Comment by mmooss
1 month ago
First, it's not a binary choice. It depends on the circumstance.
Also, people are influenced by what other people say, especially people in tech. You can see people on HN saying how hopeless it all is. People on HN and your social circle are listening to what you say.
No they're not. You preaching against tech just comes across as wack job crazy to those that don't care or already disagree. Maybe they aren't as far as thinking you're a wacko, but they've definitely grown tired and calloused from the non-stop and probably at least ignore it. Evidence by all the people continuing to use social media.
Convenience wins out for the vast majority of people. People just want to be left alone and have nice things. As long as it is just advertisers knowing everything, the masses just won't care. Even if the state starts to take action, as long as it doesn't happen to them, they won't care either.
History shows clearly that people can be very motivated by political and social issues; they will die for them. Right now, for example, people on the right are very motivated and active, often to their own detriment in terms of wealth, health, politically and socially.
For some reason, when it comes to other causes, people repeat the obviously false (and hypocritical) right-wing talking point that it's all useless and hopeless.
(Throwing around words like 'wack' and 'preaching' isn't evidence or a stronger argument.)
>(Throwing around words like 'wack' and 'preaching' isn't evidence or a stronger argument.)
These are not my words, but words I've been called when droning on and on about the evils of social media and ad tech. <shrug>