It is true that
- Tech giants have monopolized our attention and manipulated our behaviour
- Our data is commodotized and packaged to serve ads
- On the free internet, we are the product, not the customers
On learning this to be true, how do we respond?
One choice is to play the victim card, and blame the companies that did this.
We can call them names, shout from rooftops and demand that they be broken up.
We could brand the technology as ‘addictive’, regulate their use and let
ourselves off the hook.
The other choice is to take control. We can recognize the values that are
important in our lives and align our use of digital device with those values.
We could turn off notifications, tone down beeps, install ad-blockers, get rid
of newsfeeds and keep devices outsides our bedrooms. We can have the
technology serve us rather than the other way around.
Your choice depends upon your answer to the following question – who is in
control of your life?
Observations 