Many of us welcome the technological advancements that make our lives easier. We enjoy hitting buttons to adjust our home’s temperature, lock the doors, and warm up the car. Every so often, we hear news reminding us how technology can take three steps forward and one step backward as more and more tech companies access our personal information and pass it along to other companies.
In the corner of our minds, we suspect companies use our personal information to pad their profits. Sometimes, we get a tap on the shoulder that encourages us to change our ways:
We can’t change the culture overnight, but if we want to pause and take a technological step backward, here are several ways to do it. To protect our privacy, we could manually lock our doors, physically turn off the lights, and enter our vehicles to start the engine. Then—and here’s where it gets radical—instead of managing your schedule on your phone, mark appointments on a wall calendar. Take a picture of it and refer to it to see when you’re available. Once you arrive at home, pencil in your new appointments on a real calendar. That’ll teach tech companies to profit from tracking your whereabouts. Stop the info flow!
Obviously, few of us will go to these extremes, but we ought to draw a line somewhere to prevent the situation from going too far. It makes sense to take a step back for a course correction. Which former habits and traditions do you need to resurrect to benefit you and/or your family?
