Re:My experiment in phonelessness was a failure. It also cha...
by weinzierl on Thursday February 08, 2024 @09:46AM
(#39302500)
I have a similar experience. I lived almost three years without Google and Amazon[1] before a global pandemic changed my life in a way that did not make this sustainable anymore.
Admittedly I considered ending the experiment even before the pandemic hit and it is very likely I would have done so. Also I deliberately did not pick up the abstinence again.
Despite all that, I would never call that phase a failure. It gave me a lot of confidence that life without these services is well possible and that it was not much of a sacrifice for myself. What it thought me, however, is that it very well was a nuisance for others sometimes[2]. And that is the reason I ultimately decided not to continue, but I believe I use the services of both companies much more deliberately than before.
[1] Why these two of all things? In 2015 or 2016 I sat down and classified all the services I was using by how much valuable data they collected about me and how much value they provided in return. These were the two services that lost. It might seem strange at first but the data Amazon has about me is a ton more valuable than the data Facebook has. I decide what I put on my profile there, which friends I add and if I want to use messenger. I feel I do not have that choice with Amazon - I order what I need, but that still paints a pretty accurate picture of me. I'm not sure if my analysis today would come to the same conclusion, but that was my thinking back then.
[2] This is even more true for WhatsApp, but there I'm still steady.
Admittedly I considered ending the experiment even before the pandemic hit and it is very likely I would have done so. Also I deliberately did not pick up the abstinence again.
Despite all that, I would never call that phase a failure. It gave me a lot of confidence that life without these services is well possible and that it was not much of a sacrifice for myself. What it thought me, however, is that it very well was a nuisance for others sometimes[2]. And that is the reason I ultimately decided not to continue, but I believe I use the services of both companies much more deliberately than before.
[1] Why these two of all things? In 2015 or 2016 I sat down and classified all the services I was using by how much valuable data they collected about me and how much value they provided in return. These were the two services that lost. It might seem strange at first but the data Amazon has about me is a ton more valuable than the data Facebook has. I decide what I put on my profile there, which friends I add and if I want to use messenger. I feel I do not have that choice with Amazon - I order what I need, but that still paints a pretty accurate picture of me. I'm not sure if my analysis today would come to the same conclusion, but that was my thinking back then.
[2] This is even more true for WhatsApp, but there I'm still steady.