Unattributed

If you look up Neo-Luddite or Neo-Luddism in Wikipedia, Chellis Glendinning, who is considered to be one of the major influencers of the movement, wrote in her paper Notes towards a Neo-Luddite manifesto that Neo-Luddites are:

20th century citizens—activists, workers, neighbors, social critics, and scholars—who question the predominant modern worldview, which preaches that unbridled technology represents progress.

And, looking at the hobbies I am most interested in shows that at least half of them are rooted in more heritage ideas:

• Heritage style footwear
• Wristwatches
• Fountain pens
• Photography
• Audio gear
• E-books and E-readers

It could even be argued that my interest in Photography also fits in with the concept of Neo-Luddism. However, given that modern photography is highly dependent on current technologies, I don't count it.

But, just looking at my hobbies isn't a reflection of my thoughts in this area. While I absolutely agree with the sentiment that we should question the concept that unbridled technology represents progress, I cannot align myself with a number of other movements that appear to be related to neo-Luddism. Some of those are the anti-globalization movement, and the anarcho-primitivism movements.

Then what do I consider myself? I came up with a different term to describe my relationship with technology over a decade ago: Techno Curmudgeon. Basically, a curmudgeon is similar to a misanthrope, a person who distrusts other people and human nature. However, instead I have a distrust of technology. I maintain that a lot of the changes that we have seen over the last two decades have really been more change for the sake of change, instead of change with specific goals to improve technology for people.

This mistrust of technology is rooted in the many, many cases of the abuse of technology that we have seen. If I were to say there was any single story that made me into a Techno Curmudgeon it would be the story: How Target Figured Out A Teen Girl Was Pregnant Before Her Father Did. (Note: the original story was in the New York Times, but it is heavily sourced in the Forbes version).

The fact is, that was, in my book a severe invasion of privacy. This is on the order of the Police or a government body requiring that your Library book records be made available to them. I also consider this on the order of an Insurance Companies building a profile on you so they can deny your claim because of something ridiculous.

This can be extended to more recent things that we have seen. For example, the Mozilla Foundation deciding to become an advertising company. Just because they lack imagination needed to stick to their original principles while raising the capital they need, all of a sudden you become the product for them to sell.

In the end, the concept of becoming a Techno Curmudgeon (a term I would love to spread even further) means that I don't accept technology for technology's sake. I maintain a healthy skepticism which is reflected in my hobbies. All of them are about minimizing my interactions with computers and the online world. Instead, I make use of technology to disconnect from technology (like using my E-reader to get away from the computer). Something else that isn't reflected in this list: I minimize the number of subscriptions I have. I don't have Spotify, Netflix, or other streaming services.

This isn't to say I am completely able to avoid harmful technology. For example, given where I live, I am stuck using Amazon. They are the only company that can reliably (most of the time) deliver things that I need. However, when possible, I avoid technology that has proven itself to be harmful, or technology that hasn't proven there is a need for it to change.

	FediRing
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