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'Pushback': Resisting the Life of Constant Connectivity
vinces99 writes "Researchers at the University of Washington have studied and named a trend lots of people can identify with: the desire to resist constant connectivity and step back from the online world. They call it 'pushback.' The researchers looked closely at instances of pushback against technology, reviewing 73 sources divided equally among three areas of online expression: personal blogs and websites, popular media sources and academic conferences and journals. Co-author Ricardo Gomez said they thought they'd find frustration with devices, costs or learning new technologies as key pushback motivations. Instead, the reasons were more emotionally based, with 'dissatisfaction' — the thought that users' needs are not really being met by technology — most often expressed, followed by political, religious or moral concerns. Other motivations were the wish to regain control of time and energy and fear of addiction to the technology. Among the least-often reported objections were worries about loss of privacy."
I didn't have a phone for 13 years, land or cell, and only got one when I had a severe injury that left me bedridden for a few months. I got a pre-paid dumb phone that I still have but leave it off 95% of the time and usually don't carry it. I just want a period of time where I'm not staring at an LCD device, lord knows I stare at the screen too much as it is. What I will sometimes do in the summer is have a "technology-free" weekend I know that everything is a technology of sorts but let's go with that term. From Friday afternoon until Monday morning, nothing electric will be used. No lights, no food from the fridge, no cars. I read books by candlelight, eat fruit/raw veggies/nuts/bread, ride my bike, take walks, if the phone rings...let it ring (no one is going to need an emergency kidney transplant). It's really quite relaxing just to disconnect from it even if you're surrounded by it all in a city. Somehow, you survive being disconnected and it really is a refreshing change to "pushback"
consumer choice, the active and willful decision to use or not to use a specific product or service, or even none at all, is what its called. To brand it as 'pushback' is condescending and offensive as it implies im somehow inappropriately stubborn, or creating an inconvenience or disservice to others in the pursuit of things like consumer capitalism.
Speaking as a member of the 'pushback' community, If you'd like to use facebook, gmail, google plus, and twitter, by all means do so. If the only way you can start your day is with a fresh stream of "news" from the blogosphere, or an instagram of your cat, then I've nothing for which to lambast you. The internet is an open technology and as such everyones entitled to use it differently as they see fit, or not use part or all of it at all. Extend to me a likewise courtesy though, and dont bitch piss and moan when I cant be found on linkedin or your favourite social spheres. Give me a call, or a text, or an email, or come right over some time and hang out. if its too grand an inconvenience to leave the laptop though, we need to reconsider our relationship.
Why as a "pushback" troglodite am i refusing your utopia? Because its offered at the price of my freedom, which isnt for sale. Its alabaster wall is a prison in which the inmates scrawl their wishes and dreams, announce their likes and disklikes, and pass the time with games and witty reparte while a recumbent warden looks on intently. Constant connectivity is its chain gang. misery is the road it paves alongside the convicted who shall be Sentenced to a lifetime of free trials, free updates, introductory offers, limited events, and great deals.
Good people go to bed earlier.