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I want to be left alone (2024)

(blog.ctms.me)
179 points car | 1 comments | 03 Sep 25 01:11 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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jackvalentine ◴[03 Sep 25 01:41 UTC] No.45111369[source]▶
I bought a 5 year old Lenovo x13 and installed Debian on it, haven’t used linux in years but wanted to play around.

Installed, logged in for the first time and got the ‘welcome to KDE’ screen, dismissed it and then… nothing.

Every time I log in… nothing.

It just sits there waiting for me to do something. It doesn’t tell me to do anything. I’ve been mostly using it to play Civ2.

replies(5): >>45111428 #>>45111524 #>>45111581 #>>45112031 #>>45116682 #
1. cameldrv ◴[03 Sep 25 15:06 UTC] No.45116682[source]▶
When I first started using computers, they were a tool like a hammer. You buy the hammer, and it sits in your toolbox until you need to use it, then you use it and put it away. You are always in total control of the hammer and it does not try to influence you in any way.

Modern software tries to invert this control loop and make you the tool. Pop up a message to remind you to use their software. Automatically pick the next item in your social feed to convince your hind brain to spend more time in their app. Convince you to turn on location services to see the weather in your current location, and then use it to track all of your movements. AI is bound to do even more of this, where it tells you in various ways how to live your life.

I don’t quite know the solution, because software that influences the user has better survival characteristics than tool software, but it feels like things are starting to come to a head where people are feeling overwhelmed by their phones’ constant demands.