I was writing notes on paper this morning. It was going slowly, as it does, and I automatically thought,
I should activate voice transcription.
LOL.
I have to remind myself: it's a big job to #unplugTrump and his tech cronies who showed up on Inauguration Day.
I don't have to/can't do it all at once.
This is going to take a while.
And I don't have to 'be like the cool kids' and learn Linux, or build my own website, both of which I always kinda wanted to do, but realistically...
Did I ever?
I did not.
What I'd rather do is what I did this morning:
Go back to HAND WRitinG.
But, here's a good guide to unplugging big tech:
https://axbom.com/big-trek
I am doing a little at a time--yesterday I deleted my Amazon account. I haven't used Amazon in ages so I forgot I even had it, but I intend to track down and delete all my big tech accounts.
That's my email and my blog... They will have to wait until I decide how far I'm going to go.)
In the meantime, I'm cutting down the easy-to-reach things first.
It's not enough to not-use them, you want to close them.
For me, so far that's been Facebook & Instagram,
LinkedIn (so much personal data I provided, all neatly lined up!),
Amazon...
Target, of course.
Purging my blog of dates/names. (This may be an illusion, but it feels good to do it---TAKE YOUR LIFE BACK.)
I need to switch my rent payments off Paypal, so I can close that.
But as always, it's as much about what I ADD IN as what I delete--and for me that means more printmaking and handwriting!
WHICH I LOVE, but rarely do.
Send me mail!
oh my, you've got me on a roll also! ever since your post i've been going through emails and unsubscribing from marketing ones and quite a few of my substack ones. i deleted pinterest and need to clean up linkedin. i've never ordered from amazon so that's easy or joined facebook/instagram. paypal is a tough one as i use it quite a bit. the other option is to provide my card to lots of people and quite frankly that's a bit harder to have it all over the place. the other option is to quit ordering online!!
ReplyDeletei just had a German friend send me a letter as my email kept bouncing back. it was so fun to receive something in the mail!!!
k
ps don't forget about TikTok if you created an account.
Deletek
Fresca here:
DeleteNever did TikTok, but I still have Pinterest to do. I did delete my YouTube channel. And I have a Vimeo channel 2 – – which I kind of forgot! I’m hoping Vimeo is OK… Must investigate. It’s pretty amazing how much online presence I/we have built up over 30 years
I have a vimeo account as several classes I take post their videos there. what is good about Vimeo is that you can post a video there that can't be downloaded. this gets away from zoom limits on storage. although I haven't checked them out.
DeleteI wanted to cancel my Instacart account which Aldi used to use. because it was set-up through Aldi I have to go through them to cancel it. I did delete some info on Instacart website. what a pain. Pinterest was absolutely the easiest to cancel and easy to find how to do it. everyone else seems to be hiding it.
k
simplifying- trending! I am onboard 100%. That said , however, the postal system is broken and is incredibly expensive for what it is. - who knows email may be challenged in the near future as well. Everything I have dumped has been a breeze so far, I miss none of it. Paypal is a pain and is part of the Musk empire, so getting rid of that has been a bonus. I am not a fan of Dennis's autopay right out of the bank account for household bills but that is his gig. I like to see. on paper, what the bills are and how much. Dennis's motto "making the easy, impossible".
ReplyDeleteI am not a fan of autopay at all. my concern is unless you check every month how do you know that they are not removing more than the actual amount? I still insist on paper bills even if I pay online.
Deletek
FRESCA here:
DeleteI too don’t like auto pay – – I got paper bills and write a check in the mail. Linda Sue – – it does feel good to dump these accounts and entanglements – – most of them are unnecessary clutter. The ones that aren’t – – like this blog – – I will probably just continue and acknowledge that there is no purity – – unless you wanna live like the Unabomber
At present I need Google things...and what is the alternative to paypal?
ReplyDeleteI think that I'd like to know the source and reliability of any alternatives.
It is difficult as I am in contact with friends and family globally....and we have all come to rely on things run by people that we do not like atall.....
gz-- alternatives to paypal are generally venmo (problem in that people don't make their account private and others can see the info) or zelle (usually through a bank). my thing with keeping paypal is that i have one company that has my card info vs 15 different companies. i work data security so that's how i view it. now in the us one can purchase using paypal without creating an account. it's a trade-off to me: data security vs people you don't like.
Deletek
Yes, I've sold to people without an account here..just sent them an invoice.
DeleteFRESCA here:
DeleteI didn’t know:
“ Venmo is owned by PayPal since 2013.”
Much to research!
As you say, Josie you really have to investigate the alternatives – – and sometimes or simply aren’t good alternatives – – I may end up keeping PayPal because as K says, it has good security and I don’t want to sign on too many different sites with my credit card.
DeleteWe do our investigation and then we make informed choices – – like I keep saying I’m not going for purity, just improvement
“GZ” not Josie! 🙄😄
DeleteI haven't lost my confidence in zelle yet. Banks may be as bad as the rest of bigtech, but it's how our money currently works.
ReplyDeleteRight—I keep saying, unless we’re off the grid entirely, making our own fire, etc, we’re going to be using some big tech—and that’s okay.
DeleteWe can be informed and make better decisions,
But we can’t be entirely out of the game.