Welcome to 2025! The cars drive themselves (sometimes right into the back of a parked police car)! The AI answers your questions (often peppered with “facts” about events that never occurred)! You can instantly share the first thing that pops into your head with the world (and so can the Nazis)!
So how do you, an upstanding citizen of this brave new world, navigate all that technology has to offer? How do you live a 21st century life without just creating more 21st century tech tycoons? And can you do it without moving to an off-grid cabin in Montana and writing your very own manifesto?
All technology is dual-use, and there’s no ethical consumption under capitalism. But we can take steps to reduce the harms technology can cause while still enjoying its benefits. Whether you’re chronically online or merely tech curious, this guide to digital harm reduction is for you.
Messaging/Communication
Technology is great at helping us stay in touch. But SMS (traditional text messaging) is inherently insecure, and lets both the cell companies and the government monitor your messages.
Communication applications like WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger improve on SMS by providing “end-to-end” encryption that protects your communications from prying eyes. But they’re both owned by Meta — a company best known for forgetting that humans have legs and with a CEO who believes what 2025 needs is more “masculine energy.”
If you want secure communications without the billionaire management, applications like Signal (you know, the app the Secretary of Defense uses to text you war plans) offer the same end-to-end encryption as WhatsApp (in fact, Signal invented the encryption protocol WhatsApp and many others now use), but run by a nonprofit rather than a megacorp.
On that note — if you use it and like it, consider kicking them a dollar or two. Remember, if you’re not paying for a product, you probably are the product. Ad-free tools run by nonprofits are great, but the nonprofit still has to pay the bills.
Social Media
Social media has long been the technology boogeyman. From election disinformation to mental health concerns, there are plenty of well-aired criticisms of the technology. But it is also what allows us to get rapid on-the-ground updates during an emergency or to find communities we’d otherwise miss — be they furries, fanfic or flat earthers. So what are the reasonable social media options?
From the ruins of Twitter, we’ve seen two major social media ecosystems emerge — Mastodon and Bluesky. Both rely on distributed protocols that aim to move away from a world where a single large corporation controls the entire platform — with all the pros and cons that entails. Mastodon started the distribution ecosystem idea and still promotes a perhaps purer version of it, but it can be somewhat difficult to use as a result. Bluesky is simpler to get started with and has a lot of recent momentum, but is currently a more centralized platform. Both offer a rough equivalent to old Twitter without all of the current baggage.
Another option is to move away from global social media platforms in favor of smaller communities. Platforms like Discord and Slack offer the means to operate smaller, often semi-private, online communities. While these lack the reach of global platforms like Mastodon or Bluesky, they offer a form of digital localism where you can connect on a smaller scale. Some of these communities are invite only, so discoverability is often by word of mouth or through existing acquaintances.
Don’t have anyone to invite you to their cool, private Slack? You can always get a group of like-minded folks together and start your own. Sometimes humans interact better on a scale of hundreds of folks rather than with everyone on planet Earth.
Entertainment
Modern television, movie and music consumption is dominated by streaming services. But artists have raised persistent concerns about the sustainability of these services. Some services even add their own “fake” songs to reduce how much time they have to spend paying actual artists. Streaming also means you don’t actually own any of the media you consume, and your ability to access a given piece of media could vanish on a whim. So what are the alternatives?
If you want to put money directly into an artist’s pocket, sites like Bandcamp offer the ability to buy and download music directly that you can keep playing years from now without being dependent on a streaming service continuing to carry your favorite artist.
You can also just avoid digital music altogether. Defying all odds, vinyl sales continue to increase year over year, making up the second most popular way to consume music after streaming. Not only does it pay artists more, but you can read the liner notes and increase your hipster street cred! Plus, you can shop local — just head over to Paradise Found on Pearl Street to see what they have in store.
The Boulder Public Library District also has numerous free alternatives for your entertainment needs. In addition to their ample physical collection, the library offers numerous digital resources — all supported by your tax dollars. Have an e-reader, but don’t want to just send more money to Amazon? You can check e-books for free via Libby. Want to (legally) stream music or movies without having to pay? See what Hoopla or Kanopy has to offer. Need to read that paywalled news article? Check out free access to the myriad of newspapers the library provides.
Our world is not one of absolutes. Technology can cause harm, but it also improves our lives.
As we think about how we consume technology, we can all work to nudge things in the direction of more good than harm. Whether it’s better security, fewer mega crops or a more sustainable economy for creators, think about what you can reasonably do. Then go and do it.
Andy Sayler (andysayler.com) is a Boulder resident, information security expert and a trustee for the Boulder Public Library District. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from CU Boulder. When not writing for the Weekly, he spends his time collecting vinyl records, canning tomatoes and walking his cat, Mack.