I'm not sure I think everything is going downhill. More that the type of tech we are developing, extrapolating from our current standpoint points in some scary directions. Eg. Authoritarian control and loss of freedoms.

I was once worried because there is layer between my code and I/O in increasing number of technologies, so others may control what I can do with computer and its communication with the world. Solution is simple. Just stand up and walk away from locked technologies (it is not like real prison or anything like that). Some people try to jailbreak or find holes in sandbox , these are the same people that help to improve jails , sandboxes, locks, etc...

>Solution is simple. Just stand up and walk away from locked technologies

That's not at all a solution to any sort of systemic issue.

I think it is indeed an important part of the "solution".

Whenever people choose/buy a hardware device or the software they use, they collectively shape the landscape of products.

The people who want less locked digital life might choose GNU/Linux as operating system or MNT Reform as hardware device as an example. As social network they might choose Mastodon over twitter/fb/insta.

That's the only possible solution without a centralised entity deciding what you can and cannot use - which leads to even less freedom

> where you overthink things to a point that it becomes the central point of your thought and think that everything is going downhill.

That's just obsession.

There's also Negativity Bias, but that's not a process, just a particular reason for believing one particular thing (as are all biases). That said Negativity Bias, IMHO is built into human cognition. Loss Aversion is one type.