I’m starting to wonder what the real benefit even is anymore. Between the technofeudal landscape we live in, where billionaires own the means of communication, data is constantly mined for profit, and surveillance is baked into every layer, it feels like I’m standing at the beach, using my bare hands to push back an endless tide.
Even when I take the so‑called “liberated” path through Linux, self‑hosting, and privacy tools, it often feels futile. The web itself is poisoned. Browsers are turning into tracking engines. Sites rely on manipulation and dark patterns. Social media is full of misinformation and ragebait.
Even open-source projects are being pulled under corporate influence (ex: Firefox adoption of AI).
It feels exhausting to route around a web that’s already been captured.
So I’m asking myself: what’s the point? Why not just step away?
Why not trade the illusion of digital control for actual peace, get a dumb phone, a CD player, and check out books, movies, music, and games from the library as my entertainment?
Does anyone else feel this way? Have you found ways to reconnect with technology?
I’m halfway there and not really sure if I want to go the full way. I left social media, bought a bluray player and borrow movies from the library on the regular. It’s been a real bodning experience for me and my boyfriend. He even joins me on movie-hunts in the library now.
I have considered heavily to get a button phone as well, but I literally can’t due to how the social system is set up in my country. It’s all built around the idea that everybody has a smart phone.
My 2026 goal os to get back into reading more and start gardening now that we finally moved somewhere with a garden.
Since January of last year I have felt a lot of stress leave my body by leaving social media and canceling subscriptions for streaming services.
I have been considering taking the plunge into Linux as well and probably will do it eventually when I overcome the fear of fucking it up, but much like you, I have long since accepted that the part of the internet I liked and engaged with is long dead and gone and it will not come back either. I don’t know what the death nail potentially will be for me to go off grid completely. I don’t know. My job is heavily digital and built up around Apple and Google. Can’t really escape it there, which is fine. But at home, I’m slowly inching toward a more unplugged existence and I really like living like that.