Ask HN: When did tech stop being cool?
For me it was when tech no longer served me and my interests. Anything tech does for me these days is usually just a means to get me to use it so that someone else can collect data, push ads, or control me. There&#x27;s rarely a product or service that doesn&#x27;t have some hidden cost or give someone else power over you.<p>Cars have internet, but track your location, can listen in on your conversations, and optional features or the engine itself can be remotely disabled. Phones are powerful computers in our pockets, but are mainly intended for media consumption and data collection. They are also heavily locked down and controlled. Updates are automatically pushed to our devices and software with no notification of what&#x27;s been changed and no way to decline anti-features and user hostile changes.<p>I still have some hope for the future of tech, but we need to find a way to get tech to work for us again instead of also being used against us. So far things look like they&#x27;re going to get much worse before they get better. More spying, more restrictions, more consolidation, fewer choices for consumers, less ownership, fewer customization options, less access and less accountability for companies when data gets leaked or people get hurt.