Modern Consumerism

When you buy new things, do you really own them? Well of course you do! Right? You’ve made an exchange of your money for goods and services. And those goods and services are for you to own and or experience. There shouldn’t be any strings attached when you buy something, but it seems that whenever you buy new things within the past 10 years, things don’t really feel like they’re ‘yours’ anymore.

Take the smart phone. Pre 2015, most if not all smart phones had removable batteries. The back of the phone could easily be peeled off with your fingertip and the battery removed. In fact, I had a friend who owned a Galaxy S3, and he carried around literal spare batteries! Whenever there was no more juice, simply pop it open, throw a new battery in and Bob’s your uncle.

After-market parts were always available as well; camera modules, displays, you name it. All of it seemingly vanished with the introduction of the iPhone 6/Galaxy S6. Now, it was much harder to service anything yourself. Sure, being able to submerse your phone under the water was a seemingly nice feature, but now to get access to the internals, you have to heat up the glue until its able to be separated from the screen. Not only that, if you ever put it back together, it may not be as good as factory if you don’t have the right jigs.

Then comes the 3.5mm headphone jack. It was removed to “make the phone thinner”. As if anyone needed the phone to be any thinner than it already was?! Soon after Apple introduced this change, all phone manufacturers followed suit. The old mantra goes “create the problem, sell the solution”. AirPods came in, which were arguably the most ubiquitous piece of technology in recent times. Just like “magic”, you were able to put in your earbuds and instantly listen to music. Only caveat, they cost 10x the same, wired pair. rTthe batteries are also not replaceable, which adds to the insurmountable amount of e-waste to the landfills. Another consequence of this is the built in planned obsolescence, meaning every 2 years you have to go buy a new pair.

Smartphones scratch the surface of the many changes to modern consumerism that has taken place. Everything must be made quick, fast, and cheap. The only one who loses is the planet, so also all of us. Whatever happened to looking for good quality, long lasting stuff? Fast fashion, planned obsolescence, and the like should be avoided as much as possible.

Edit 2023-07-18:

I suppose this rant about phones was perfect timing. The EU just passed a https://mobilesyrup.com/2023/07/17/handheld-devices-phones-consoles-europe-replaceable-batteries-2027/ requiring all smartphones to be equipped with removeable batteries…

End of edit

Take Back Control

If you’re not a luddite, there are two worlds that exist: the analog world, and the digital world. Only the former if you are one. Next time need to make a decision, ask yourself this: Is this going to make me more independent? If not, how much control am I giving up? And is the benefits of giving up this much control worth it in the long run? You’ll be surprised at how much corporations control your life. This do this in a 2 step process: Take away your analog life, and replace it with the digital. Then, exert control in the digital realm, which is much easier than the former.

An example is the implementation of smart homes. Firstly, these devices are wildly insecure. There have been numerous exploits that have been made to bypass products like cameras, safes, door locks, even cars. The problem is exacerbated when you combine many of these devices together, introducing dozens of modes of failure. Just go to the thermostat and press the button. Just use a key. Just use CCTV. Turn on your lights by getting up off and flipping the switch. “Oh but look I can do [insert gimmick]!!1!1!”. Yeah, it gets old, trust me.

Next, voice assistants. You’re basically WILLFULLY installing a wiretap into your home. Do you think that shit doesn’t listen to you? If you have a Google phone, and have used the “OK Google” prompt, go download your Google data. You’ll find that when you listen to your prompts that were saved, you can HEAR YOURSELF saying “OK Google”. In fact, when you “read” that EULA, you agreed that Google can SAVE the last few seconds, meaning that shit is ALWAYS listening. This is main driving factor as to why I have a custom operating system on my phone with software switches that disable camera, microphone, sensors, and radio at a moment’s notice. There’s no voice assistant even available. Better yet, just get rid of the damn smart phone. Whenever I’m out and I don’t need GPS, I take a Kei flip phone with me with a separate number. Don’t be a drone that looks down at a piece of glass all the time outside. It’s lame.

The Digital Space

I’ve experimented with many different technologies a lot over the years. I’d like to summarize a few that have been the most useful.

Password Managers

When in the digital world, not counting 2FA (which you should always use when you can), there’s only one thing keeping your data away from a bad actor. Your password (Never mind security breaches, that’s just an L). Almost everyone uses some variation of some password they came up with in high school. Add a @, !, 123, and so on. Then when you forgot the exact password, you end up wasting time, potentially even locking yourself out of your account. Enter password managers. They keep all of your passwords in one centralized location, has very high security, and can generate passwords with characters you can’t even type on the keyboard.

DISCLAIMER: Don’t use any password manager that’s “cloud based” or shilled by YouTubers. You’re keeping your passwords in the hands of another company. Use only offline and open-sourced ones. i

The main one that comes to mind is KeePassXC. It’s available for all operating systems, open-sourced, and offline. A common trope you may have now is: What if I forget or lose that password? Is it bad that everything is centralized? My answer to that is: Just don’t forget it. You only have to remember 1. Not 30 with minor variations. There are also options to include a “key-file” which is a long alpha numeric string that serves as a second key to unlock your database. You can also even use a physical hardware key to unlock it. YubiKey is the one to use.

Get Your Own Domain, Email, and Server

Too many people use social media, mainstream emails, and store their files on someone else’s computer. Rid yourself of these problems by getting your own server. You can convert any old computer into one, and with a bit of IT knowledge, you can access all of your files securely across the internet, with as much storage as you want. Getting your own domain name and having your own email is also very professional. You’ve been given a unique name, why not use it on the primary method of online communication? ProtonMail, Mailbox.org are the two that I would recommend. Become an internet landlord, not an internet tenant.

Self-Host as Much as Possible

The key take away from this post goes back to the question that I had phrased earlier. All of these things will increase personal autonomy online, which will decrease the chances of any external product or corporation trying to digitize your life. If you’ve already broken away from the system and created everything yourself, no one can really bother you. Less is more when it comes to technology. Follow the KISS principle: Keep It Simple, Stupid.

-ekd