diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'content/posts/2021-07-30-from-internet-consumer-to-full-hominum-again.md')
| -rw-r--r-- | content/posts/2021-07-30-from-internet-consumer-to-full-hominum-again.md | 103 |
1 files changed, 0 insertions, 103 deletions
diff --git a/content/posts/2021-07-30-from-internet-consumer-to-full-hominum-again.md b/content/posts/2021-07-30-from-internet-consumer-to-full-hominum-again.md deleted file mode 100644 index 100645b..0000000 --- a/content/posts/2021-07-30-from-internet-consumer-to-full-hominum-again.md +++ /dev/null | |||
| @@ -1,103 +0,0 @@ | |||
| 1 | --- | ||
| 2 | title: My journey from being an internet über consumer to being a full hominum again | ||
| 3 | url: from-internet-consumer-to-full-hominum-again.html | ||
| 4 | date: 2021-07-30T12:00:00+02:00 | ||
| 5 | type: post | ||
| 6 | draft: false | ||
| 7 | --- | ||
| 8 | |||
| 9 | It's been almost a year since I started purging all my online accounts and | ||
| 10 | going down this rabbit hole of being almost independent of the current internet | ||
| 11 | machine. Even though I initially thought that I will have problems adapting, | ||
| 12 | I was pleasantly surprised that the transition went so smoothly. Even better, | ||
| 13 | it brought many benefits to my life. Such as increased focus, less stress | ||
| 14 | about trivial things, etc. | ||
| 15 | |||
| 16 | It all started with me doing small changes like unsubscribing from emails that I | ||
| 17 | have either subscribed to by accepting terms and conditions. Or even some more | ||
| 18 | malicious emails that I was getting because I was on a shared mailing list. And | ||
| 19 | the later ones I hate the most of all. How the hell do they keep sharing my | ||
| 20 | email and sending me unsolicited emails and get away with it? I have a suspicion | ||
| 21 | that these marketing people share an Excel file between them and keep | ||
| 22 | resubscribing me when they import lists into Mailchimp or similar software. | ||
| 23 | |||
| 24 | It's fascinating to see how much crap you get subscribed to when you are not | ||
| 25 | paying attention. It got so bad that my primary Gmail address is a full of junk | ||
| 26 | and need constant monitoring and cleaning up. And because I want to have Inbox | ||
| 27 | Zero, this presents an additional problem for me. | ||
| 28 | |||
| 29 | The stress that email presented for me didn't occur to me for a long time. I was | ||
| 30 | noticing that I was unable to go through one single hour without hysterically | ||
| 31 | refreshing email. And if somebody wrote me something, I needed to see it right | ||
| 32 | then, even though I didn't immediately reply to it. I can only describe this | ||
| 33 | with FOMO (fear of missing out). I have no other explanation than that. It was | ||
| 34 | crippling, and I was constantly context switching, which I will address further | ||
| 35 | down this post in more details. | ||
| 36 | |||
| 37 | This was one of the reasons why I spawned up my personal email server, and I am | ||
| 38 | using it now as my primary and person email. I still have Gmail as my “junk” | ||
| 39 | email that I use for throw away stuff. I log in to Gmail once a week and check | ||
| 40 | if there are any important emails that I got, but apart from that, it's sitting | ||
| 41 | dormant and collecting dust. | ||
| 42 | |||
| 43 | The more I was watching the world loose it's self with allowing anti freedom | ||
| 44 | things to happen to it, the more I started to realize that something has to | ||
| 45 | change. I don't have the power to change the world. And I also don't have a | ||
| 46 | grandiose opinion of myself to even think to try it. But what I can do is to not | ||
| 47 | subscribe to this consumer way of thinking. I will not be complicit in this. My | ||
| 48 | moral and ethical stances won't allow it. So, this brings us to the second part | ||
| 49 | of my journey. | ||
| 50 | |||
| 51 | I was using all these 3rd party services because I was either lazy or OK with | ||
| 52 | the drawbacks of them. I watched these services and companies became more and | ||
| 53 | privacy policies and everybody is OK with accepting them, and they pray on that | ||
| 54 | more evil. It is evil if you sell your user's data in this manner. Nobody reads | ||
| 55 | flaw in human nature. I really hate the hypocrisy they manage to muster. These | ||
| 56 | companies prey on our laziness, and we are at fault here. Nobody else. And I | ||
| 57 | truly understand the reasons why we rather accept and move on, and not object | ||
| 58 | and have our lives a little more difficult. They have perfected this through | ||
| 59 | years of small changes that make us a little more dependent on them. You could | ||
| 60 | not convince a person to give away all his rights and data in one day. This was | ||
| 61 | gradual and slow. And it caught us all in surprise. When I really stopped and | ||
| 62 | thought about it, I felt repulsed. By really stopping and thinking about it, I | ||
| 63 | really mean stopping and thinking about it. Thoroughly and in depth. | ||
| 64 | |||
| 65 | Each step I took depleted my character a bit more. Like I was trading myself bit | ||
| 66 | by bit without understanding what it all meant. What it meant to be a full | ||
| 67 | person, not divided by all this bought attention they want from me. They don't | ||
| 68 | just get your data, but they also take your attention away from you. They | ||
| 69 | scatter your and go with the divide and conquer tactic from there. And a person | ||
| 70 | divided is a person not fully there. Not at the moment. Not alive fully. | ||
| 71 | |||
| 72 | I was unable to form long thoughts. Well, I thought I was. But now that I see | ||
| 73 | what being a full person is again, I can see that I was not at my 100% back | ||
| 74 | then. | ||
| 75 | |||
| 76 | A revolt was inevitable. There was no other way of continuing my story without | ||
| 77 | it. Without taking back my attention, my thoughts, my time, and my privacy, | ||
| 78 | regardless of how too late it maybe is. | ||
| 79 | |||
| 80 | This has nothing to do with conspiracy theories. Even less with changing the | ||
| 81 | world. All I wanted was to get my life back in order and not waste the energy | ||
| 82 | that could be spent in other, better places. | ||
| 83 | |||
| 84 | I started reading more. I can focus now fully on things I work on. Furthermore, | ||
| 85 | I have the mental acuity that I never had before. My mind feels sharp. I don't | ||
| 86 | get angry so much. I can cherish the finer things in life now without the need | ||
| 87 | to interpret them intellectually. Not only that, but I have a feeling of | ||
| 88 | belonging again. Sense of purpose has returned with a vengeance. And I can now | ||
| 89 | help people without depleting myself. | ||
| 90 | |||
| 91 | The last step so far was to finish closing all the remaining online accounts | ||
| 92 | that I still had. And when I was thinking what value they bring me, I wasn't | ||
| 93 | surprised that the answer was none. I wasn't logging in them and using them. I | ||
| 94 | stopped being afraid of FOMO. If somebody wants to get in contact me, they will | ||
| 95 | find a way. I am one search away. | ||
| 96 | |||
| 97 | We are not beholden to anybody. Our lives are our own. So dare yourself to | ||
| 98 | delete Facebook, LinkedIn. To unsubscribe. Dare yourself to take your time and | ||
| 99 | attention back. Use that time and energy to go for a walk without thinking about | ||
| 100 | work. Read a book instead of reading comment on social media that you will | ||
| 101 | forget in an hour. Enrich your life instead of wasting it. It only requires a | ||
| 102 | small step. And you will feel the benefits immediately. Lose the weight of the | ||
| 103 | world that is crushing you without your consent. | ||