Trampled by Unicorns

CHAPTER 14People Power

While the task of dispersing Big Tech's long shadow falls mostly to the industry itself, governments, and regulators, there are vital steps that you and I can take too. As private citizens and users, we must shoulder our share of responsibility for the chaos factory that surrounds us. After all, we were the ones who somehow agreed to barter away our private data and even the contents of our minds for the convenience of free search and maps, social media, video sharing, messaging services, streaming binges, subsidized taxis, home deliveries, and all the rest. We can always opt out. Change our behavior. Choose not to play along. Except most of us won't, and frankly can't, dispense with Big Tech altogether. However, there are certain things that we, as individuals, can still do to hold Big Tech's worst instincts at bay and play our part in bringing about a more empathetic, human-centric industry. It's all too easy to forget or ignore the fact that there are alternatives out there we can use instead (something I am guilty of myself) and collective action, coordinated or not, is a persuasive force. So here are some steps we can all take:

Give up a Bit of Convenience for a Little More Independence and Competition.

• Make DuckDuckGo our default search engine rather than Google.
• Swap our Gmail account for a secure privacy-preserving alternative like ProtonMail, Tutanota, Runbox, or Posteo.
• Explore Fairbnb.coop, Innclusive, Homestay, or Vacasa as alternatives to ...