Over the past four years, I've traveled the country speaking to companies, organizations, and individuals about the realities of the surveillance economy we currently live in and, most importantly, what we can do to emerge from this shutdown and begin the process of taking back control of our digital lives.
Interestingly, everyone I meet in my travels and conversations, regardless of their political or religious beliefs, understands that our devices are listening to us all day, every day. In fact, everyone loves to share with me their personal stories of being talking to someone about something “just the other day” and then immediately afterwards seeing an advertisement for that very topic on their phone, computer, or, in rare cases, in the mail a few days later.
The good news is that there is light at the end of the tunnel and it is entirely possible to distance ourselves from the most harmful and pernicious aspects of the surveillance economy.
I'm sure you can think of a few such examples soon, if you haven't already, and know that you are not alone.
To the follow-up question, “So, would you accept the reality that these devices are listening to you all the time?” not a single person answered in the affirmative. I'll repeat this to emphasize this point. Of the thousands of people we asked this question to across the country, None Not a single person said they were satisfied with this paradigm.
As you think about that, consider the fact that the five biggest abusers and beneficiaries of this surveillance economy — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft — collectively generate over $1,000,000,000,000 in revenue per year — that's a trillion dollars per year.
Each company also spends billions of dollars annually to directly support and run ideological movements and political candidates that constitutional Christian conservatives (like me) directly oppose. This is no exaggeration. The amount of money that any of these four companies spend on lobbyists, NGOs, DEI initiatives, political parties and candidates, left-leaning nonprofits, algorithms, policies designed to censor and silence our voices, and employees focused on enforcing these policies is orders of magnitude more than any other company that the usual conservative commentators preach about boycotting, from Netflix and Disney to Bud Light and Target.
You’ve listened to influencers and media figures preach and rile up for thousands of hours about the “need” to mobilize and boycott big corporations, and yet, when the topic of boycotting Big Tech comes up, almost no one responds.
Interesting, right? “Wake up and you're bankrupt!”… except when it comes to Big Tech.
Every day I ask myself why this is the case, and I have some ideas: My first main goal is to spark the desire to ask yourself some important questions:
If I'm quick to jump on the #BoycottBudLight, #BoycottDisney and #BoycottTarget bandwagon, would I hesitate to boycott Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon, and if so, why?
- Why have I never heard any prominent media personality or broadcaster have a serious discussion on this subject?
- Given how significantly these companies, apps and devices impact our daily lives, why isn't there a #BoycottBigTech?
- As with most issues today, motivation and education are key factors in making better decisions.
For example, once you read the ingredients on the foods you eat and understand what chemicals are in them and how they affect your body, you have two choices: you can continue to eat toxins and get sicker and sicker every day, or you can begin the process of educating yourself how to make safer, healthier decisions about what you put into your body.
By the same logic, once you understand how intrusive and abusive the surveillance economy has become, and how it directly impacts the reality of yourself and the loved ones around you, you have a choice: continue to use applications and devices designed to enslave you to the system and aid the companies that exploit your data, or begin the process of educating yourself on how to make safer, healthier decisions about the data you let into their systems.
Just as buying a set of seeds and raised beds doesn't suddenly make you a gardener who can feed an entire family, buying a single device or piece of software doesn't suddenly make you “safe” from the surveillance economy. In either scenario, this journey requires a lifestyle change and a shift in how we think about the tools we use every day to accomplish what we want. It requires learning new things and understanding how the tools we use around us work, much like the journey of learning about how the food we consume is produced and where it comes from.
The good news is that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it is entirely possible to free yourself from the most harmful and pernicious aspects of the surveillance economy. In fact, millions of Americans, and many more around the world, have already begun this journey. As the demand for these privacy- and security-focused services and tools grows, so too does the pool of geeks willing to work to build and extend these tools to make them more accessible and easier to use.
Over the past two years, I have helped over 1,000 individuals and businesses start their journey to removing big tech from their daily lives. If you are concerned about your digital privacy and security, you can join our community of customers and advocates online at MARK37.com or on our profiles on X, Truth Social and Telegram.
