05/21/2026
This isn't a facet of age as much as recognizing how valuable time is: I've come to dislike technology. I know, I'm typing this on a computer, but I can't write you all a letter. The experience of using tech is curated by people who need to profit from it, so your needs inherently become secondary. When you break away from tech as much as you can, you are able to curate your needs better. When I read a book, I don't have to sit through ads that become increasingly harder to skip. When I share art in person, in a gallery, I don't worry about whether an algorithm is steering people away from it. And I think the businesses recognize this and strive to make us more dependent on tech. We used to be just fine without smart phones and now most of us can't live without one. New generations are being dumbed down by AI causing them to become ever more dependent on tech. Attention spans shrink. Critical thinking shrinks. When they curate what we see, they can control our opinions. Want us to believe that something false is true? Only put things that reinforce that belief into our feeds. Want to make us pay monthly fees for content? Trick us into believing it's easier and then raise prices. I'm not saying we shouldn't use these things. Just that, if we want happiness, we need to use these things in a way that actually serves us and we can't depend on them. Conservatives talk about how socialism is bad because when the government controls everything we are victims to their will. But the irony of that thought process is that private businesses are seeking to control our lives and make us victims to their will. It's maddening to watch. Even more maddening to live in it. Everyone, take care of yourselves, and don't let yourself become beholden to the will of others
