I predict a massive tech backlash. I don’t know a single person who isn’t utterly disgusted with the tech titans right now. How much money they’ve made. How little they’ve given back. How they carry themselves like they’re above everybody else. How they seem to control everything, thanks to the Supreme Court giving Super PACs the ability to impact our elections. How they’ve captured every scrap of our data, lied to us about what they’re actually watching and collecting, and never really answered for any of it. People are pissed.
Take Instagram. It’s a genuinely useful app — for sharing family photos, design ideas, building an audience for your business, recipes, DIY projects, podcasts, interesting videos, or whatever you want to pass along. But look at what it’s actually done to us. It’s built a culture that, at its core, is vapid. Take the photo, post the photo, become an “influencer.”
We rented out a boat for an afternoon with a crew so we could enjoy the experience. It didn’t take long for any of us to realize that the journey is set up around “Instagrammable” moments. We bought cheese and wine for the outing, and the next thing I know, one of the crew has taken all the goodies and built a cheeseboard that looks good in photos. Did I ask for you to cube my cheese? The crew member obviously wanted us to acknowledge it and hashtag them. Is this what people only want to do? She basically said, “Look at this beautiful cheeseboard I made for you; it is my favorite thing to do.” Really?
We were lucky to see a group of dolphins leaping out of the water. The crew’s reaction was to circle in any direction so we could photograph the dolphins; literally, he said, “Take photos!” What happened to just being in the moment? What happened to actually enjoying the day instead of documenting it for an audience? And what happens to all these influencers in ten, twenty, or thirty years? This isn’t a real way to build a life or an income unless, of course, you are on OnlyFans.
It’s a strange, revealing window into where people’s heads are right now, and it’s not flattering. I’m hoping more people start choosing platforms like DuckDuckGo, so we can start pulling back from the tech titans show. I am definitely making conscious decisions about which platforms I use. Does anyone really need another app?
I think we’re standing at the edge of major change. Retail, technology, transportation, banking — nothing is going to come out of this “gilded era” unscathed. This has been building since the Reagan years, with those who want to pull us backward toward something that no longer exists, paired with the current holders of power. You cannot go backward. And when that collides with where we actually are, something breaks. I’m predicting massive shifts ahead. It will hit the stock market. It has already hit the cost of goods. It will touch nearly everything we’ve built our daily lives around. I can take decades to build something, and it can all change in a second.
We are ripe for change, and honestly, it’s about time.
