Comment by ogwh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ogwh | Hacker News Reader

I left technology behind almost completely a year or two ago. What I've realised is that most technology doesn't improve our lives, it complicates it and makes it measurably worse. I still check HN, which is probably the last remaining symptom of my link to the tech world.

The world needs less software and less technology, not more. The further down this rabbit hole we go the worse everything gets. Physical health, mental health, social health and the broader links that bind society together all suffer.

It's all noise and its supposed benefits are, for the most part, an illusion.

There's definitely a role for tech to play in our lives, but a limited, balanced role. We're living in a world saturated with it, overdosing daily.

Give it all up, move on, and in time you will recover. Even if it takes years.

Good luck.

(It's unlikely that I will return to read any replies to this comment.)

I think it's too late. We are too far down the rabbit hole in that sense. What does it bode for mankind? I don't know, but I suspect that the future won't be bright. It's frightening.

I sometimes feel like everything is burning around me, as in, on this planet. Everything is burning and yet we pretend it isn't because we are frightened of the possible consequences of acknowledging things aren't doing too great. We are frightened of real change because it might cause everything to come down. So instead we let our lives spin out of control and hope for the best. At this point I'm not even speaking about technology, but this troubles me deeply.

It's only in these last few years that I've realised how naive I was about getting into tech to 'empower community' and 'change the world'.

Now I look at what the benevolent masters of the universe at Davos are envisioning (1) for our collective future and it makes me feel sick.

Thankfully I now work on technology that seeks to decentralise power away from these kinds of parasites.

(1) http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Digital_Transformation_Powe...

I feel this is a very biased outlook. I feel we should direct this energy towards the mental health systems of our culture to help guide people how to manage their stressors and escapes.

If I were to replace the word `technology` in your passage with `alcohol` it makes sense to me that `technology` has mutated into more of a substance rather than lifestyle improvement. But, such is most things that can be abused.

Mental health has not been addressed in the past decades at the same pace as other things in the world have periodically been updated.

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