There’s nothing wrong with the technology, it’s who is running it all that needs to be fixed, with the general f*ckery that is through everything now I miss my 2400 baud modem that was bigger than my computer and dialing in to a BBS.
You have my permission to write fuck on the internet. On the fediverse, Zuck is the more offensive four-letter word.
I’ll take the Zuckwit over Bozos or Ellison.
Why did you censor ‘fuckery’ tho?
I like the star in it, reminds me of a sticker, which is an odd mental association but I swear like a sailor while dropping that in fuck.
Fair enough!
Modern technology is great. It’s massively cheaper and more performant for orders of magnitude less money.
Consumer technology on the other hand, is cursed.
The problem is that nobody needs to know how to use technology anymore. Every piece of consumer hardware and software is designed so that the company does all of the work for you and then rents you the fruits of the technology. Now you’re eternally dependent on someone else to operate your technology for you because you’re constantly paying the people that are ensuring your technological ignorance.
Don’t worry about learning how to store mp3s or manage your music Library! Just pay Spotify, YouTube Premium, or Apple Music $10/mo!
Don’t worry about needing to learn how to backup your data or to store you photos, just give Apple $29.99/mo! Shopping for hardware is hard, learning the difference between a Megapixel and a Megabyte is for nerds! Just buy the iPad, iLaptop, iCamera, iEarbuds, it only costs 50% more than it should!
Dealing with .mp4 and .mkv files, too complicated! Don’t worry about needing to learn anything about movies, Netflix/Hulu/Disney/Paramount/Amazon/AppleTV/etc will gladly take your $20/mo and do everything for you!
Don’t like your computer’s OS being filled with advertising, spyware and AI? Too bad! Your only options are 1. Live in Apple’s Walled Garden, 2. Put your entire life’s worth of private data on the auction block for the lowest bidding advertiser for the benefit of Microsoft’s shareholders or 3. Give your cellphone provider and Google root access to your entire life!
Yes, this is a ‘Just use Linux’ comment.
average people will never use linux.
it’s for nerds. average people are not nerds.
It’s not really discomfort. It’s the fact that any benefit technology would give us is being monetized and abused to the point where it’s not enjoyable. I have this phone because employers expect to be able to contact me 24/7, and because governments want to spy on me, and companies want to harvest my data so they can profit from me. In return im given just enough to make it to the next day, and a screen to distract me from how fucking pointless our society is.
A skilled/educated American worker should be able to retire comfortably at 50 without having to worry about how they’ll afford healthcare.
Companies make millions off you, then you give a few thousand because they know if they ever paid you a fair share, we’d all realize how much they’ve been robbing us this whole time.
A skilled/educated American worker should be able to retire comfortably at 50 without having to worry about how they’ll afford healthcare.
I did that, and I’m an unskilled American worker. Never had a tech job in my life.
You have your kids college/first home deposit covered and enough for you and a spouse to retire comfortably, and also cover any and all future metal expenses. Good on you man. You’re a unicorn
But that’s exactly the point…I’m not some rare unicorn.
Most people on Lemmy make more money in a single year than I ever earned. A lot of you have probably never made less than $85k a year since college. Do you even realize how much money that actually is?
How many on Lemmy made at least that much on their very first fucking job. You know what I did as a job in college? I worked as a fucking dishwasher.
The average full-time U.S. worker makes about $62,000 a year.
Most of you wouldn’t even consider taking a job that pays that little. You can complain about prices, gas, and the cost of living all you want, but $85k a year is more than enough to live comfortably for the vast majority of Americans.
The truth is, most of Lemmy has no real idea how the average person actually lives. Yet you still come here and bash capitalism and technology. The very fucking things that let you earn well above the national average.
Most of you have had far more financial comfort than I ever did, even after adjusting for inflation. Plenty of you could buy a house in a nice small town and pay it off in less than 10 years. But instead, you choose to live in expensive cities, go out every night, buy the latest tech and electric cars, then act like your life is so hard.
I was a single dad at 19, could never afford to finish college. Worked two jobs so my kid could have a room of his own in a small dumpy house. I would stay awake at night scared to death of losing one of my jobs and then losing my kid to the state because I wouldn’t have housing. The vast majority of Lemmy has no idea what real struggle is, but they’ll come on here and bitch about how terrible their lives are. What a fucking joke! What, you worried you won’t be able to make a payment on your brand new EV? lol
Get away from me with that nonsense. Most Lemmy’s have never had to work at McDonalds and wouldn’t know how to live off that salary if they did. Hell, my pension is smaller than half of your paycheck. LMAO
Most on this platform have multiple degrees, tech jobs that pay way above average, but you bitch and moan. It’s all bullshit. You could go to a rural town in Missouri and buy a nice fucking house for $180K. And you know what the majority of replies here on Lemmy would be to that bit of info? “Yeah, but it’s Missouri and they probably voted for Trump, so fuck that!”
That shit right there is all of Lemmy. Every single one of you could have a house if you really wanted one. But holy smokes, you may have some conservative neighbors, so fuck that. hahhahhaha
Guess you don’t really want a house and affordable living then do you? Because god forbid that you have neighbors that vote different than you.
But all good. The reckoning is coming. Your good tech jobs are gonna go away, and then you can know what real fear is like. How many of you are gonna be able to survive digging ditches for a living… like I did for 6 years. Try that during summer in Missouri, then come back here and tell me how much of a “unicorn” I am. lololol
Does GenZ want to live in the past?
Nearly half (47%) of adults ages 18-29 said if they had the option, they’d choose to live in the past, according to a new NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. One-third said they’d pick a time period less than 50 years in the past, while another 14% said they’d choose more than 50 years in the past.
Sort of, yes?
I was born in the 80s and grew up in the 90s. It’s natural for me to be nostalgic about the 90s. It’s absolutely strange to me that any significant group of people who grew up in the 2000s would actually want to go back to the 80s or 90s, which they never experienced first hand.
The only explanation I can think of is that these GenZers watch shows like Stranger Things or Friends and think that’s what we all lived like back then.
I remember kids in the 90s wished they lived in the 60s and 70s. There are always people who aint feeling their lives who think a past time would auit them better
I’m sure you could find some kids like that, but 47%? That’s a lot!
in the 90s we looked forward to the future. in the 2020s very few people look forward to the future because the future looks so shitty.
i mean, i can relate. i don’t see my life getting better in the future in any material way. i see my standard of living maybe being stagnant… if I am lucky. and my income have kept pace with inflation… but that’s largely only because i have been investing since i was 25, if i was depending solely on my job income i’d be looking at falling further and further behind.
i also think it’s bullshit that i literally can’t go back to school or change careers, because the costs to do so would wipe me out economically. i’d have to take on 60-100K of debt to get another masters degree, that’s INSANE.
just maintaing my certs in my own field now costs me 1000s.
You could move to another country where education is more affordable. Some places even have schools where masters and PhD students are funded by the university (and work as TAs for a stipend), rather than taking on debt.
I can understand if you’re not able to uproot your life like that though, so I’m not saying you’re wrong to stay where you are and try to survive.
No you can’t. millions of people cannot do that.
no, they want to grow up with economic optimism instead of despair.
i graduated in 2005 with 30K of debt, and i had a job for 40K and my rent was 500 bucks.
if I graduated in 2025 i’d have something like 120K of debt and my job would be like 45K, and my rent would be 1500.
my sister started working in 1995, she had 10K of debt, a 35K job, and her rent was 300 bucks. she was able to buy a brand new 15K car after graduation, before she even got a job…
the rich kids will be fine, however, anyone whose parents aren’t in the top 10% is economically fucked for life unless they win the lottery, statistically speaking. rent/housing costs keep going up at twice the rate of inflation in most areas.
cost of living is has been outpacing wages by a factor of 2x for over almost two decades, and there is no sign of things ever getting better.
the stability of a middle class life has been stolen from gen z by boomers and gen x, and it will be even worse for gen alpha. even among millenials, there is stark economic divide between those who had their college/housing paid for my parents, and those who had to pay for it on their own.
If that’s the case, why prefer the last 50 years over the decades before that? In 1975 the average house price in San Francisco was 1/27 the price it was in 2024. That means you could have a $1.5m house for $55k. Adjusted for inflation, that’s $337k in 2026 dollars.
If you went back even further (to the 60s or 50s) it would be even more ridiculous.
because 1975 is two generations ago for them, not one.
for kids today, 1975 looks the way you probably see the 1930s/1940s. it’s basically old timey black and white. it’s not appealing or relatable, it’s completely foreign.
90s is only one generation removed and relatable. when i was in high school kids loved the 70s, because it was one generation removed, but nobody was into the 1950s.
it also has to do with fashion and vintage and nostalgia, there is a 20 year gap there as well. that’s why boomers are nosalgic for the 1940s/50s, because they were all born in the 50s/60s.
The 1970s are just as unrelatable to me as the 1930s. It’s all just “the before times” to me.
Also I think GenZers have no idea how bad everything smelled back then, due to the pervasive smoking in public and in everyone’s houses. I know this because public smoking lasted well into the 90s and I remember when it started going away.
I have a friend who is nostalgic for those times before he was born, and even claims to want to take up smoking, though he hasn’t had the guts to actually try. Really strange. I find smoking totally repulsive.
yep, pre EPA.
lead in the water, lead in the air, LEAD EVERYWHERE.
I was born in the 70’s, grew up in the 80’s. Stranger Things did not feel like the 80’s to me at all. They definitely tried to nail the look and stuff (sometimes it worked, sometimes not), but the whole thing just seemed to be made by someone who watched a couple of 80’s movies and said, “yeah, let’s set it during this time!” rather than actually lived thru the 80’s.
I was in my 20’s in the 90’s and that’s the time I miss most. OMG the girls, the music…that was a great. Fuck the 80’s…bring back the 90’s!
Does GenZ have a collective want to identify?
Has everyone under 30 given up?
statistically the majority of them won’t ‘win’ so why would they bother trying?
the economic rewards of a good life are now only available to a smaller and smaller portion of the population. if your parents were doctors, you’ll be fine, but if they are blue collar workers, you are doomed.
the economic top 10% have basically walled off all economic opportunity for themselves and their children. nobody else gets a shot at it anymore in America. they have locked up education, housing, and healthcare behind massive paywalls that say ‘your parents must make 150K+ before you can even play’.
and they know this. it’s everywhere around them everyday. they watch their parents struggle to pay bills and getting crushed by healthcare, housing, and other costs.
the days of being an average person and going to college and coming out on the other side with a good job stopped in the 1990s.
Tech used to promise a better life. Now it requires a subscription and wants your biometrics just to lie about pizza toppings to you. Sounds like gen z is on the right path.
Tech is still cool, but subscriptions are not. That is why I like self hosting and open source so much.
I feel like gen z caught the full destruction of 3rd spaces that melenials still caught the tail end of.
I’d love a community space to share my knowledge of pre-zuck-thiel tech with. I feel like the complete destruction of 3rd spaces are part of why there is such poor knowledge xfer between z and millennials
If you have a Hacker/Makerspace near you, you might want to check that out.
the makerspaces in my city are full of trust fund elitist douchebags who who snub you if you aren’t rich like them. they also charge usage fees, usually starting at 200/mo or 50/hr. they are not communal spaces for anyone to show up and hang out.
the only place that is legit free is the library, but their makerspace is only open T-F at 10am-4pm, because it’s for teenagers and retirees.
it’s not community spaces dude.
it’s that going out was CHEAP.
i could go out in 2006 with my friends on a friday night for $20. hell 10 years ago i could go out for $50 or so.
now going out on a friday night costs you closer to $200. that’s not possible for a college kid, unless that college kid has mommy and daddy’s credit card.
the COL basically means unless you have lots of money, you can’t ever go out anymore. a fucking movie ticket is 20-25 dollars now. I used to see movies for 3-5 bucks when I was young.
the value of the dollar has collapsed.
I’m tired of tech being everywhere from cars to toasters I still prefer analog things that do the job and only that job.
I don’t need my internet connected fridg to tell me what groceries to buy while selling my data to insurance companies
you don’t have to buy tech devices. they sell non tech fridges dude.
you can also just not use the tech in your car/tv/etc. nobody is forcing you to connect it and use it.
Xennial here. I got rid of most social media years ago (FB, twitter, etc.) and never signed up for a lot of others. I’m replacing my google pixel watch with a pebble. I’m open to ditching my android google phone as well once something works properly with all the Japanese government and banking services. Thinking about how to degoogle.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows back in the '80s and '90s, but I definitely feel like we should take back some of our balance, security, and comfort (though streaming and recording video can stay).
I’m replacing my google pixel watch with a pebble.
And you make way more money than the average US worker.
I work in Japan and get paid in yen so that seems unlikely. Indeed. I am basically at the median us salary with the exchange rate. I’ve bought two phones in the last 11 years (and won’t replace my pixel 6 until it dies). I also work two jobs.
Fair point. I was wrong to be snarky without knowing where you lived.
I really don’t think that specific emotion is isolated to gen z.
I remember all the promise and excitement that tech had back in the late 00’s and early 10’s. Things were unique and fun. That’s just not true anymore. Every new software update adds shit that you didn’t ask for and don’t want (AI, ads, removal of user freedom). New hardware releases are either an underwhelming iteration of specs from the previous version, or an unimaginative device that has the same basic look and feel as every other device it’s competing with.
Tech used to be fun and exploratory, now it’s just companies pushing to see how much they can be allowed to exploit you for the least cost.
Tech used to be fun and exploratory, now it’s just companies pushing to see how much they can be allowed to exploit you for the least cost.
The fun and exploratory tech still exists, its just not sitting as a single product on a store shelf in a plastic clamshell package. The maker space is where all the exciting exploration is happening. If you have an idea the technology likely exists to make it happen, and the cost of the parts won’t break the bank. Lots of reuse of cast off out-of-date tech can be integrated dropping the costs even more. While there are even better solutions, if you’re just getting started pick up an old Arduino or Raspberry Pi (not the new expensive high end models) for under $30. Grow from there to microcontrollers like the ESP32 where it gets even cheaper for about $5 each. Learn to solder! Learn modeling and 3D printing! Use an operating system that lets you control your system instead of one that you just have to accept what they give you.
It really is an amazing time in tech if you stop accepting a products as they are, and instead what you want them to be with your own modifications.
It really is an amazing time in tech if you stop accepting a products as they are, and instead what you want them to be with your own modifications.
Yep, but that doesn’t fit the doom-and-gloom outlook that most of Lemmy has. You’re post is totally right on though!
Oh boy. If people would just start seeing that open source still gives you exactly this, but you know, Linux is for incels and shit, I much more prefer being spied on by big corp.
Linux and FOSS tech about to become the new mainstream underground punk rock hangout spot.
And that’s awesome! :)
Well, no. It’s because Linux has never tried to appeal to casual users. Even if you download something like Ubuntu, you still have to jump through hoops sometimes to install things. People are turned off by using command lines.
With Mac and Windows, you just search up what you want and download it.
Compatability is a huge thing too.
I’m a new Linux convert. And I love it! But you’re right. Also, in the past, when I tried to convert (when it was more difficult), the Linux communities then were um, less than helpful.
I remember back then not being super comfortable with the terminal, and they were like “Fuck off and come back when you know how to program simple shit, you fuckin’ newb.”
So I put it off for a long time. Now I love going into the terminal and learning new things. And it doesn’t seem like linux communities are as elitist as they used to be. But yeah, back in the day, I had such a bad experience with them, I actively boycotted Linux stuff. I was just a young office professional and needed my computer to work without a lot of tweaking.
I love it all now though! And I have plenty of time to tweak because I don’t work. Even tho, to be honest, it’s all pretty easy to install these days.
I feel the same. I quit working in tech. It really has no soul anymore, specially talking to chat bots and agents.
Tech now is building the infrastructure for dystopia and its so obvious.
Are you still working? If so, doing what?
I quit the whole rat race. Early retirement with pension. It’s way better on this side of things. And I never had the nice tech jobs that made most of lemmy rich anyway (even tho you all complain about being poor–$85K+ is rich for most people, guys). But at least I don’t have to work anymore. :)
