My parents got a new car and they thought I’d be impressed that it has an iPad for a dashboard and knows who’s driving by using your phone.

And 20 years ago that would have been cool. But now? Now all I see is data harvesting, bad UI, and expensive repairs that must be done at the stealership.

Tech used to be something fun and new, that gave you freedoms and abilities you never thought were possible. But now it’s just another way for companies to ship expensive crap and exploit us. I’d much rather have my dumb car that makes fart noises and won’t even shift without my help.

One thing I did like is that the interior door handles are well-made and easily accessible.

Make your shit work for you again. Learn to self-host and embrace open source.

Cut it down, your computer is not a source of evil. Especially if its a second or third hand buy. People think life is about control, its not. Life is full of things that we cannot control, can only influence, or can only really observe on an individual scale. Now what really helps is activism. Get out with a group of people to affect change. Put more good into the world than evil and your hobbies matter a little less (given they are benign)

I feel the same way sometimes. Here's what I've been up to:

• Self hosting as much of my digital footprint as possible, with federated technologies and Foss at the forefront
• Focusing my computer time on my own hobbies and curiosities, just tinkering with the computer, or contributing to open source projects
• Volunteering to help with conferences where I can, and attending hacker and hardware conferences. I have a nice little international group of friends and confidants thanks to that. It helps me to connect with people in person.

Compute to battle the evils.

Make open source tools to remove dependency on corporate spyware.

Create smaller low power AI assistants to make the giants redundant.

Create websites that inform rather than misdirect and out-market the evil ones.

Not proposing it's easy or even realistic, but it's the same battle that always was.

Any tool can be used for good or for evil. Try not to get sucked into the doom spiral, there are plenty of FOSS and adjacent projects making the world a better place.

How have you chosen to deal with it?

Moving back to analog wherever I could, re-learn and re-use the old ways as much as possible. And also taking back control, and ownership, over my tech.

I've been using a computer since the early 80s and have been online regularly probably somewhere around the late 80s, first through BBS. Luckily for me, while I was self-learning that new computer and digital stuff, I was also taught the classic ‘analog’ ways of doing things. Things like writing longhand, or using snail mail. So, the moment I realized I could not trust nor agree with techs, I started:

• Using physical and/or low-tech objects wherever and whenever I can.
• I got rid of all streaming and subs, an always growing, always less privacy friendly (and more expensive) list of services and apps.
• After years mostly reading ebooks, I moved back to reading actual print books, and using physical media for music and movies (discs).
• Relying less on a computer on my everyday life. Doing math in my head instead of needing that high-tech crutch that is a calculator. Using an actual dictionary to lookup for a definition (a paper dictionary does not track what word I’m checking, like no print book is reporting back what I’m actually reading), Stopped relying on a spellchecker (aka, improve my writing skills and also learn to be fine with doing as few mistakes as I can even more so in foreign languages like English). Small things like that.
• Use older tech (more repairable, sustainable, less connected) wherever I can. See, I recently purchased a 90s digital voice recorder that uses good old AA batteries (that last for months, plural), that requires no Internet connection to operate and no subscription either (so there is no tracking going on, no constant updates or security threats, and there is no ads). Sure, it doesn't have the latest and greatest AI summarizing tool but... I don't care. And I certainly don’t want AI to feast on my own voice, nor on my most personal notes, doing god knows what with them.
• Use Free Libre software instead of the most widely known proprietary ones. Apps and tools that respect my privacy and my rights as a user.
  After 40+ years being an Apple user, a few years ago I fully switched to GNU/LInux and to Libre software. My only regret? I should have switched years earlier.
• Last but certainly not least, I barely use my phone at all. On mine, there is only a handful of apps I need to have access to (finance/security/pro stuff). There is nothing personal, not even ebooks or music, and certainly no social or games. The phone is the least trustworthy of all the 'digital' device I own, so it's the one I use the less.

I use to love playing video games. When MMOS hit I was all for it. It would be like play D&D all the time with your friends. I just wanted to hang with my friends but the min/maxers hit and then the constant grind. I quit caring.

This is exactly how I feel right now.

I turned my hobby into a career and now I fucking hate it. Soulless evil billionaires turned it into a fucking dystopia machine. I really can't see any exit from this other than changing my entire field. But, no other field I could work into would pay my mortgage and enable me to afford food.

Self hosting, trying to get progressively more serious about privacy and security.

I've gotten into Amateur Radio, you need a license to transmit but you gain access to a lot of cool stuff. The Ham bands are a non-commercalized space where experimentation and the sharing of technical knowledge are highly esteemed. There's no ISP or hidden tech bro to moderate the experience, your limits are your skill, equipment, and the privileges of your license. On High Frequencies there are propagation effects that cause your signal to travel thousands of miles enabling the potential for worldwide communications given proper conditions.

I'm dealing with it by spending my time around you fellows. It feels like the old days of the internet over here, back when it was just us nerds. Honestly though? I feel like I'm going to end up one of those Amish like hermits, living in the woods and swearing off technology. Especially when the surveillance becomes suffocating.

We should built our own internet, with blackjack and hookers!

They way I see it, computers are tools. They can just as easily be used for good as evil.

If people were going around smashing vehicles with hammers, we would (hopefully) work on better law enforcement than ban hammers. Same sort of thing with computers, we need standards and regulations.

I have thought about this also. Especially when it comes to mobile technology. For most of my career I have been an advocate of mobile technology like smartphones, I have recommended it, I have set it up for people, and now I look at the world and honestly wonder if we wouldn't be a better place without smartphones.

Thing is, we are iron mongers. We build tools. We give people tools. "It is not the tool that determines its work, it is the mind mind of the man who holds the tool that does." (-Brannon LaBoeuf).

Does that absolve me of all responsibility? No not a chance. But it does offer s or a suggested path forward.

The harm that comes from computing for the most part, IMHO, doesn't come from users. It comes from people who exploit the users and users who don't realize they are being exploited. Meta, TikTok, Snap, Google, etc. these are the guys causing the problem.

So as technologists, we have an opportunity to change course. To show those who rely on us ways to use technology without being exploited. Yeah I realized to some degree it's a drop in the ocean, trying to piss up a rope but there are little victories to be had.

In short, be the change.

Leaving IT. Gardening. Trading pc nerdery for soil science nerdage.

Q: "How have you dealt with this?"

A: Poorly.

I was looking for a tech positive outlook and found solarpunk for myself. Since then I've learned a lot that doesn't have to do with tech, but also on the topic of how technology can empower people. It helps I was already an environmentalist before.

I started looking a lot more into contributing to open source projects. I started looking into decentralized networks like lora radios. I self host a lot more. Got rid of Google on my phone...

Biggest issue is the job. With my attitude change my well paid corporate tech job has become soul sucking.

Make new hobby gym. All health. No evil.

Like many have said here : open source is one way to cure your technodepression. Little project are happy to get you involved. I have helped many project without being a dev.

For every bad thing there are good things.

Linux starting to go mainstream and duel boot is 90% not required anymore.

I know a kid that uses a local AI model to help him write. Where he couldn't barely communicate before.

For every social media site there are places like this or the tildeverse that let people communicate and build relationships.

For every tech bro there is a kid that doesn't feel like they belong anywhere making friends online that he finally clicks with. There is me helping some person in a chat room on IRC fix a Linux issue that I don't know and will never meet and get nothing from just because its nice and fun to help people.

If someone picks up a chair and hits a person with it, is the chair now evil? Should you avoid using chairs because of the potential hurt they can cause? Computers are the same.

Focus on the positive and don’t dwell on the negative. Play games, tinker with hardware and open-source software. Get off platforms like Reddit/Lemmy where negativity is much more pervasive.

Of course, if you find yourself “recoiling from all online spaces” then consider alternative hobbies that give you the same level of satisfaction.

Computing itself is fine. I can still do most everything I used to do on my PC pre-popular internet. I have essentially no cloud services on my PC.

However, the internet itself is a dumpster fire. It always was, except you had to deliberately looking for those places and they tended to be isolated back in the day.

Of course monetization destroyed the internet with corporations doing everything possible to carve it up and shove their ads and billionaire-controlled media slant in front of you, and their engagement-bait feeding of lies and giving a platform to controversy and stupidity on social media.

Most all of the good spaces are gone. Very few exist in anything remotely close to their original form, they’ve been corporatized, disappeared, or swallowed up by places like Reddit.

I am lucky that I got a job that is, if not doing good, at least not doing something evil. And I get to play with cool hardware. Not something practicable for everyone, I know. But those jobs are out there.

Besides, I have met many people with similar feelings recently. You are not alone. I don't know how to find those people where you live. But for instance, there are many people helping worthwhile causes with the tech side.

Personally, I might have to use two phones in the future, kind of like how I saw some do in China. One for the official, mandated bullshit, and one for personal things, with an operating system that does not snitch on every action I take.

It feels like all the joy I used to feel from being [human] has been completely voided as [humanity] has become the modern vector for fascism and surveillance. I find myself recoiling from all [human] spaces, even [safe, supportive] ones that I'd loved and supported in the past.

I'm not trying to poke fun at you, but I found that we can really apply what you said there to a lot of other aspects of life and it wouldn't sound too crazy these days.

Tools are tools. The car brings you from point A to point B. That point B can be your home where you feel safe, or right into some person to hurt or even kill them. The kitchen knife lets you cut your veges, but you can also cut off someone else's finger. But do we say we should stop using these tools because of how badly other people are using them?

What you're tired of is people being irresponsible, people wanting to act with impunity, to gain dangerous powers, to threaten others, to satisfy only themselves, be it sadistic, sexual, egotistic, self-compensation, or whatever. The problem lies in certain groups of people, not the tool. Why are we fussing over the tool when it's the people that we need to deal with? Sure, we can argue that the tool makes doing the harm easier, and yes we should try to find ways to build better, safer tools, or control who gets to use the tools, but it never removes people's abilities to do harm through other means. Not having the Internet and technology just means that these harms are more localized and muted. A tree fell in the forest and no one was there to hear it, but it also means no one knows if someone's actually there and they're hurt because of it.

I got into an outdoors hobby. Healthier for me anyway.

Yeah I get it. I stopped posting on Reddit, and only will on the fediverse, but even that feels like a surveillance nightmare.

Honestly, these days I try and spend as much time just not on the computer, going outside, building physical stuff, and hanging with friends.

And I would say that, while still problematic, video games honestly feel like the least toxic part of computing these days. Buying a $60 game and playing the hell out of it with friends, (or a genuinely well written game like cyberpunk or control) is still rewarding and feels non toxic.

knowledge is power. I've grown to really hate technology, but being knowledgeable about it has helped me to stay safer in the dystopia. buy a phone with an unlockable bootloader and install a custom ROM. code your own apps, I learned java within the span of 3 days to make my own WebView apps of mobile sites instead of making a Google account or using the play store. people who have never been into tech can't do this kind of stuff. you're smart about the digital footprint though, I've been minimizing where I can since 2024 because I saw the writing on the wall even back then.

I grew up as a computer nerd kid in the 90s with my first computer being a 386 DX 66mhz off brand IBM PC clone with 8mb ram.

I was put on this earth to do computer stuff no doubt about it. I was the first on my block with dialup. I was the first on my block with DSL. I was the first kid on my block with cable internet. Taught myself C when I was 15 and and a software engineer professionally over a decade without any college education.

With that being said, what we call “AI” (LLMs) completely exhausts me and I have absolutely no interest about AI garbage. I am depressed because AI exists to cheapen literally everything I have a passion for.

When I was young I always wanted to be at the head of technology and always stay up to date with it I’d read books and news daily. Always had a genuine passion for it, but I can’t stand it now.

I just stay stuck in the 90s and play old consoles like PlayStation and N64. That gives me comfort and I know there’s no AI slop in those games.

I bike more.

Its a tool that can be used for cool or evil things, like any other tool.

Um I'm not a very tech savvy person. From my perspective, computing is also the only resource left to maintain our rightful freedom over tech. The Internet is meant to be free. Tech is supposed to be yours. Yes, there are exploitative assholes using technology to suck the joy out of you. But I celebrate the people who find and share ways to bypass, circumvent, and nullify this abuse. Which is also computing, right?

I used to be a thief, as a hobby, but I feel way less guilty about it nowadays.

It's not computing that is evil necessarily. It's the corporate privatization of compute that is going to be the issue in the coming years and decades. Like so many things in the modern world, they want you renting it, not owning it.

Keep working to own it yourself, and use it to help fight the battles that need to be fought.

I completely get it. It's been so demonized in recent years that it's completely understandable to feel this way. I literally can't fathom how I was ever excited to take an AI course 3-4 years ago in grad school lol

Here's how I've been dealing with it without letting it crush my interest in computing.

In terms of online spaces:

There's always an alternative. You being on Lemmy right now is evidence of this. The big media conglomerates want you to believe there are no alternatives. That's how they function, they use social pressure to get you to conform. Enough friends badger you to get facebook and you eventually get a facebook, even if you hate it.

Gradually move away from these circles, don't allow yourself to be pressured.

The internet is a vaster ecospace than you can possibly imagine, despite how many people believe it's limited to cycling between the same 3-4 apps. You should try checking out Neocities sometime if you don't believe me. Other people who haven't allowed their passions for computing to be drowned out still exist, it's just that the voices of the mundane crowd who don't know anything about computing or have ever had any desire to learn are louder and currently propagate the online space.

Also, never underestimate the power of rigid filters. You'll begin to notice so many other things once every other post you see is no longer a catastrophic news update about how the 1% is currently raping the earth and ruining life for the average citizen. It can feel tempting to always stay "in the loop"... but the truth is, most of the things we stay up to date on aren't as important as we think they are.

Yeah, maybe them building an AI data center in your local district seems like urgent news you have to have... but you already knew these data centers are bad and being built everywhere. You were probably already going to vote against that the next chance you got in a local election. Beyond that, if you aren't planning any local protests... the most productive thing you'd do that day is vent anger online about it with other strangers. Seriously, try to limit your intake to just world news and a local newspaper or the most important stuff that happened that week. If a new war starts I assure you there's no way you'll miss it.

In terms of AI:

Here's a really simple platitude that actually helps more than you think.

"Blame the artist, not the pencil."

It's just another tool, not the end of civilization or the "singularity", or anything people really want to build it up to be. Quite frankly, it's not that cool or spooky at all. I'm 1000 times more spooked by the trends I've seen develop in humans dialing back basic data privacy rights than I am about ChatGPT's actual capabilities.

In fact, I use AI regularly. It's all about balance, just like any other tool you use with computer literacy. You don't download random files, click weird links, or upload your social security number. Same principles with AI.

• I use AI to troubleshoot when I'm programming and it saves me countless hours of searching 15+ year old stackexchange posts: I don't use it to program my code.
• I use AI to roleplay sometimes because the engaging feedback helps spark my creativity: I don't use it to write my stories or texts for me.
• I use AI to help research complex questions to aid my comprehension, such as "Why is manufacturing a cure for AIDS so difficult and have any recent promising developments been made in the field?", not as a one-stop shop for all my factual knowledge.

As draining as it is to find a new AI spyware thing I have to uninstall everytime my browser updates or I open a Microsoft program these days, AI itself is not this big evil thing. And if you have less patience for it than I do, someone who stops to look up the instructions on how to manually disable OneDrive updates in Administrative Tools to stop reinstalling Copilot, take the other people's advice in this thread and go completely open source. Try Linux. It may save you a huge headache in the long run.

Lastly, in terms of creative liberty:

Always remember that the online space was created for us, not for them.

I love messing around with Stylus these days and especially publicly made GreasyFork scripts to see just how much I can break websites and get them to do my bidding. While everyone else is lamenting bad website updates with angry "Goodbye forever" and "I've unsubscribed!! (yes I was paying)" posts, I've already fixed the issue with a script or some basic coding.

In addition, uBlock Origin, VPNs, PopUpOff and a handful of other useful extensions are all your friends, and will help save you from countless hours of irritation of having to navigate spaces with no functional UI in mind. I haven't had issues viewing an article on some offbrand newssite or a mainstream paywall in ages. I found out they banned imgur in my country because of lemmy posts, not because I couldn't access it.

And never throw in the towel because something's "gone forever". I've already found a new piracy website after the last 5 went down. I've already started migrating pages from archive.org to archive.is. Someone has already reuploaded the entire decades old collection of english dub One Piece episodes that went down because of a copyright strike. You know what they say, "Once it's out on the internet, it stays there forever."

Final thoughts

From one computer enthusiast to another, don't let the current state of the world take away your passions from you. Remember, at the end of the day, these are all just tools. It only matters what you do with them.

Here's a little video I'll leave with you in case it helps cheer you up.

Microsoft Windows 95 Launch with Bill Gates & Jay Leno (1995) (be prepared, it's corny as hell lol)

I do volunteer work, that is some humble support for the network and printers and the poor win11 users of a very decent charity organisation that works with kids and elderly people.

Brings me down to earth rather good, away from all my complicated self-hosting or AI or political problems.

I don't have any friends or any other hobbies. Financial situation is not so good rn and so even if I wanted to, don't really feel like spending money for hobby or something.

I don't really know what others definition of "computing" is but if it's just about having an Internet addiction, then it's something I've had for as long as I can remember. I didn't have friends in elementary school but I had access to the Internet while at school and other spaces.

It's all just coping for me. Without the Internet, I'd probably become the next Luigi or something.

I'm still all in. It's just getting harder to find good software. Most of it is older and starting to bit rot. My tolerance for digital BS is at an all-time low. Any sort of dark pattern from a website and I don't hesitate to nope out.

I still think computing is really interesting. The problem is the same as it ever was; a tool being hijacked and used by the owner class to subjugate the workers.

I think it’s still safe to nerd out on Linux and codeberg and games. So I’ve gone there and don’t bother with Facebook or any of those social services. I’ve never found them that enticing anyways. It always felt like a trap and a disengenuous way to engage others.

Agree with a lot of other sentiment : build more offline life. I think it’s the way we gotta go. I mostly see people on rl too rather than text online if the distance permits it

I still like occasional tinkering with computers, not in depth but on a Linux newbie level :) And I like it. Not only did I learn loads of new stuff and was fascinated by the way Linux works, but I also am glad, that there are less predatory alternatives to Windows and MacOS.

So yes, while big tech like Google, OpenAI and Meta are increadibly disgusting, I feel fine by staying away from their services when possible.

What I really dislike is AI Bots picking apart each and every forum post, blog or publicly available images as training data (correct me if I'm wrong). To this I don't have a quick solution. What the user can do is to cautiously think about what they posy online. Playing the long game, we need better legislation in the tech sector, such as: Consent for data scalping is mandatory (let me dream, ok. Please)

I am experiencing the exact same thing, but in my mind it's a disillusionment not with tech itself but with tech products.

I have my Linux PC set up so that I can use it on the couch at home while hanging out with my family. I have a smart phone, but I consciously try to use it as little as possible.

Now instead of following the details of the next generation of phones/consoles/GPUs/AIs, I like to tinker with existing technology that I haven't learned yet. And since I work on computer stuff at work all day, I try to spend my time at home doing analog stuff based in the real world, ideally outdoors even if that means my own yard.

Can't help you with the last. I am just old enough to have been alive and experienced a time when most of society did not have digital devices and kinda watched digital come in and grow up. I get what you mean about the disenchantment but free/libre has never been better and it still has bright potential.

I used to love tinkering with my pc and gaming, but moved away from both in the past few years. With gaming, it had been my primary hobby since I was very young, so I think I just got bored of it. As far as computing, not really sure why, but probably since I'm spending less time on my pc gaming, so I don't see a need to do too much with it nowadays. It's a fancy gaming rig that I mostly use to run a web browser, listen to music, and a little light gaming.

I got into plastic models a couple years ago, and that filled a void I didn't know existed until after I started. I've always liked working with my hands and grew up playing with building toys like Lego and K'nex, so this feels like a continuation of that. I also find it kind of amusing that a hobby that revolves around sitting at your desk alone has got me more social and out of the house than anything else has since I graduated college.

What do you mean "computing"?

Just like, anything involving any type of computer?

Have you looked into tech not corrupted by big corporations? I found meshcore recently, no internet required to connect people, you can easily do something to make your local network more robust and it's so niche that I can't imagine any money moving into it to monetise it somehow.

Technology is not inheritly evil, even stuff like cryptocurrency, NFTs, social media, LLMs, all of that has really interesting technology behind it, but has been used by people for nefarious means.

You can most certainly engage with technology without facilitating things like fascism and surveillance still, though arguably it is harder. But conversely, things like fediverse are happening where by their nature they are much harder to be taken over by corporate interests or fascism. It's an always changing landscape, and you're likely going to need to be a bit of a nomad until things get better. But I think they will get better.

I feel this. I used to find computers and the promises of the internet exciting. Then things slowly turned into what they are now, and these days I often can only see everything computer as a layer of bullshit that has been put on top of the real world to keep us in a trance and not engage with reality anymore. But a lot of good things came from being connected as well. Maybe it's like growing up and finding out a beloved parent was after all slightly abusive. And then see them decline in old age and have their worse traits worsened even more.

Another image that comes to my mind frequently is that of the internet as the haunted shopping mall: It was once a shiny place, everyone went there, it was all the rage. Now most of the shops are boarded up, the few that are left seem rather dodgy, and the only visitors seem to be a bunch of drug addicts hanging out at the bottom of the out-of-service escalators.

Currently I'm a bit lost trying to return to my analog hobbies. I draw, I paint, I play music, I scratch the donkeys. I often don't have the energy I wish I had to do things other than sit at a screen. Takes time to get used to it again I guess.

Absolutely, was in the same boat as you.

Got burnt out with the corporate job but now I've moved to another discipline, I have my mojo back for messing with PCs.

The last few years I've delved into all the things I've wanted to but never took the time. I'm all in on Linux from mid-last year - which in itself has reinvigorated my curiosity for everything.

I've recently started leaning html to create a basic web page with the intention of joining the indie web, then when I tire off those, I'm keen to contribute to oss projects (support because I can't code)

I went into welding.

The only reason I remain in this business is I spent the last few years finding ways to do my job without ever touching a Windows or Mac PC. I self host everything but my e-mail, but that might be a fun project for my next time off.
Is everything still crashing down around me? Heck yes it is, but now I can watch from the sidelines, and laugh about the bullshit happening all around me, but not directly TO me.

if it involves AI, i can see that, since likely you are feeding openAI/CLAUDE,,,etc data to train thier mass surveillance

Use computers for as much fun things that I can. So a lot of games, programming my own games, designing things. Stuff like that.

Fortunately for me, using computers is not a source of income but a hobby, so I say this with an extremely privileged and ignorant point of view: I learn coding by reading books and experimenting. I learn Linux by reading the Arch and Gentoo wiki and experimenting. I have (thus?) no problem keeping away from the menace that is the addictive, toxic, detrimental internet culture of today and vibe coding and unattended OS installations and what have you. Does it give me a false sense of superiority? Yes. Does it also genuinely make me feel free and unburdened? Yes.

Not very well

I'm really enthusiast about open source and free software.

Software corporations can go fuck themselves for all I care.

Hacking.

I have always looked at computing as a form of power and control.

On the other hand I like to play PC games. I enjoy exploring and learning how to play and how to win. I don't see anything negative or power hungry about it.

As a career IT professional I had all the joy of computers sucked out of me. I stopped enjoying creating firewalls out of old PCs or trying new Linux distros. I don't want to self host anything except files and a media server.

Stop using mainstream stuff play with Linux and raspberry pi (or other sbc) gear that the big companies haven't ruined yet

Computing was never as great as it is now. Never before did we have so much free open source software at such a high level of quality to use and tinker with. Never before was it this easy to find help for the most obscure problems. Never before was playing on Linux a viable option.

But online and offline social networking really got enshittified a lot. 3rd spaces online like offline are fully commercialized. Online, everything is remembered and if it can be used against you, it will be used against you either by the government or some rando just because they can.
But you can use a VPN and as many pseudonyms as you need to properly separate your community-specific personas. And if you live in a city of religious fanatics, the internet also is a great to find like-minded people. There are communities for everything.

I see how long I can go without my phone.

Just all the evil that's making you feel that way it can't do the cool stuff it used to is no longer liberatory takes lots of work to stay safe in high school I was a shit head black hat I have to be way trickier and know more than I ever was or did then as a grey hat now to just search and write my smut anonymously its tedious and bad

Finding not computer shit to do. Which sucks because I don't have a lot of room for hobbies. I hate it. Used to be if I wanted to do something with my PC I could do some research and figure it out. It more or less "just worked" these days I'm constantly running into snags and fighting to do even what should be fairly basic shit because everything has been enshittified so much. Even FOSS is not immune.

im not sure how i will / am dealing with it, but i know its not great

I moved from ML research to nonprofit software dev when I saw roughly where the AI stuff was headed around 15 years ago and didn't want any part of it and was getting burned out working in academia too. After working in software around a decade & the things you mentioned I stopped using a desktop computer or laptop outside of work. I still read tech news and articles and a few papers in a narrow topic range to stay informed, but I don't program for fun anymore, gaming moved to mobile or console. If I'm not working I'd rather not be at a desk. I still see the joy of it and encourage that in other people, but there is a lot working against you too crush that enjoyment of discovery and problem solving.

What do you mean by "computing?" Does it just mean using a computer?

That's like saying you don't like shooting targets because there are wars in the world. Or your love of flying your drone has gone because drones are used in war. Keep things in perspective.

Fascism? I hate to break it to you, but nearly every form of government benefits from the surveillance capabilities of computers.

Fascism : a populist political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual, that is associated with a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, and that is characterized by severe economic and social regimentation and by forcible suppression of opposition.

It just seems weird you're focusing on the obscure governments of places like North Korea. If you are a young adult, you're at the age where mental health issues would first occur.

Personally, I think local AI will make computing far greater than it ever was. You can use it to recreate niche software like Stars!, you can play tabletop D&D without having to deal with human issues like scheduling or infighting, you can have original software created to do whatever you need, you can have manga from the 80's fully colorized.

There are many possibilities, and it is one of the few things for me to look forward to as I get older. As someone without friends nor enough wealth to explore the world, a home AI server will be the closest that I can get to having genuine autonomy and happiness in my life.

I'm reading your replies here and your comment history, and it sounds like you are simply depressed and need to find a new outlet for your time.

ditch the marxist leninism and you'll have a whole new view on everything in the world

it's a cult and it's broken your brain

computers are still just computers and still do vast amounts of good

heard of linux?