Free to be you and me (and tech-free?)
Gen X and Boomers may be the last of the analog-first generations and, gulp, humanity's only hope
Image: Cobain
5 minute read
Generation X (1965-1980) and Boomers (1946-1964) are possibly the last ‘free’ generations - to have come of age in a world that was on balance more analog than digital. Having experienced life sans always-on internet, these generations can make informed decisions about how much they want to be led by the drumbeat of an increasingly overreaching global tech regime. That doesn’t mean we’ll use our freedom of thought. It just means we can.
Of course there will always be unique cases in each generation, even Gen Zs (1997-2012) for example. There will be those who, maybe have retro tastes or some sense of misplaced nostalgia for an era they never experienced - and choose to adopt some quaint analog behaviors (long live the eccentrics, I say!). But, by and large, from Millennials (1981-1996) on, the picture is bleak because well, social conditioning and all that.
Image: Hendrix
I recently got a text message from my service provider, on my flip phone (which I use for screen-free Sundays), warning me to upgrade to a 4G device as they will be de-activating 3G. At the moment 2G is still available but the day is soon coming when that too will no longer be an option (with the exception of a backup emergency network - rather than consumer subscription plans).
I just wonder when we lost the right to NOT be barraged by tech - morning, noon and night? Surely some of the Silent Generation (1928-1945) are scratching their heads at being forced onto phone apps to do their banking and pay their bills (many will have their adult children managing their finances, but being dependent on someone to do your banking, if you’re still cognitively capable, can’t feel great). This is an extension of the planned obsolescence model made famous by Apple (which oddly enough is still one of the more privacy-friendly options amongst the snooping tech titans).
Basically these companies have decided that we’re going to jam mucho tech in our lives and they have a specific prescription for how we’re going to do things, going forward (they own ‘the future’ of course). And that’s that. Whether we like it or not. Never mind the fact that social media is toxic - particularly to young women (e.g. Instagram envy). Or that in China there are camps to help disturbed teens detox from digital gaming addictions. Ok, so there are analog addictions too…
Image: Trainspotting
I guess the digital powers that be believe it’s ‘game over’ for us if we give up the binary code sauce. We’ll more or less become the new bushmen of the Kalahari - disconnected from the digital goodies promised by a modern hyperscaler-guided life. Never mind the fact that such bushmen may have reached higher levels of consciousness and connectedness with spirit, or live in stronger, more caring communities that have holistic systems to support their elderly and other vulnerable citizens. They’re running around with nothing more than a loin cloth between their dongs and you and living far from any cell phone towers so they must savages (sayeth the tech elists - or something to this effect).
Ok so tribes in remote villages are an extreme example. What about oddballs (like me, admittedly) who for the mostpart won’t play ball. Personally, I’ve only known two of my ‘tribespeople’ in my life, both in the older cohort: Boomers. One, a wandering musician, named Dennis had an email account that he occasionally checked from a computer at the local library. He was economically challenged but wasn’t too bothered about being offline (contrary to the World Economic Forum digitally disenfranchised narrative). However I haven’t been in touch with him and suspect he may have been forced to change his ways, but who knows? The other, Ed a photographer told me years back, “I don’t have an email account” But more recently I did some cyber sleuthing and saw that he’d gone over to the dark side (if you could call it that - certainly there are worse things than email - GenAI, I’m looking at you!)
However, I will say that the sight of smartphone zombies mesmerized by their screens as they stumble around like drunken bar patrons, sometimes in harm’s way of cars, is disconcerting. My sci-fi attuned brain fast forwards to a future when humans (d)evolve to having giant eyes (with myopic vision) whose weakened muscles can barely prompt a look up, long skinny fingers perfect for texting, big heads that lurch forward, and scrawny bodies from lack of use. Yikes, I just described the stereotypical ‘grey alien.’ Food for thought…
Anyway, it’s very tough to fight City Hall. But not impossible. I still have a land line and no one’s taken that away from me (so far). I’m a lover, not a fighter. So I choose to play their game most of the time but retain a trap door so I can magic myself away (so to speak) if need be. Cash is still a great ‘mitigator’ of this system’s worst tendencies. Culture-jamming may seem passé but still has a place. One subset of it involves adding some misinformation about yourself to the digital ecosystem, whenever possible to ‘leave ‘em guessing.’ We can’t all be unGooglables (we all have these friends who aren’t dead but seem to have perhaps paid a lot of money to have themselves scrubbed from the internet.. so the legend goes).
Speaking of Google, the internet is dead. Have you heard? Even pre-AI it’s been taken over by corporate interests and (with AI hastening its demise) fast-becoming useless. The fact that corporates are calling it ‘dead internet theory’ should tell you everything you need to know (emphasis on theory - they’re trying to debunk a truth we’ve all experienced ourselves).
Kagi.com, paid search, does however offer the Google of yesteryear with its wonder and promise of discovery of bizarro sites. Remember Mahir, the ‘I kiss you’ guy who likely inspired Sascha Baron Cohen’s Borat? He lived in Turkey, had a website and invited strangers to come visit him thinking no one would take him up on it. They did, in droves. His ‘dream came true’ and he made many multiples of friends from all over the world. Ah, the good ol’ days of a pre-corporate internet when all was shitz n’ giggles.
Image: Mahir the ‘I kiss you’ guy
Back to our program. If you want a reminder of why life is better with less internet just watch the brilliant video below shot in the (I’m guessing) early to mid-’90s at a rave in Amsterdam. No phones. No selfies. No followers. No bot followers. Just a generation of bon vivants partaking of a night of Ecstasy, electronic music, loved up hookups, and dancing. Can we find that sort of balance again? Watch this space.