If I could ditch my phone completely and go back to a flip-phone, or one of those cool slidey ones from the 2000s, I would. Phones were so fun back then.

The same goes for computers. Once we move I'm planning to get my desktop set up again, and the first thing I'm going to do is ditch Windows and go full Linux. All open-source software, all privacy focussed, set up a home server and get some cloud services going that don't rely on Google or iCloud, become as digitally self sufficient as I can.

I guess there's an overlap with this blog there as well. I have my own little social bubble where I can post what I like and interact with readers (though that bit has yet to happen), and have it all on my own terms. The site looks how I want it to look, works how I want it to work. All killer, no filler.

I was watching this video by Reject Convenience about companies selling privacy as a product and it spoke a little bit about Signal , a messaging app created by one of the founders of WhatsApp who regretted selling it to Meta, and is working to create Signal as the alternative it always should have been. Signal keeps coming up as an app to look into if independence from corporations is of interest to you, and, again, If I could ditch WhatsApp tomorrow and swap to Signal I would, but it runs into the same problem I see again and again.

These things only work when you get other people to join you in moving over to the new place, to the new thing, to the new way of thinking. That's tough. No matter what it is, getting someone to chose an inconvenient option is a tough sell. Getting enough people to switch that it becomes convenient for you is, in and of itself, nearly impossible. I have reservations too, I already have everyone in my WhatsApp contacts. I have groupchats in there that are years old, hell I even have archived chats with friends who have since passed away.

You can argue that it would be better for them in the long run, that they would benefit from the more stringent security features, that the interface is nicer, that it isn't connected to any tech billionaires, but at the end of the day some people are just less interested in that stuff than you. And that's okay. You can't make anyone do anything. You're not their Mum.

So what do you do? Do you just "Be the change you want to see in the world!" and hope it spreads via osmosis? Do you evangelise and hold up placards and go on marches? Do you get involved with the groups trying to make change happen and put your skills to use for the greater good?

There's a thought expriment that gets toured around every so often called "The Red and Blue Button Problem" or something like that.

Imagine everyone gets brought into a room and asked to press either a blue button or a red button. If over 50% of the population push the blue button, everyone lives. But if over 50% of people push the red button, then those who pushed red live, but all the blue button pushers die. Apparently up to 60% of people push the red button. When I first read that I thought I would definitely push the blue button, but the more I think about it the more I understand why people would push red.

It's not about liking the outcome, its about not trusting people to make what seems to be the clearly good decision.

I was in my early 20s when Scotland voted to remain part of the UK. A couple of years later I watched us get taken out of the EU. The cultural divides between Scotland and England, and between different parts of Scotland, never seemed more clear cut. Both times I couldn't believe the outcome. I simply couldn't understand how anyone would vote to remain in the UK, or how anyone would want to leave the EU.

It should be noted here that a large contingent of NO voters in the independence referendum voted that way because they wanted to remain in the EU, and felt their membership was safer if they stayed in the UK, but that's a story of betrayal for another day.

And now I'm seeing leaked communications saying Scottish Labour are willing to work with fucking Reform of all people to help oust the SNP at the next elections. I'm seeing the very strong likelihood that the Greens are going to get pipped at the fucking post by that same band of fascist, sex-offender cunts in the race to be the next PM.

Part of me wants to grab everyone by the throat and scream at them to open their fucking eyes. To look at what is so obviously a much better option than simply continuing to sail towards the iceberg. Maybe if I was their Mum they would just do what I say and we would all be okay. Maybe we need more people being the cringey liberal know-it-all stereotype to actually get things done.

But I'm not. And I'm not "right". I'm just swayed by different winds. I've had privileges in my life that have opened my eyes to human experiences far beyond my own. I've had mentors that stuck with me when I made an embarrassment of myself and guided me back to a healthier path when I strayed too far, and didn't hold past mistakes against me. I went to university and studied a humanities course which can't help but show you viewpoints you'd never encounter on your own.

And I know that the richest people in the world would really rather we rolled over.

Tomorrow I'm going to strip paint off an old writing desk and give it a nice new coat of varnish, I'm going to do a load of washing and hunt for jobs, I might even write a little or do some embroidery. I'll probably look back on this and think about deleting it, write it off as the ramblings of someone who should have went to bed a few hours ago. But I'll know I feel better for having written it.