2022-11-12

Re: An Exercise In Frustration

tags: life

Saayaa writes about the loneliness of the tech savvy:

> In my circle of friends and family, I stand alone when it comes to using or even trying alternatives to proprietary silos and privacy-oriented apps and services.

gemini://gem.saayaa.space/gemlog/2022-11-11-exercise-in-frustration.gmi

local copy

Well, you are not alone. I am an outlaw myself. Email is regarded unusable by my family circle. This leads to me being pretty much ignorant about what they (maybe two dozen or so people) are up to. I don't know, how the youngsters are doing (some education for their professional future?), or the little ones, or my brother and sister. All of them have bought into the Apple world, anything else does not exist.

I have consciously decided to ignore their ignorance about this part of the technological world. They are not interested. They lack the categories that describe network technology. They are doing different things in their life, and they don't want to waste any time while I desperately try to explain a danger, they cannot see, let alone understand. For them Whatsapp is the same as a car or a bicycle --- a means to get something of immediate value done (exchanging some information pretty much now).

I could in principle abandon my family. Because /they don't get it/. For a difficult definition of /it/, that is. Or I can accept the fact that my family decided otherwise, but still is my family. It is ok to be ignorant about some things, I am, too. I guess there are limits to this, like with everything. And I have to accept the consequences of my decision to not have a smart phone, whatsapp, facebook, instagram and what not. I'm glad, that my wife doesn't either. On top I have no use for signal, telegram, fediverse/mastodon etc. This gemini capsule is pretty much the only online place, where I write.

I have toyed with the idea to establish a family hub --- like a nextcloud instance, but hosted at home. But I have given up on this, because they are not interested. So be it.

So, if anyone cares for one line of unsolicited advice: do not waste your energy on things you cannot change. Teach the interested ones instead.

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