definitely wasn’t always that. Sure, there were lazy, greedy, fuckers in the early internet putting up crap content and “you’re the 1 millionth visitor, you win an iPhone!” Pop-ups, but for a good decade or more the internet was filled with passion projects. Websites and services built from passion and desire, not for an endless pursuit of money. When corporations were ignoring the internet as a fad, it was a remarkable place. Once they realized how much money Google and MySpace were making, they all jumped in head first and began the rapid enshitification of the digital frontier. The same type of people that ruined the physical frontier ruined the digital one as well. Pinche jotos.

float Jul 25, 2023

This is the way. I’m basically only online at work now. Once I’m home I just smoke a bowl and relax offline. I’ve been making music a bunch lately and going on photo walks. I used to play video games to pass the time but even those are awful now.

xiao yun Jul 25, 2023

Strangely your post makes me think of the SciFi book written by Alain Damasio - Les Furtifs. 😬

Not sure that it has been translated in English…

Tocano Jul 25, 2023

I undertand this feeling. I have a group of friends which use Messenger as a main chat app and they refuse to stop using it for convenience, but most of the features they label as convenience are the exact thing that are wrong with it. Many other platforms, despite not being perfect, have the same/more features and are better implemented.

Even if you transfer to a new and better platform, the big companies don’t let go easily. They buy those new platforms and change them or just nuke them. If they can’t, they will use ways to detect who is using alternative platforms and alienate them. It is just like the Phoebus cartel, which controlled progress to maximize profit. They are not against you or progress, they are against anything which reduces their potential monetary value.

I disagree when you mention subscriptions as a bad thing. Subscriptions have existed since forever, and work well when you deal with a service, for example paying a subscription to a video creator you like, or maintenance costs of hardware you use.

But not everything is grim. I have seen a lot of new FLOSS projects appearing everywhere, and people are becoming more aware of the many alternatives. I’ve even seen non programmers using ChatGPT (or equivalent) to create their own self-hosted platforms, showing that even those not techinal people are able to contribute to the general community.

Phoebus cartel - Wikipedia

Aatube Jul 25, 2023

The Phoebus Cartel is not the greatest example, since there’s a solid argument for energy efficiency

SokathHisEyesOpen Jul 25, 2023

I didn’t understand when everyone jumped on Facebook messenger instead of just using their phone’s built in text messaging and I still don’t. It’s like people crave spying or something…

Tick_Dracy Jul 26, 2023

Because on a lot of countries (like mine), text messages (SMS), are paid or very limited. For example, I only have 2k per month. And remember that some texts, can count as 3 SMSs depending on the number of characters they have.

Since Android is the most used OS here, apps like WhatsApp and Messenger are the default ones. They could/should move Signal/Telegram, but that’s another subject.

SokathHisEyesOpen Jul 26, 2023

That at least explains your situation, it doesn’t explain the people around me in this country. Everyone rushed to download those apps, despite knowing that Facebook analyzes everything.

Hank Jul 25, 2023

If you reduce your consumption corporations can't screw you over that much. Also it's good for the environment.