Maybe I hate technology

Opening up about my screen addiction on Manual in May drew a strong response. Among the many comments and emails I received, one message from a reader, R., stood out. A software developer, she related to my story. She said what saves her is “sort of hating technology.” I’ve been thinking about it ever since I read that email, months ago. I asked R. to elaborate on that contradictory relationship, working in technology while hating it. She replied: I see my job as… a job. […] But beyond that, when I say I hate technology, it’s really my hatred of “tech bro” culture. By “tech bro,” I assume she means a more or less defined set of cultural traits running through the tech industry (the chips-and-bits kind) that trace back to the Californian Ideology: the startup scene promising to “save the world,” the metamorphosis of some of those startups into Big Tech, the technological determinism around tools like generative AI, the staggering venture capital investments, commercial software/SaaS… I…