his latest work, *Program or Be Programmed*, the 15th anniversary edition, Rushkoff proposes four methods to avoid being programmed by digital technology, and to instead become the programmers of our world. What we require is to: 1. Denaturalize power by revealing social constructions which are ideas we merely invented, and are not pre-existing laws we must adhere to 2. Trigger agency by reminding ourselves how digital environments offer us endless possibilities of access, authorship and agency, not constraint 3. Resocialize people by making it easier to ask for favors, establish rapport or build solidarity, instead of seeing people as members of opposing tribes — we’re all on the same team 4. Cultivate awe by seeding styles of education or art that engender a tighter embrace of the moment
We need an honest embrace of our experiences — not pretending as if we can run fast enough away from our tech-drenched reality. It *is* unnerving — like any change is — but I do wonder if our panic stems from an outright collective (ineffective) rejection of a future we’re already barreling towards. Instead of opting out of social media, how can we use it to connect and form relationships with figures or ideas we never before had access to? Instead of mourning our sense of direction, how can we use our map apps to seek out tiny shops and cafes for a better sense of locality and sense of neighborhood in cities? Instead of falling into endless content holes, how can we congregate and self-teach ourselves material which was once worth tens of thousands of dollars behind an ivy academic wall, and is now free on YouTube this very second? *These are options. We forget we have them.*
It takes a certain privilege to opt out. I’m not alone in this controversial perspective. Author and consultant, Venkat Rao, calls such harsh disconnection, “Waldenponding,” > *“I’d like to try living off the grid for a bit in a log cabin, myself, for a summer or something. I’m also on board with trying and adopting experimental rituals like a no-devices sabbath day…* > > *But as an attitudinal foundation for relating to society and technology, Waldenponding is, I am convinced, a terrible philosophy at both a personal and collective level.* > > *It’s a world-and-life negation. A kind of selfish free-riding, tragedy of the commons: not learning to handle your share of the increased attention-management load…”* > > […] > > *“The way to manage your attention is not to ‘unplug’ or do some sort of bullshit Classical Liberal virtue signaling crap of ‘I only read Ancient Greek authors’ but to be sensitive to your current mind size and consciously target the zone you want to be in…”*
