I know, the post tile is rather bait like, however I wanted to stir discussion amongst you.
As you know I’m a mod of the Linux for Leftists community so it might be quite counter-intuitive that someone knowledgeable on computers and Linux would have an anti-technological position. The thing is, I do not have such a position, that would be anti-Marxist and most importantly: idiotic.
The problems I have with technology stem from capitalism, however that doesn’t change the fact I enjoy using more “outdated” technological solutions to my problems in life and “kkkrapital$m sukkks” is not the discussion I’d like to foster today. I believe as individuals and society we are over reliant on unnecessarily advanced technology and should seek alternatives to distance ourselves from this.
Let me ask you: “How reliant in your day to day life are you on your smartphone?”
The question is more in the likes of, how many of your previous devices or items have been replaced by it? For example a watch, a timer, an alarm, a calculator, a payment method, a music player, a news reader, a video device and more.
It’s an everything machine, and when it fails you that’s when you essentially lose access to everything. Even if I buy a ticket online, you bet I’m printing it out just for that added feeling of security. I’ve always been the type of person that likes my devices to be very redundant, so that when one fails me I can either easily replace or repair it. I also like for my devices to be reliant and durable as well as well made for the purpose they are meant to serve.
I have what I would like to call a functionally minimalist mindset. That’s why I have problems with computers and smartphones as they are not only everything machines for most, they are slowly getting worse for the mainstream and a revolution isn’t coming soon.
So what do I do? Lifestylism lmao
Something that helps me not only enforce a reliability in my life, but also ground it in the real world as with every future year we are more and more pushed into the digital. Unfortunately capitalism has made the digital not a liberating power, but a force of alienation and control. Thus I try to distance myself very much from social media, and I’ve been doing it quite well. Since 2013 or 2014 as quite a young idiot I made a smart decision. “Social media sucks”, and I’ve never managed to get into Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and the like.
Only recently have I’ve gotten into any kind of social media, like Reddit or now Lemmygrad. But that is because of you my lovely comrades. You made the places worth registering to. Thank you.
But returning, I also have a certain love for the material. Something I can touch, inspect, smell and admire for it’s craftsmanship. I own several purely mechanical machines that have been well replaced by the digital. I also have old digital machines that are also what I like to call fictionally minimalist. Like a Casio F-91W watch or a TI-82 graphic calculator. (Solid things, they don’t make now 'em like they used to.) An addiator, a mechanical wind-up watch (I still prefer my Casio F-91W) and get this. Six typewriters. I have somewhat of addiction to them.
I have to say, all of these have made my life not just more cluttered. But more “real”. I can’t describe it, but interacting with them feels more authentic than interacting with a smartphone or even a laptop. There is just something about them that allows me not just distraction free work, but a focused mindset on task I’ve set in front of me. They make my life weirdly enough, easier.
I’ve found myself gravitating more and more to these low tech solutions, not just because of interest of curiosity. But real genuine desire to actually use them on a day to day basis.
Do you find yourself having similar experiences when it comes to technology? That it has been more of a hindrance than a help to whatever you are trying to do?
(Excuse me if the post lacks structure or sense. I’ve yet to get good at proper writing, and not just streams of thoughts.)
EDIT: It seems this post garnered a few downvotes. Please, leave a comment! Let the struggle session begin!
Same, I use an iPod for music, I try to pay with cash when possible and my main laptop is 15 years old. It’s idiotic that they want to move already existing offline things into cloud based subscription based ones, and how they slow down and stop updates for capable devices, and how they intentionally make things extremely hard to repair.
On the smart phone, it is an incredible tool humans have dreamed of for years (The collective information of humanity and the ability to communicate with people 1000s of kilometers away all in your pocket), yet the capitalists managed to make it as addictive as possible, to the point people would do horribly stupid things to please its algorithm and spend 7+ hours a day on it mindlessly scrolling without purpose.
Maybe it’s a power humans weren’t meant to have or its a ploy by the capitalists to distract and deceive the working class, but I digress.
Tragic, when you put it like that. There potential for smartphones isn’t close to being reached and it’s got very little to do with how much more advanced the tech gets. I’ve been asking around if people have old laptops, etc. I’m thinking of purpose building something that’s as repairable as possible but it would be nice to try to get more life out of something that exists. What lightweight distros have you tried?
It’s funny, since I’m involved with legacy jailbreaking, and I really feel like planned obsolescence is the only thing stopping most people from using 10-year-old devices for everything they use them for now.
When I tried both KDE Neon and MX-Linux on my Dell E6400, I found that MX performed better, but KDE Neon wasn’t much behind on that regard. I ultimately decided on KDE Neon because I like vanilla KDE more than MX’s XFCE config.