Why I Now Refuse To Work in Big Tech and Will Slow Down Social Media Use Starting 2025
I obviously don't need to recap everything that happened over the past month politically speaking. I don't need to convince anyone reading this that certain kinds of movements that challenged the ideology I grew up with are now fighting back against my more progressive stances on issues like disability, chronic illness, and housing. I understand that what I'm about to say initially will encourage people, who don't read this post, to tell me not to forget to let the door hit me on the way out. There is a lot of context behind my decisions both my wife and I made over the last year, and I'll be approaching everything I do tech and social media related now with the mindset that I still have so much figuring out to do.
First, let me get one thing out of the way before I jump into some history. My family has benefited greatly from the tech industry since I was born in the 80s. My father has taught classes in using the Commodore 64 which landed him a job working in IT for Parks Canada, I have two cousins on my Filipino mom's side who work with troubleshooting computers while another works with NASA tech, and I have two certifications in digital media and Google Certification in Linux via NPower Canada (but because ableist companies only hire certain kinds of autistics, I have a hard time finding a job). I am in no way saying that computers, cellphones, AI, and the internet are tools to be destroyed or that we should cancel our Shaw or Bell subscriptions. We live in a society and in order to survive, and as much as we don't like it, we are stuck with the tools needed to make life bearable as we all have been setup with no other options. Another factoid I must note is that digital technology is like a knife in that we can hurt people with the things we post or we can develop efficient ways to create music with programs like Reaper and FL Studio. Of course, sadly, many companies behind Windows and browsers like Chrome are greedy and corrupt but that's a whole other discussion.
The Internet Itself Was Built by The Far-Right
To explain why I no longer wish to work in tech, I want to share a lie that I used to believe until I returned home to Winnipeg from Vancouver in September after an unsuccessful job hunt and back injury on the West Coast. I used to believe that the overall tech industry was open to progressive ideas, especially the idea that disabled people have a new industry where they could thrive as coders, UX designers, or even simply just content creators for YouTube or Bandcamp that use the platforms folks in the industry created. The belief in that lie was so deep that I almost got a tech support job at Hootsuite in-person. I travelled halfway across the country only to discover how libertarian the city of Vancouver was in response to all the desolation, drug use, homelessness, and poverty in the eastern downtown area (of course I also failed the interview for other health related reasons). How did we get here?
Recently, a university student who studied similar passions of mine in tech and media shared a portion of her PHD on an amazing podcast. This episode outlined the overall history behind the rise of Silicon Valley, thanks to a guy named George Gilder. Mr. Gilder was a very influential individual in Silicon Valley. He was a technical investor and a writer for various tech publications back in the 90s. He also had some very controversial writings indicating that America was starting to decline due to women's liberation and the welfare state.
Even though he eventually changed his tone to a more optimistic outlook centered on the role of the entrepreneur, Gilder was part of an alt-right organisation in Silicon Valley which secretly shaped the development and use of the internet to align with their very sinister ideological goals. To make a long story short, these goals involved using the internet, server farms, and associated applications as weapons against what the organisation perceived as liberal bias in mainstream media and secular bias in education and healthcare. George Gilder and Republican Newt Gingrich believed the internet could bypass these "corrupted" institutions, allowing for alternative sources of information to go viral which will result in a restoration of American Christian morality. They championed deregulation of the internet, arguing that it would allow entrepreneurs, the supposed harbingers of morality, to flourish and shape a more morally sound online world. As a result, this group was able to use the internet to cripple these institutions to the point where the majority of Americans don't trust "the media," they prefer their own expertise over STEM institutions, and to also allow the epic rise of harmful self-help and wellness movements, along with the prosperity gospel; movements that I've been deceived by in the past. There are several podcast episodes and YouTube videos that also indicate that because of how well neo-liberals and populists were able to use media (thanks to Gilder and Gingrich), this indirectly caused a lot of young men to follow the path I took in the past, which resulted in Trump getting his second term.
In case I haven't been clear enough, impact of Gilder's conservative ideas is evident in our internet landscape today. The rise of alternative media ecosystems like Prager University, which seeks to counter what it sees as liberalism in universities and high schools, echoes Gilder's vision of using the internet to challenge established institutions. Moreover, the control of social media in places like Twitter by far-right folks like Musk exemplifies the realisation of their goal of an internet dominated by entrepreneurial figures (a dream I also chased as an app developer in 2016 before giving up a couple of years in).
The focus on algorithms as the primary source of societal problems like polarisation and disinformation overlooks the historical context and the deliberate efforts of groups like Gilder's inner circle to shape the internet as a tool for his group's ideological goals. There was solid success in normalising a deregulated, commercially-driven internet which has led to the acceptance of a digital public sphere dominated by corporate interests over mental well-being, a reality that you as the reader will probably start to question now if you haven't already.
As most people understand, Trump and Elon Musk are buddy buddies as I type this out. I believe the two of them are going to shape tech to do the following:
- continually ensure that fascist, right-leaning, conservative, populist, new age, new-thoughtish conspiritual news and media will continue to flourish and take over news, mainstream media, and social media feeds
- have internet online stores, like Shopify for example, completely obliterate mom and pop shops just trying to make it with little to invest in hosting a website or driving traffic for online orders
- make sure AI will be tweaked toward the biases seen on X/Twiiter without any guard-rails while also eroding trust in educational institutions such as secular universities, and public health institutions like the WHO
- shape tech to ensure that only the "right kind of people" are hired and eventually admitted into their own personal "white Wakanda" in order to ensure that freedom will be for them and no one else
I believe that tech should be democratic and free (as in free communication, collaboration, and sharing of info), not authoritarian. We live in a democracy and that democracy is going to disappear under this orange turd's second presidential term. If I were to work for any tech company outside of a store selling or setting up used cellphones or computers, I'd only be contributing to the the legacy of what George Gilder has done to society. I refuse to be a part of that especially as a software engineer / coder. Yes, I'm that idealistic, which comes with the territory of being autistic.
Social Media Use
Some reading are familiar with weird techy terms like algorithms, doom-scrolling, click bait, downloading and uploading etc, but let me present another idea that was also presented in that podcast episode: reactionary futurism. This is the ideology of using technology to restore a traditional social order, and order I grew up with that always is troublesome for my outlook in life. If you're noticing more memes on Facebook that push for ideas like not giving handouts to "lazy welfare freeloaders," discouragement of paying property taxes, fighting illegal immigration, supporting police, education empowering kids instead of brainwashing them (whatever brainwashing means), only speaking English, memes that say "Do Not Comply," or calls to "wake up," it's becoming more apparent that every single social media platform outside of Mastadon (or currently Blue sky but that won't last long) is embracing very harmful ideas that are far from progressive and supporting of true freedom.
They are doing this because it will get reactions from liberals and leftists. And the more reactions a post gets, the longer it keeps people on the platform. It keeps people debating and insulting each other in comment sections and messenger. It gets people, who support these ideas, sharing posts with friends (who probably won't even see those posts), and it will keep people on the platform long enough to see sponsored ads that not only make Facebook or X or at some point Blue Sky money, but it will also cause people to impulse buy and get ads for more products or services that are relevant to their political views (which will only cause people to dive further into what they believe in).
Long story short, Gilder's vision of the entrepreneur profiting off of social division and online chaos is complete thanks to the execution of ideas behind reactionary futurism. All that's left now is to use the technology behind social media to radicalise weak minds into bringing us back to a world that I hated when I was a kid: a world where the outcast was bullied, where the ruthless win instead of the underdog with heart, and where trad values of church and colonial culture hurt disabled people like me and black folks like my friend Paul D. Maybe the world hasn't changed at all. Maybe progress is just an illusion or even another system of control to give good people hope (more thoughts on that in a future post on my new blog site).
This rise in populism and neo-liberal conspirituality is not only a thing on Facebook, but it's become rampant in wellness coffee enema type accounts on Instagram, really bad man-o-sphere Andrew Tate-ish videos trending on YouTube, and let's not even get into X / Twitter. Everyone has been running off to Blue Sky because of what's been happening to every internet forum we can name off the dome, but even in the clouds along with traditional Mastadon servers, alt-right influencers and scammers are causing a butt-load of trouble.
In general, the public square, both online and offline, is being dramatically transformed by bad internet algorithms. We can't even see what our friends and family are doing on these platforms anymore. We barely see what local organisations are posting on our feeds. And worst of all ,we're seeing trending posts with bot likes and comments that are no longer relevant to us (and if they are, they most-likely skew right).
At this point, on top of all the insulting trolling content I've been seeing, I've had to come to terms with the fact that I may be addicted to social media in itself because I have a hard time connecting with others since leaving the church in 2022. I plan to connect with close friends and family more with Discord, email, text, and phone while trying to use Facebook much much less to post and comment.
A Note About Journalism
Lastly, because of tech and social media, journalism is having trouble connecting with people who distrust media more and more (yes, this is a thing among progressives , not just conservatives I'm trying my best to care for at a distance). It's good to have a healthy dose of scepticism as there's a ton of fake news propagandists claiming they're doing journalistic work. We still have to deal with click-bait, attention grabbing, thirst-trappy story-telling content fronting as journalism (and it's awful when people get their news from Facebook reels because Canadians can't post news articles). Tech that was weaponized by people like Gilder and his goons is responsible for many people, including some immediate family members, believing the craziest stories online today including the idea we never actually reached the moon. There are influencers with tons of followers who have never taken a media course like I have or even understand what the heck reporting entails (but hey, they say their journalists so...cool, right?).
There is a lot of important work happening in media right now, even in independent journalism. For those who are reading, concerned about "the fake news media," I get it, you dislike journalism and have extremely unhealthy scepticism. But just wait until we come to a place where there's no journalism left to hold people in power to account. I say this because Trump is suing all the media outlets he doesn't like for billions (and I get it. I've had a few stories written about me online and in the Winnipeg Free Press that I wish I could at least put pressure on them to remove what they wrote). The point is that while I agree with some conservatives that mainstream media does terrible reporting (and tech is part of the problem), if we aren't careful as a society when it comes to how we consume and even put out news as people who can post anything we want, we'll be stuck with government controlled state media (where only what the government says is news can be shared with the public, not news outlets or independent vetted journalists (and thanks to Canadaland and Unrigged, we're not there yet)).
Think about it: a world without professional credible journalism or fact-checking results in a world where the stories that should have been told EARLIER are discovered AFTER the villains win and the victims are either dead or left in a place where they cannot go back to living the rest of their lives without struggle. Is that a world you want to live in? I think we can all agree that the answer is no.
New Digital Habits
Because of this realisation that tech may be more harmful than good, I'm still going to use it (because we are all stuck with it like I said before), but I plan to use it with caution and vigilance. Here's what I'll be doing:
- As I said before, I'll no longer be looking for a job in tech unless it's direct customer service based or if it involves setting up local internet for a business.
- I'll be using Arch Linux with a really hard firewall and VPN (although I'm already on Mint without Windows so that's a start).
- I'll also be investing more time into a part of the web called The Fediverse when it comes to social media and blogging (digital footprint is mostly gone and will be using a custom Mast server rather than Mastodon.social)
- Even though I've outlined my Facebook use, I'll be completely cleaning up my Instagram accounts and removing as many Meta posts as I possibly can while putting more privacy on my account. I'll disable all Meta apps on my phone and only use Facebook for checking into music groups from time to time using a desktop.
- There will be fewer and fewer status updates and the memes are going to stop by 2025.
- My primary modes of contacting will be through text, email, and Discord. Eventually, I'll be dropping Discord as well.
- I'll be moving from G-mail to Protonmail, and possibly putting a custom bloatware-less privacy focused OS on my phone (hopefully Freedom Mobile will let me do this, if not, VPNs are my only hope).
- My purchases on Amazon will be minimal to eventually none while I'll mostly be purchasing with a none-FANG email address.
- Since my wife is planning to find work outside Manitoba after she finishes schooling between 2028 and 2030, I'll be completely resetting my digital life once we move.
As I said before, technology isn't a bad thing. It can be used for many good things like internet browsers presenting knowledge on Wikipedia and each article's credible stated sources. It helps creatives with open-source free programs, especially for artists, with word processors that help writers tell stories, audio recorders like Audacity for sharing podcasts, and image editors like GIMP and Photoshop for sharing and preserving visual memories. And even certain companies I don't like give value. Microsoft, even with its bloatware, AI, and push to ensure almost all computers has its software, has given amazing systems like Windows XP and Windows 7.
But there are still a few things we must understand about computers and the internet (especially on our smartphones). Like I said, technology, including the internet, is not inherently neutral or naturally inclined towards progressive values. In some way, it will always keep our world economically screwed and divided. The internet, as it exists today, is the outcome of specific political and ideological battles that have shaped its structure, governance, and dominant uses. The most powerful, rich, and influential folks in California have constructed a deregulated, market-driven internet that would undermine what they perceived as liberal bias in traditional media and institutions. Their vision, in many ways, prevailed, resulting in the hyper-commercialised internet that is dominated by powerful tech companies prioritising profit over people.
Simply tweaking algorithms or making some technical adjustments or adding new segments of code will never solve the deeper ideological and structural issues embedded in the world wide web's self-evolving blueprint. Simply relying on technological fixes to solve problems like polarisation and disinformation takes the light away from the historical context and the intentional efforts of reactionary forces who twisted the internet to serve their agendas.
I've also looked into Al Gore's "information superhighway" vision. It's an interesting example of an alternative path not taken when it comes to another vision of how we can all be connected online. Gore's approach envisioned a more significant role for government investment in internet infrastructure and the creation of spaces for non-commercial, public-interest content. And while open-source software originally had evil intentions as well, it has been well used as one of the alternative paths that helps progressives see that the current internet structure is not inevitable and that different models are possible (at least in my personal experience (feel free to let me know if I'm wrong)).
I believe many people see that we need to move beyond simply adapting to the current internet landscape and we should figure out alternatives outside of fleeing to Blue Sky (and we should also connect more in person and do none-screen things).I discovered in my dabbling with the fediverse an opportunity to use small "federated" parts of the internet for greater user control which may potentially diminish the power of large elite tech companies. The fediverse can help create non-hierarchical, community-driven spaces that some early internet proponents with good intentions envisioned.
We need to encourage the creation of platforms owned and governed by the communities they serve, prioritising ethical design, data privacy, and community well-being over profit maximisation. I also think that some will want public institutions, like libraries, to put more emphasis on fostering digital literacy, providing access to credible information, and facilitating civic engagement in the digital age (although I think in my opinion, we're too far gone for that and that there should be a new system that can be used with all the information in-tact (sounds anarchist, but hey, I did say at one point, tear it all down))
No one should underestimate the power of the historical awareness I outlined in the beginning of this post. By understanding the history of how reactionary forces shaped the internet, it can help people who want a better internet and online public square to critically assess the limitations of the current internet. Progressive parties can move beyond assumptions that technology is neutral and recognise how existing structures may hinder their efforts to achieve progressive goals. Understanding how the internet was twisted can help progressive parties craft strategies that account for the internet's inherent biases and power dynamics. It can also help them push for a digital future that prioritises social justice, equity, and democratic values, and eventually a world where everyone doesn't just survive, but thrives.
A good number of people, who are aware of this and want to change the world for the better, agree that using tech to help people as it is right now is only backfiring on them. Some of them may need to do some soul searching before attempting to bring about change without being held back by internet trolls who would dox them or police and authorities using online information to create unlawful arrests and police brutality. I want to help these people with my knowledge of Linux, VPNs, internet security, and firewalls use tech safely to bring relief, safety, and security to minorities who need it the most.
It's time for me to use the internet less, to connect more with the real world, and to figure out what kind of life I can live with the freedom I have to control machines rather than letting machines control parts of who I am.