In Summer 2002, Slingshot published an article against the growing social dependency on cellular phones. There were no dumbphones at the time — a flip phone was only considered “dumb” not due to the supposed technological superiority of other devices on the market, but instead because of the things it fostered: isolation, dependency on the state and large corporations, ecocide in the Congo and across the world (yes, folks were talking about this decades ago), and a lack of autonomy and critical thinking skills for whoever was unfortunate enough to get sucked into buying one.
Today, the concept that a dumbphone would be “too much” for any consumer is widely considered laughable, if it is considered at all. Even in radical spaces, downgrading from a smartphone to something that has physical buttons and can’t access Instagram is just about the limit of peoples’ imaginations. What happened to the resistance to the steady invasion of these parasites into our lives? Have we been totally fooled?
Well, yes.
Also:
In our culture, no altar receives such fervent worship as that of the god of Convenience. Capitalism and its goons have turned our bodies, minds, time, and experiences into something that can be bought, sold and stolen not only by nameless conglomerates but also by each other. Every second not spent “bettering” ourselves or producing in some way is considered wasted. Naturally then, we have developed an insatiable hunger for optimizing every aspect of our lives. We trim the fat of life, even though it is the very thing that keeps us warm.