Scepticism of the Tech Industry

I really feel this one by Cory about the tech industry deserving our scepticism.

Honestly, I can’t think of a single way that social media sites have enriched my life. There are, however, many ways they’ve negatively impacted all of us and society as a whole; data breaches leaking personal data, subversion of truth, deceptive design patterns encouraging addictive behaviour, enabling and promoting hate speech for profit, manipulation (propaganda) on a mass scale funded by advertising, polarising, radicalising, peddling conspiracy theories for engagement, all while using a shockingly high (and ever increasing) use of natural resources to make investors and shareholders happy. Need I go on?

I work tech adjacent, in that I create software for businesses, but I don’t work for a “tech” business. I understand how this stuff works, which is why I opt out of everything (I shouldn’t have to!) I can these days, even though I don’t trust that I still won’t be targeted by big tech for profit, and I give as little information as possible when I have to at all. Long gone are the days when I’d sign up for most new services promising to make my work or life easier, offering success on a stick. I’ve been burned too many times and I have no trust left for big tech.

They take too many liberties. The industry is imbalanced and unsustainable. Surely there’s a better way.

I still believe that the web can be, and is an incredibly powerful force for good. It just needs those of us that make it to make good choices.