I love technology, but I’m sad to see what it has lead to. What used to be something fun and enjoyable to engage in, now presents itself as an intrusion and attack upon personal privacy and security.

These days, I’m more focused on protecting my privacy/security.

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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: June 4th, 2023

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  • (TDLR: Technology (in its infancy) was something new, exciting, fun and enjoyable. Today, it is manifested more as an overlord whose primary capacity is to spy, intrude and take your personal information in order that they might gain from it.)

    I grew up in a world before all of the modern day technology took over. They were good times, but when technology did eventually begin to develop, it effects were initially benign. It was initially adopted by those who were considered ‘geeks’ and people who were willing to spend money on it (even IBM clones such as the Tandy 1000 were going for $1,000 back in the day).

    I remember when pagers were coming on the scene and allowed people to reach out to each other if they weren’t at home or at work (which were the only places they had access to a reachable phone number). It gave greater freedom for those who were in positions where they were on call 24x7 - it allowed them to go places and still be reachable instead of being stuck at home and waiting for a phone call that might never come.

    Of course, things grew from there which provided many other benefits including access to a huge repository of information. Nowadays, that access to information has become a means of harvesting information from the very individual seeking to obtain it. The innocence of what was once revolutionary has been been upended by and ideology that has figured out and embraced how to consume its own consumers.

    I spend more time today figuring out how to keep my data and personal information private and secure. Using Linux on my computer, running GrapheneOS on my phone as well as other considerations all in an attempt to keep at bay invasive companies and their ever evolving techniques in order to pry and spy upon me. It’s a shame that what was once fun and exciting is now something to be feared.




  • Used book stores are great, and I’ve used Thrift Books online many a times. The problem is that I have a lot of physical books and the wife wants me to scale down. As a result, I had to switch to a Kindle so that I can have more books without cluttering up our space more.

    With Thrift Books, I’ve found their ‘book condition’ references to be much better than what you’d expect. For instance, I’ve received books that were labeled as “good” and found them to be in much better condition.

    YMMV, but I’ve found them to be a good option.

    Conversely, since I’ve had my Kindle, I’ve found a lot of free books through Gutenberg.org.

    Nowadays, I have to stay away from physical bookstores or else I’ll pick up something and my wife will not be happy.












  • You’re right, but I was speaking from the standpoint of someone who needs to be connected to Discord (although I admit that I probably didn’t make that point obvious). In those cases, a client such as Webcord, can block things such as telemetry, fingerprinting and third party website access which help lessen the information Discord can actually collect on you. Granted, it’s not ideal, but it is a better option for those who just can’t live without Discord in their lives.





  • I wish I had known about Lemmy and Beehaw prior to the Reddit debacle as I would have moved here sooner. It was only because of the Reddit API scandal that I found out about this community.

    I always disliked the toxicity on Reddit. I only found a few subs where I had similar interests and people were decent and respectful, but what a journey that was! I’ve always valued content over quantity.

    I think (sincerely hope) that many of those who move here are like minded individuals who value not only their own opinions but those of others as well.

    Most of the Reddit mob will stay on Reddit because they like it there. Those of us who are fed up with it have moved on.