Every morning, before I head into the requisite eight hours of alienated labor, I try to carve out time to focus on something that actually matters. For the past year, I’ve been nursing this idea, unsure of what to do with it. What finally made me act was a deep, gut-level pain I felt for all of us—our collective “we”—as I watched the inauguration. The presence of billionaires at the forefront of our nation’s leadership underscored how money, more than anything, seems to dictate power.
It’s hard to ignore a few simple truths most of us can agree on:
- There’s way too much money in politics, and it’s concentrated in the hands of a few.
- Greed is destroying the planet, turning its gifts into poisoned trash heaps.
These two things have been eating away at the collective We The People. First, our labor was extracted from us and now it is our attention.
Recently, things hit a new level of creepy. I saw ads on youtube for a medical condition my doctor had just diagnosed me with—something I hadn’t written about or shared with anyone except my husband.
Yesterday, after talking to a kitchen designer about pull-out trash bins, my husband started seeing posts for them an hour later.
That was my breaking point. I decided to take back a little control. Here’s what I’ve done so far:
- Deleted social media apps from my phone. I’ll only use them on my computer now.
- Switched to ProtonMail and started using the Brave browser instead of Google.
- Locked down my phone settings: Siri is off, and location tracking is set to “only with permission.”
- Turned off every single alert except for Calendar & Texts/Calls from my favorites list. And, unfortunately had to leave Slack because of the alienated labor thing.
What Can We Do????
I just heard this episode on VOX about the global birthrate declining. I’d have guessed the cost of having a baby is enough to put anyone off, especially with inflation and the cost of living going up so that you have to have two employed parents., Conservatives think it’s because women are in the workforce. But, the researcher believes it has way more to do with people not meeting up anymore IRL. We’re all in our little digital holes.
Then, a few minutes later on the same radio station I heard this woman laughing about how she used to be embarrassed for always canceling plans last minute, until she realized everyone was secretly grateful when someone bailed. She joked that people would probably wonder if she was going to flake on her own funeral. Everyone agreed. I agreed. I’m glad when someone cancels so I can stay home and what? Watch another episode of something? Not get dressed?
After COVID, it’s just harder. Harder to leave the house. Harder to commit to anything that requires going outside. But apparently kids aren’t falling in love. They’re not building lives. They’re not having kids. And no, I’m not saying everyone needs to be popping out babies—but I am saying this level of disconnection is probably good for the planet?
So yeah, I decided to do something I really don’t want to do. I’m going to fight for something with others—in my own community. I can be part of something that feels alive, not virtual, not scrollable.
I’ve come to believe that the single most important thing we can do right now is look each other in the eye and make eye contact.
Honestly? That feels like a revolution right now.
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