6.3
May 15, 2025

“I Don’t Want…”

Modern tech things “I don’t want,” + a list of what we do long for:

I don’t want a Smart TV listening in! I don’t want security cameras on my house that share our videos with their parent company! I don’t want my phone tracking me or listening in! What else!

Below, “here’s what I do want.” But first, read this eloquent and enervating list…

“I don’t want to connect my coffee machine to the Wifi network. I don’t want to share the file with OneDrive. I don’t want to download an app to check my car’s fluid levels. I don’t want to scan a QR code to view the restaurant menu.

I don’t want to let Google know my location before showing me the search results.

I don’t want to include a Teams link on the calendar invite. I don’t want to pay 50 different monthly subscription fees for all my software. I don’t want to upgrade to TurboTax platinum plus audit protection. I don’t want to install the Webex plugin to join the meeting. I don’t want to share my car’s braking data with the actuaries at State Farm.

I don’t want to text with your AI chatbot. I don’t want to download the Instagram app to look at your picture. I don’t want to type in my email address to view the content on your company’s website. I don’t want text messages with promo codes. I don’t want to leave your company a five-star Google review in exchange for the chance to win a $20 Starbucks gift card.

I don’t want to join your exclusive community in the metaverse. I don’t want AI to help me write my comments on LinkedIn. I don’t even want to be on LinkedIn in the first place.

I just want to pay for a product one time (and only one time), know that it’s going to work flawlessly, press 0 to speak to an operator if I need help, and otherwise be left alone and treated with some small measure of human dignity, if that’s not too much to ask anymore.”

~ Robert Sterling

~

“Amen! I can’t count how many times I’ve said or thought — why is everything getting worse despite all this supposedly futuristic technology? I think we all the know the answer…” ~ a comment.

My reply: short-term small-minded cynical profits.

~

Here’s what I do want:

Imagine a world where parents let their children bike around all day and play and that felt normal and safe, cell phones didn’t track us/we didn’t stare at them all the time, we had protected bike lanes so families could bike safely, trucks had visibility out their front windshield, folks subscribed to quality journalism, social media didn’t allow conspiracy theories and didn’t incentivize extremism, community gardens were in every neighborhood, we didn’t wear and live in and on plastic, billionaires didn’t control our government, our democracy was stable, productive, caring and even boring instead of undermined and exploited…okay okay.

May be an image of 6 people, motorcycle, bicycle and text that says 'Your mom thought you were riding your bike around the block for 8 hours. nours But in that time you went 5 miles away, explored an abandoned house, jumped over some garage roofs, attempted a ouija board, built a den in the woods and made your own fire. DO'

Climate action, so our children and all species have a safe fun future. Walkable streets, fun and eco/long-lasting quality architecture, folks aren’t staring at their phones while driving, trees are protected not hacked down, diversity is normalized and fun, democracy is strong and the USPS isn’t being gutted.

May be an image of text that says 'Therapist: You said you were disappointed with life & how how the world operates. What were your expectations? Me: pa PO3T O界界可必区 TOWN TOWNEAIL FAIL'

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