Hey look, we’re in double figures with the resistance updates! I didn’t really back myself to get this far when I started back in December. So thanks to those who have supported, be it with likes, restacks, comments or messages. Without any of those, I’m pretty sure I would have given up in despair by now.
The anti-tech youth is taking to the streets in New York! This is really BIG news; the sort of thing that gladdens the heart! It’s an angry pushback on tech, driven by young people who are saying no to smartphone addiction and can’t hear the letters ‘AI’ without screaming. It’s a movement that perfectly complements my more narrow focus on ensuring tech remains optional.
Brian Merchant, whose Substack I would recommend all my readers follow, did a podcast interview that spills all the beans of what went on, which included ‘executions’ of devices and a play.
For further uplifting media around this, and the trailer of the documentary mentioned in the interview, check out The Luddite Club Doc.Over here in Europe, where the youth is still slacking in its uprising duties, the German state of Schleswig and Holstein has tweaked its laws around access to courts and government services - and not in a good way. Digital Courage has taken up the fight against what looks like a sneaky legalisation of digital coercion, as German speakers can read here.
Google begins supporting third-party app stores…? I’ll fess up to not having researched or tested this one in detail, because it’s a rabbit hole and I’ve got got a mere five hours to dedicate to this (unpaid) newsletter. But I think this news might mean we’re a step closer to being able to use Android phones and apps without a Google account? The Play Store is the single biggest hurdle to de-Googling any Android user’s life, so that would be fantastic progress. Anyone out there got time to test this and report back in a comment? Thank you team!
AI continues to do superb impressions of Frankenstein. If its own creators can’t stop it carrying out cyberattacks, imagine what a true malevolent can do with it. Not next week or next year, but NOW. How well is your online bank or your power grid really defended from next-level, AI-driven hacking? If you don’t have a healthy amount of hard cash under your mattress, I admire your optimism. But I hope you’ll help us fight to save cash all the same :)
They’ve put up a fancy new ‘energy station’ at my local bus stop. There’s even a toilet! It’s a nice thing on the whole, but there are vending machines inside. And you can only get inside with a bank card to unlock the door. Hmm. It does sort of look like the vending machines take cash, which I guess is good. But I’m not testing it because I don’t support automated, disembodied retail when there is one actual store left in town, where people know my name and you don’t need to prove your identity to a computer. Besides, it’s all junk snacks anyway.
Still on the subject of self-service… Austria’s constitutional court has banned the sale of alcohol at vending machines. The local chamber of commerce (WKO) is in a froth about the loss of business, demanding in its latest magazine that “digital age verification to be recognised by the legal framework”. My take? Instead of trying to verify people with smartphones, let’s start serving people in person again. To that end, let’s shun self-service machines entirely. Not everything has to be about money and convenience.
I wrote about the three ‘enlightening experiences’ that got this movement started. It’s a post that’s doing pretty well - so a particularly good one to like, share, re-stack and comment on. So that we can reach a bigger audience with our message…
I got Instagram off my phone! The process was actually a lot easier and quicker than expected. Uninstalling the app takes a matter of seconds, and if you want to download all your posts like I did, follow this advice. But use a computer - Instagram won’t let you download ‘directly to device’ on a phone so you end up getting in a tangle of clouds and logins.
For now, my account still exists but I will only access it by computer and don’t plan to post anything new. It’s all part of a grand plan to get as close to a smartphone-free life as possible… partly so I can identify the most difficult things to escape. Turns out Instagram isn’t one of them.
I complained to the Ombudsman of Austria’s SVS (the state insurance body for self-employed people) about adverts like the one below. This is one of many that suggest you can only access health services by smartphone (which in Austria now means having the state digital ID app). This is not the case - everything can still be done by phone or over the counter. But they’re not mentioning that out loud in many of their communications.
I received a quick, lengthy and considered reply, albeit not from the official Ombudsman bloke I wrote to. After a lot of excuse-making, they did say, “We take your point seriously. It makes it clear that some of our communications can create the impression that information is only available digitally. This is valuable feedback and will be factored into our planning for how we present access to information in the future.”
That’s a reasonable reply, so I’m going to give them a chance to improve before badgering them again!
With my annual London trip coming up, I put a ball in the city’s court by asking them to explain how I am supposed to buy a bus ticket without a card or roaming data (buses in London now decline cash payments; it also so happens that my UK bank card has been blocked for the forty-nine thousandth time). I wrote to both the mayor’s office and Transport for London. I know they’re not going to put kiosks up for me in the next two weeks, but what if hundreds of people wrote to them? Feel free to copy my text…
My UK petition to enshrine the right to live offline closed with 286 signatures. Well done to Dumfries & Galloway in Scotland, which appears to be a hotbed of analogue resistance with its chart-topping four signatures. I’m convinced a similar petition could do much better, but it would need far more of a marketing effort - or somebody with a voice to push it1.
Thanks to Peter W. for sending good news from Zürich: public toilets can indeed be accessed by cash! Apparently you have to buy a voucher from a nearby machine. It does sound like the city could make that option a little more visible?
Thanks to Cat C. for the news about the scary AI hack!
You saw the post up top about the Luddites in NYC. If you’re anywhere in the area, please join them! And if you’re a young person living in a city anywhere, could you link up with a local cell or start something similar? I’m happy to bounce ideas2!
See “Things I’ve done” and “Things you’ve done” above, as well as my previous updates via the website/archive! Be inspired and copy them!
Speaking of Digital Courage….you can support their work and also carry a message in public by buying a t-shirt!
Are you somebody with a voice? A pop star, perhaps? A leading footballer? This is your cue to get in touch and help!
If you’re wondering why I’m not doing this myself, I’m an old guy living in the country. I think my skills are better used elsewhere. But if you organise a demonstration I’ll be there!
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