A Tech Nerd's Evolution

(Not so) Old Person Yells at Cloud

I’m somewhere between the last of the Millennials and the first of the Zoomers. I’m old enough to have experienced the transition from the analogue to the digital age, yet still young enough to keep up with the exponential evolution of technology. For now.

Our first family car was a manual. Its radio took cassette tapes, which we stored behind the seat, in the glove box, and in the centre console. We couldn’t talk on the phone and use the computer at the same time. The computer’s storage was calculated in megabytes. We had home phones, one of them rotary. Televisions made a buzz when you ran your hand over the screen. Netflix was delivered to your home by a postal worker carrying a physical DVD.

Every year was exciting - technology evolved at such a rapid pace that there was always something groundbreaking to look forward to. Companies were pushing the envelope, daring to do what others shied from, for better or for worse. With the induction of wireless technology, lithium batteries, and faster/more global internet access, the path to the floating cities and forests, cross continental high speed rail, and AI-robot assistants science fiction said 2020 would be like started to become a not-too-distant dream.

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However, it’s 2024, and things aren’t quite what we envisioned. Our cities are more underwater than floating, we’re still stuck with four rubber wheels strapped to a metal box, and Siri’s best party trick is being the butt of a joke.

Somewhere along the line, companies stopped innovating. Instead of seeking new ways to provide groundbreaking technology to the consumer, companies are instead now using their talents to bleed the wallets of consumers dry.

I suppose, making money has always been the goal of most companies. And realistically, money is what allows these companies to produce products in the first place. But, it does genuinely feel like companies don’t care about their products anymore. That is, unless it makes them money. And that’s the issue - we’re getting products made with the sole intention of making money from the consumer, not making a good product.

What we’re stuck with today are products that are so unnecessarily overcomplicated making user-repair near impossible, services that were once free now locked behind a paywall, ever increasing costs of subscription services, dispoasble products that turn into unrecyclable e-waste, products and services we paid for being disabled due to a company’s whims, services that leak our personal data, endless ads shoved down our throats, how we don’t actually own half the products we purchase, and it goes on and on and on.

The list of atrocities that companies have committed against consumers is simply endless. It’s a systemic issue that we’ve been brainwashed into accepting - where products exist solely for fiscal opportunity, resulting in subpar product quality and service. There’s a term for this that I’ve recently come across, and I think it’s pretty fitting.

The Enshittification

I’m tired of not being able to listen to music when my AirPods run out of battery, of waiting for it to charge so I can resume, of them endlessly trying to figure out whether they should automatically connect to my iPhone or MacBook, of it ending up in the landfill after 3 years of use because the battery can’t be replaced and it’s too expensive to recycle.

I’m tired of paying for a products that cease functionality at a company’s discretion, of renting products or leasing media that I’ll never get to own. I’m tired of Spotify removing my favourite artists from my playlists because of licensing, of YouTube being an ad-ridden hell, of having to buy a new Nintendo Switch controller because they don’t sell replacement batteries, of not being able to play a single-player game because it requires an internet connection and their servers are down.

It’s 2024. The internet and wireless technology was supposed to be this freeing, liberating revolution that elevated the human experience. Instead, I feel more limited, more restricted, and more captive than ever. I feel like my wallet is constantly being held hostage, and any attempts to air my thoughts results in backlash from brand loyalists.

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So where does this leave me, the self-proclaimed tech nerd, in love with technology yet falling out of love with it? Well, if I can’t trust the cloud, I’ll have to make my own. And that’s what I’ve spent the past year doing.

A NAS is essentially a box full of hard drives connected to the internet. That’s also essentially what a server, the thing companies use to make their cloud work, is. I digitalize and store basically my entire life on there. All my CD’s, DVD’s, vinyls, photos, music, and whatever else is stored on that NAS. By running specific programs, I’ve essentially created my own versions of Spotify, Google Drive, Apple Photos, and Netflix, all in one go.

As long as my internet is running and the NAS is receiving power, I’ll have access to all of those files, in their full, original quality, and I can do anything I want with them, whenever I want, wherever I want. Compared to the amount I’ve spent on streaming services that can’t deliver the quality and features I now have, spending a little on some hard drives and the occasional album or movie is nothing. Plus, it supports the artists and individuals involved significantly more than streaming does.

I’ve abandoned all my wireless devices, using wired mice, headphones, earphones, keyboards, and what not.

I’ve cancelled every single subscription service, finding alternatives to every single paid subscription with the exception of the following:

• Windy.com - My favourite weather radar for my outdoors shenanigans

• Garmin InReach - so that I can call SOS when the occasion arrives

• Pixpa - the platform I run my website on (and my domain, which I purchased through CloudFlare)

And most importantly, I’m no longer obsessing over technology and lusting for the next new thing. A tech nerd doesn’t need to be a nerd about just modern technology, I’ve realized.

With my regression back to physical media and connections, adapted with the modernities of wireless functionality when needed, this seems to be the perfect balance for me right now. Until new technology becomes fun and less “give me all your money now” again, I’m afraid I’ll be clutching onto my “antiquated technology.”

It’s not all bad news, though. The introduction of Right To Repair movement has gained serious traction in the USA, and the EU has also been enforcing more consumer-friendly practices, prompting Apple’s recent adoption of USB-C, adoption of RCS, and publishing repair guides, something the company has avoided doing for years.

How do you feel about technology today? Do you like it, do you not? Why? How has today’s technology affected the way you use it?

As always, thank you all for reading. Today’s was a bit more rambly than I’d like, but I’ve been sitting on this for a bit and the past week’s events didn’t help much haha.