If you can't choose not to use a technology, you are not using that technology, it is using you.
@strypey I mean, seriously: Is central heating as bad with that regard as whatever evil digital technology you had in mind?
@Wolf480pl you can choose to turn the central heating off. You'd be really cold and it'd suck, but you could choose to do so. If you couldn't make that choice, then you would be a slave feeding the central heating sequestered carbon to turn into CO2, so pretty evil ;) But yeah, I guess I was thinking more of the obvious contrast between #BORG implants and PCs, and the less obvious contrast between mobile internet and the 1990s dial-up net.
I could for instance choose not to rely on living in a heated house and wearing clothes, but I'd rather not. What I get from that technology is well worth the cost. But I still have the choice, just as with any technology. Of course there are other examples, like medical technology people need to survive. That is also a choice, just a far less attractive choice.
@strypey This is pre-requisite to a coercive contract, and a good sign to watch out for one to be sure!
@strypey otoh there are a lot of technologies that are using me, not because I can't not use them, but because human nature renders not using them an unlikely choice in the face of their prevalence, attention grabbing techniques and general tempting nature.
@feonixrift yup. Pretty much my point ;) The OP was my attempt at a simple rule of thumb I could use to help me identify attempts at attention hacking and resist them. A kind of firewall for the mind.
@strypey help, central heating is using me!