I’ve tried getting into peertube to have something to watch. I’m exploring copyleft music on open audio / funkwhale. I’m on here in lemmy as of this week. I’m playing with mastodon and the fediverse. I’ve tried studying psychology and psychology-adjacent territory like Deleuze and Guattari and Foucault and Derrida so I can break down what the Facebook algorithms are doing to me, how pop and mainstream music is designed and produced in conjunction with advertising to screw with our heads and make us buy things, how YouTube music suggestion algorithms screw with my head and ultimately make me buy things, and I’ve tried to start learning to code on a basic level at least so I can convert my chromebook to Ubuntu and hopefully my android phone, which I’ve paid off completely, to some kind of fully open source OS.
I’ve let my Netflix subscription wither away after just not paying it and try to not care about it anymore. I have no idea what to do about Amazon or Amazon Prime. I have some very important movies like ‘Unhinged’ and ‘Donnie Darko’ on there. I need to buy certain things in the present framework of my life right now, things that, in a small town with a particular disability keeping me from driving, I can only get on Amazon.
I’m doing a lot. But I still find myself jonesing for that death consciousness of mindlessly scrolling through Facebook totally vulnerable to an AI superpower extracting maximum profit from me perpetually. Moderation no longer seems remotely realistic. I can’t shut the machine out. Has anybody found anything else I could try? I’m trying to find as many little strategies as possible.
Get a library card and go to town on some books. I’m using reading to replace my social media/Netflix/YouTube time. Aiming for one book every two weeks for 2024 since I’m a pretty slow reader.
Bonus: If your library has Libby you can rip the DRM using calibre and build out your collection on your ereader. My library offers free music streaming and 5 DRM-free mp3 downloads/day from “freegalmusic”. They also offer free streaming services for movies and TV but I haven’t used those since the point is to read more not watch more bullshit, but could aid as way of weaning yourself off after cancelling other subscriptions
Sit quietly in a room and meditate. Every time you want to reach for a device, meditate for 5 minutes. Just breathe.
Or just go for a walk without any tech.
Edit: separate the capitalist bit from what you’re going through. Dependency is an individual experience, and there are dealers out there, but it’s all about choices you make for yourself.
I find music and the outdoors do right by me. If you need tunes I’m sure myself and other lemmyfolk can hook you up with genres you like without helping corpo wallets.
I’ll start: if you like industrial, check out The Birthday Massacre. Great Canadian band. I think their website has free downloads and they’ve got merch if you choose to support them.
Since most culture has been subverted by capitalism, media has become exploitative to a fault. Most media made today, wether it’s film, music, video games, etc, are assembled by committee to figure out how to exploit your baser senses, your impulses.
When being submerged in this exploitative media over a longer period of time, much like doom scrolling, your brain has gotten used to the incentives your brain produces, creating a habitual cycle. It’s also important to note that if you have to use your brain, most likely the media is not exploitative enough, which is why Hollywood produces mindless schlock - because it makes you feel good.
So your choice is either
Abandon all media, for a longer period of time and return sparingly (detox), or
Winding down the media consumption and only choosing ethical media (decrease dosage incrementally).
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !technology@lemmy.world
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Get a library card and go to town on some books. I’m using reading to replace my social media/Netflix/YouTube time. Aiming for one book every two weeks for 2024 since I’m a pretty slow reader.
Bonus: If your library has Libby you can rip the DRM using calibre and build out your collection on your ereader. My library offers free music streaming and 5 DRM-free mp3 downloads/day from “freegalmusic”. They also offer free streaming services for movies and TV but I haven’t used those since the point is to read more not watch more bullshit, but could aid as way of weaning yourself off after cancelling other subscriptions
Sit quietly in a room and meditate. Every time you want to reach for a device, meditate for 5 minutes. Just breathe.
Or just go for a walk without any tech.
Edit: separate the capitalist bit from what you’re going through. Dependency is an individual experience, and there are dealers out there, but it’s all about choices you make for yourself.
I don’t think that capitalism is the only means of entertainment. Socialism brought us libraries. You can rent books and DVDs.
I completely agree. The post kinda combined the two ideas and I was trying to suggest separating them. Anyone can get harmfully hooked on anything.
I find music and the outdoors do right by me. If you need tunes I’m sure myself and other lemmyfolk can hook you up with genres you like without helping corpo wallets. I’ll start: if you like industrial, check out The Birthday Massacre. Great Canadian band. I think their website has free downloads and they’ve got merch if you choose to support them.
You can just download the movies, don’t let some service hold you hostage. But if you need to buy Amazon stuff, there’s no problem with that
You can also try Nostr, I’ve scrolled around the whole feed before and found interesting stuff
Focus on older stuff and recognize that most people are just trying to fit in with other losers.
You’re suffering from withdrawal, really.
Since most culture has been subverted by capitalism, media has become exploitative to a fault. Most media made today, wether it’s film, music, video games, etc, are assembled by committee to figure out how to exploit your baser senses, your impulses.
When being submerged in this exploitative media over a longer period of time, much like doom scrolling, your brain has gotten used to the incentives your brain produces, creating a habitual cycle. It’s also important to note that if you have to use your brain, most likely the media is not exploitative enough, which is why Hollywood produces mindless schlock - because it makes you feel good.
So your choice is either
Treat modern media like drugs, because they are.