Participate more? Or drop back ?

[thepainterdoug]

Nothing is getting easier. No modern tech is making human life better without a complicated aspect added . We are on a ride thats hard to get off.

Phone- there are so many apps, updates, notices, alerts. New features, texting by finger, voice recording or" voice text " which I have just discovered.
I get a phone call and notices are popping up in front of it. A new call, a text , cant see who it is I am trying to talk to. or driving with maps and loose my direction when someone calls or updates pop up ! lol

whats app. telegram, instagram, messages, non stop, update prompts and all.
maps , google maps, i tunes all happening when driving,
audio books going as well

E mails, I cannot talk to my son. Forget the phone, he is jamming, so e mails or text are the only way.
He gets maybe 500 e mails a day , probably more, so mine just get lost or put on a shelf.
Just to sift thru his e mails is a full time job. By the time he is done and on the way home, he is burnt out and not up for talk.

I tunes now makes music mixes for me, studying my listening habits. I cant seem to just buy a song like I used to.Then some songs or playlist starts playing and I can get it off.

News and media sites, keeping up with whats going on. Emails asking for $$ support . It never ends. The noise in between my ears is often maddening and hard to debrief from.

I am not requesting advice as I already get it. It's a matter of disconnecting. But that has its price as well.

What will it be like in another couple of years? What kind of life is this?
Perhaps this is why we are meant to die off

Feel free to chime in or ignore.

[tendril]

To chime in...
I am a firm believer in IRL. In real life, as in person. Too, like many of my age, I have seen the gambit of the rise of tech. I question it in an ongoing deeply personal way. In an example: Why does the vet need to send me emails fear porn about my dog? I say No as they have an app too. Why on earth do I require this?

Ultimately, it feels tech is a mechanism of control. I say no. I will not comply with the need for technology. It is a simple tool of convenience. I can count, I can discern, and I can decide for myself. No nanny required.

[Pam]

I am undergoing a natural, organic process that has meant I have almost separated from the current culture. I don't feel any desire to interact with most of it. It isn't about bitterness or dislike necessarily. I simply don't appreciate the current culture and the focus of technical obsession with it's ever new apps and increasing complexities and constant updating. I don't find much reason to interact on a social level if I am unable to have a thoughtful conversation or a good laugh or share in the wonder of beauty. Most people seem to be spouting the current programming they are being fed and it has no meaning for me. I am fortunate that I enjoy solitude and my own company. I enjoy spending time with my dogs and working outdoors and doing yoga. There are so many books written in others times I have yet to read.I love to try and figure out the mysteries of life.

It doesn't mean I don't utilize technology. As far as my cell phone goes, I use it for communication and it is nice to have if I am traveling. Texting can be a nice tool, although it definitely has its down side. I try to keep a very minimum of apps on it and definitely don't carry the friggin thing in my pocket all the time unless I am expecting a call and am working outside or going somewhere. I have maintained it as a tool and refuse to let it become more than that. I have never gotten used to people that can't put their phone down. More than once I have gone out with someone that will get a call and proceed to carry on a casual conversation with them when they have committed to spending time together. They don't even seem to have the common courtesy of saying they will call back later. I am seriously thinking of downgrading to a fliptop phone that can still text as I see where the whole smart phone thing is being weaponized against my privacy and will be continuously increased as a mode of control until they get the whole trans-humanism thing up and running.

I guess I can be perfectly content leading sort of a "Walden" sort of lifestyle with an emphasis of spending more time in the natural world rather than the synthetic one. It will be interesting to see how having this evil and deceit rising to the surface will ultimately effect mankind. Will it be our demise or will the power of those developing courage and a commitment to a kinder, more cooperative world make enough of a difference energetically to get us through to a changing of frequency from the current trajectory?

[thepainterdoug]

Tendril/ so true regarding your dog. All of this is so intrusive and so unnecessary. I get an update ever day about impending weather doom in my town.
yesterday it said, dangerous snow squall warning, first of the year.
remained sunny out all day.

Its my take on covid as well. I look out the window, down the street and walk outside. I dont see or hear about a pandemic, not now ,not a year ago. No one dying, no ambulances and town chatter about who died etc. No one removed from my condo complex. ITs only on the news !
i guess the dumbing down over the last 20 years has really truly worked!

And regarding tech, in Jurassic Park, Jeff Goldblum says when the T Rex appears regarding cloning, , just cause you could have , doesnt mean you should have.

[RunningDeer]

Now and again I have to disconnect from everyone. It’s been like that for as long as I can remember. In the last year, I bounce back sometimes within hours or overnight. I figure it's because I’m evolving into Paula-New; the one that is creating a new world. For now, it’s a small world. I envision it expanding one day. There are moments when I’m impatient, and other times I am sadden to believe I’m undeserving of it.

[I’m a work in progress.]

Hodgepodge snippets:

I unsubscribe to emails when I’ve ordered on-line. It cuts down on the garbage emails.

When I send email to family I add on the Subject line: Paula - [and add a brief description of topic]. I no longer take it personally when they don’t respond tout suite. Everyone is going…growing through this transition. I’d wager my family is unaware of it.

I’ve only downloaded a few apps for the iPad/mini-iPad. I’ve deleted apps if there are pop-ups.

Last month, I discontinued my home phone service because I always kept it unplugged. Even one call a day from advertisers was one too many. I’m now $648 a year richer. This past summer, I sprung for a cheapo cell phone and have service with Tracfone for $22 a month.

Suggestion: Turn off Genius in iTunes to stop those pop-ups and/or suggestions.

♡

[thepainterdoug]

Thanks Running deer I need to sit down and do housekeeping on all these devices.

[Open Minded Dude]

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=o0AlNLloC8A

[lake]

I guess it depends on each person .... I have been thinking for some few years to 'leave' the internet.
Would it be of any use to me to do so .... it would make things difficult but .... I do consider that the 'black mirrors' are taking us lower, into a lesser place ....... from which we may never be able to leave!
The words "Never put on the VR googles, as you will never know if you took them back off" .... keep running around in my head.

60/40 right now that I turn it all off and return to a more simple way of life .... just leave all this behind!

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by thepainterdoug (here)
...on all these devices

Made me laugh. (But not at you! )

I only have a computer (a regular one, a small 13" 2015 Mac laptop), and I keep in touch with the world via the forum and a handful of news sites I visit regularly.

Most everything I need to know about the world (and what people in the world are all saying and experiencing) is reliably shared on Avalon every day. If there's something on Twitter I might be usefully aware of, it'll be there in a forum post, and I'll find it.

My very old and simple cellphone, which I think cost me $20, I never use unless I'm on the road and trying to co-ordinate a meeting with someone in town, which is once in a blue moon. I have no cellphone signal at home, and I disconnected my landline years ago.

I have no social media accounts at all except for email. No Facebook, no LinkedIn, no Instagram, no Twitter, no nothing. Social media is an addiction. It really is, in the truest sense of the word.

I sensed the quicksand-danger of the internet way back in the late 90s and was VERY reluctant to get involved. It took me a long time even to start using email, and I recoiled from Facebook like it was something poisonous.

That was purely instinctive. I didn't know a tiny fraction as much about all that as I do now, but I still picked it all up intuitively.

Like Paula, I've gradually grown to be rather a recluse (and an extremely happy one!), and I've been diligent in keeping my life very simple.

I live simply, communicate simply, eat simply, take care of myself simply, and profoundly appreciate all the simplicities around me, most definitely including everything that's natural, green and magical — and there's a LOT of that to be appreciated if one chooses to connect with it all. It's all still out there.

[Johan (Keyholder)]

Like most here, I am for "drop back".

Retreating in Nature in Belgium (and the surrounding countries) is not so easy, but I DO believe it is still possible, at least to a serious level.
Limiting the use of internet (what's necessary, and that depends on what one is occupied with), NO social media (or again, what is necessary to reach people that also want to limit "radiation exposure" - some of us have to be like "beacons" so that other people càn "get out", when they opt to do so), and if possible a "flip-phone" instead of a - (stupid..) - smart one.

It's an adventure to even TRY to get back way more into real life. I can suggest that to everyone here.

[Open Minded Dude]

I only use a PC for all things private (email, music, browsing, etc.) and one other PC for work. I also only use a flip phone still from pre-Iphone times. I bought a smartphone a few years ago but I don't use it. I seem the only person in the world who had one and was utterly bored by it. I do not like small screens so I left it where it is since it had no extra cost for me (the sim card for that one was into the bargain with my internet provider). Officially as a private person I am not on any Social Media. I had a FB account for my artist project but I deleted it again. I just don't like FB and its design and functionalities. In other words: I thought it sucked. Twitter is a no go and I certainly use a lot of YouTube if you see it as Social Media but also in anonymous form and with an artist account. So I still go a lot under the radar and am more disconnected than connected in my view. But not entirely. Keeping up a certain level to 'stay tuned in' is okay.

'The dosage makes the poison' as the saying goes.

[SpookyMulder]

Just like Bill, I have no so called social accounts. Nothing, no interest, never had any and will never do. Thas is simply digital cocaine for the people, used to turn folks into addicts, observe and study them. I walk around and look at people as if they were QR codes!
Litteraly, all they spent their time doing these days is scanning their phones, it's funny how they are allowing algorithms dictate their very life or what's left of it. I personally got refused so many jobs because I didn't have a Linkedin or FB. They cared, I didn't.

For example, I don't bother with the likes of spotify or whatever streaming service out there as I use Kodi (https://kodi.tv/) to listen to my music, it's all offline and you can organise anything the way you want. It's open source and free with the best audio engine you can find on any player around.

I don't use YouTube but an alternative called Freetube (https://freetubeapp.io/) to watxch whatever videos put on YT, the beauty of it is that you don't need a google account or to log in to suscribe to any channel, download the application, pick the channel, suscribe and Bob's your uncle; open source and free too.

For browsing, I use my own customised version of Firefox to disable all form of telemetry and spying poo-poo (as there is) otherwise well, Tor is your compadre!

If your pc or laptop gets old in the teeth, well a little Linux treatment will do the trick to give it a new lease of life. Pick your choice, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Whonix, Mandjaro, Pop_OS, MX Linux, Endeavour, and the list goes on.

There are many other things you can do or try, alternatives, and open source tools to free yourself from the shackles of the corporate prison. It requires a bit of research and trying but hey, a few of us can help. This is why Avalon was built for in part, and right now time is of the essence.

It's hard to swim against the tide, when everybody around you seems to swim towards where the sharks are and you watch from the lifeguard tower telling them to pay attention to that very tide, at the end of the day it is their very choice and we have to accept it and have compassion even though harder these days.

There is only one thing more porwerful than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.

[Gemma13]

I'm also reclusive, only put my little burner phone in a drawer 6mths ago to finally get a smart phone, much to the joy of family and friends because the emojis they send me are no longer a bunch of empty squares. But what has really struck me recently is how little in common I have with those around me.

As many outliers here know that's been a cross to bear most of our lives, but a trip away recently visiting family and friends drove it home even further as I was hoping to find a glimpse of evolution in my local sphere after many years of self exile.

Not so, conversations were painfully bland and stuck in a groundhog day from years ago. When I attempted to raise the bar a bit because the inevitable happened and it was my turn to share with my cousins what I was up to, they all froze and looked at me like deer stuck in headlights. When the cousin I thought would be the smartest in the room came to my rescue, his authoritative translation to everyone was so basic I then looked at the group like a deer stuck in headlights.

I had described a novel I was starting to write that would juxtapose human heart Wi-Fi vs synthetic A.I. Wi-Fi in the evolution of our species. I gave several examples when I saw jaws starting to drop and knew I had to help them along. I kept it fairly low key though with Sophia and her citizenship, transhumanism and spirituality. After the awkward silence the rescue cousin said, with a condescending chuckle, "It's going to be about when you're at work and your phone reminds you it's time to call Mum for her birthday."

Now as much as this response could factor in, the gap between a phone calendar and The Matrix was disheartening. I looked at my plate of food, praised the cook, nodded and smiled like a robot to all the chatter that started up again whilst retreating into another world inside with a stark reminder of why I spend so much time on my own.

But the point of this was not the fact that they didn't have a clue about what I was talking about, I never expected that, it was the lack of curiosity to even ask just one question. Not one! If someone started talking about a world or topic I didn't know much about I would have to zip my mouth up from time to time to give them time to respond to the million questions I would love them to answer.

It is the lack of curiosity, let alone imagination, that I think is one of our biggest hurdles.

[thepainterdoug]

Many of you have seemed to setttle in to a good balance. Congratulations! Enviorment is key. Im in my city so long and yet pretty much a recluse here.
But its different than being out in the expansion of nature and space.
I have no interest in travel. The answer for me is going within, the spirit, and conversations with God

[Sadieblue]

Sometimes I think I have outlived my time, but I try to stay away from tech. as much as I can. I even still use checks, and write out my monthly bills, stamp them and put them in the mail box for the mail carrier to pick up. I don't like to carry my phone outside with me, but my daughter insist, just in case you fall and need help. I do enjoy my computer and it is a desktop, I have the IPhone, Notepad, and other trinkets that have been given to me by my family, I wouldn't even have the cell phone if my daughter didn't pay the bill. I use it rarely, I prefer my house phone which I do have, and hate the texting bit. If you want to talk with me, call me on my house phone please...it doesn't get hot in my hand like the cell does. All this Tech stuff is not for me.

[Harmony]

I find the quietness of nature does help to move your focus within, and it is helpful to be able to do that when you are in any situation as well.

When I read Gemma 13's post above about being with people, I often feel the same, feeling some how so alienated because what is so important inside of us has no meaning to another, almost like existing with one foot barely in this world and it's concepts, yet loving the beauty and magnificence of this world at the same time. I would love to read your book Gemma, those exact thoughts of what it would be like living in a world based on love and trust and caring, the only key needed to enter that world, a key that can only resonate with goodness, and how our abilities with our beings alone could surpass any AI abilities ever çould.

Our inside, our true essence, not the knowledge of the essence, seems to what we are being called to fine tune.

[Mike]

I had an intuition about wifi devices long ago, much like Bill did. I didn't even have a cell phone till I was 27 years old. I held out for a long while, and I liked it that way. Back then I would have been pleased if all that tech was destroyed and everyone was forced to communicate thru smoke signals. In 1995 I dropped out of a college course because they wanted me to set up an email address. Emails seemed preposterous to me at the time. I just didn't feel right about any of it.

But I quickly discovered that if I wanted a job - and more importantly if I wanted to hang onto my girlfriend - I'd need both a phone and an email address. For a while I still maintained a distance from this stuff, but when I finally got that first smart phone it totally corrupted me. I imagine it's sort of akin to taking that first hit of crystal meth, or heroin. Suddenly i was the archetypal converted primitive. Makes me a little sad to think about it.

I got carried away over the years but I'm finally settling into a balance. I operate online in fits n spurts. I'm not on social media (Ive sent exactly 1 tweet in my life...to Stephen King, because I simply had to tell him what a dipsh!t he is. But that's it). The closest thing I have to social media is Avalon, and I try to stagger my participation here lately (few weeks on, few weeks off). I think it's a healthy thing to do.

I deactivated my Skype account because I was getting deluged with messages, and I felt a constant and annoying obligation to respond to all of them. It drained me, because I'm a bit of a loner at heart, and I find that people - in general - take from me more than they give to me. That's my fault too. When I find myself in some kind of dialogue with someone - be it voice or text - I feel like they expect me to entertain them in some way, and I will frequently oblige by lapsing into my little performing flea act. It's a terrible flaw and I'm trying my damndest to stop

I'm getting better finally at establishing my own pace tho. People call me frequently and I just don't pick up anymore. They can call 10 times and I'll ignore the bloody phone 10 times if I don't feel like talking. Even with text messages..I take my sweet time responding. I almost treat them like handwritten notes that get delivered by foot. It might be a while before you hear back from me

Thing is, people begin feeling entitled to your time and energy if you continually give it away. Uncharacteristically, I exchanged a flurry of phone calls and texts with an old friend of mine recently...and now he's angry that I'm not responding. It's amazing. I think he thought we were just going to carry on like that for the rest of our lives

[RunningDeer]

Posted by thepainterdoug (here)
Many of you have seemed to setttle in to a good balance. Congratulations! Enviorment is key. Im in my city so long and yet pretty much a recluse here.
But its different than being out in the expansion of nature and space.
I have no interest in travel. The answer for me is going within, the spirit, and conversations with God

That's how I walk in nature. It all begins with going within and pretty soon it’s hard to tell what’s within and what’s without. I’m lifted by the conversations with the wind, the trees, plants, animals, birds, insects, the rock walls.

With the seasonal change, life’s mostly in hibernation now. I wished the sleepy life a good winters rest and I’ll see them next spring.

Winter winds are still available for conversation. I expand way out. Wind blows through and helps to clear out the energetic debris. I visualize and watch the DNA and energetic bits in the auric field shake up and shake out and repair. What happens in the auric field also happens within. It’s all the same to me.

[Gemma13]

Harmony:  I would love to read your book Gemma,

Thanks Harmony...I'll have to get cracking then   The plot is outlined fairly well in my head and I'm just starting to put it down on paper.

I had kinda given up on the idea of ever being able to do something about it because it's something that I feel strongly needs two to tango; so it wasn't even on my radar a few months back.  But it is now, thanks to kind encouragement, lovely support, and guiding intelligence that I am blessed to receive from a friend. 

[Mashika]

I have an android phone, i'm mostly on airplane mode except when i'm out of reach of wifi or signal is poor to use the data plan. if i know i'm going to be off for a while, from good signal, i do enable radio signal for the sim card, so i can get important messages if something may happen, or a phone call. Otherwise i do keep track of messages on Vk and Telegram, mostly from family and friends i don't want to lose touch

I am subscribed to around 40 separate channels in Telegram, and several other places in Vk and Reddit

Every morning, i take my phone out of "No Disturb" mode and then the following happens:

Around 400 notifications come in at once

Then i start scrolling through them:

"Biden said xx.." swipe away
"Putin said xx.." swipe away
"This or x politica.." swipe away
"You won't believe what this perso.. " swipe away
"This programming course will make you a geniou.." swipe away
"40 lost calls from Hom..." swipe away
"Where the F*** are yo..." swipe away
"Free ebook about xx." swipe away
"The end of the wor.." swipe away
"I like you and want to mee.." swipe away
"I don't know you but please add me as a frie..." swipe away

IF i want to check Telegram, i open the app and check the channels i like the most, and i often unsubscribe from those with 'sensational news" and clickbait, it's an endless cycle but sometimes i find a channel that posts good stuff first, then 2 months later it turns into 'another one of those', so away it goes. I also mute some friends for months, when they keep doing odd stuff, like posting memes about being an incel or such

Then some times, good stuff comes in, like someone just saying Hi! and is a person i loved to talk to, or actual good video recommendations from subscriptions on youtube or other places. And good quality news on twitter or reddit, but also there you can select who and what to listen for, so i have a very short list of subscriptions there

I have the phone setup so that only people who i have in my starred contacts can go through the 'no disturb mode', everyone/everything else gets swiped away as soon as i check my phone every morning

I think most important thing is, you may have all those social media apps, but select well what/which ones and what to subscribe for, and keep it clean, subscribe to something you think is interesting, then if a dumb message comes in, delete the subscription right then and there, don't wait or think it twice. That stuff doesn't matter. Just like talking to someone on the street who first says "Hi" and then turns nasty 10 seconds later, why bother? Keep walking away, it's pointless to pay attention

I don't think there's anything bad to check what's 'out there', but never let it grow into a monster that keeps you busy checking it every 5 minutes. Just check once a day, curate the feed and remove any app you find no use for, after testing it for a day or two

It's also important to always be on top of the game, but how could you, if you don't try it at least once? But as said here on the thread before, once you check it out, and if it looks malign, then you should just skip immediately, right?

I have friends who are a dictionary of memes and quotes, all picked up from social media. It's impossible to have a real human conversation with them, they are just social media bots by now. They allowed the social media monster to take them over

I just think it is the same as how you select friends out there, or what tv channels, radio stations to listen to, maybe it's a bit harder but you can just avoid subscribing to stuff you don't like and then keep that practice and in the same way that if you don't like a person for whatever reason you just stop hanging up with them. Kind of like that?