Luddite (or, Kicking and Screaming)

Luddite is one of those words which have been hijacked over the years by people who never fully understood it.

It has come to mean "someone who is afraid of technology and doesn't want to use it", and I suppose we need a word for that.

However, it used to mean "someone who is alarmed by the way technology replaces humanity, and refuses to accept it" and we no longer have a word for that.

Historically, Luddites were the people who destroyed factory technology during the Industrial Revolution to stop "the man" from replacing workers with machines. They weren't afraid of using technology, they were afraid of being made redundant and irrelevant by it. Of losing their jobs and livelihoods because of it.

There are words for people who don't want to use technology because they don't feel competent using it or they just don't want to learn new things. "Dinosaur", for example. But there seems to be a blank space in our way to describe the world for "someone who is not afraid of technology and knows how to use it but chooses not to".

It's like we, as a society, have decided there's no good reason for people who are competent and intelligent and capable of using technology to choose to turn their back on it, so we won't give them a word. Why describe something that makes no sense?

I use technology all the time for my job, and I'm aware of how much it takes from me. In the past, I have let it have a poor effect on my health. I have made a conscious decision to only paddle in the shallow end of the pond, in my personal life, because I want to stay grounded, and I know that the waters further out can carry you away from the shore too rapidly.

I try to do things "old school" as much as possible in my "outside the office" life to make sure I still can - so that I don't end up like the people in Wall-E. I shun technology not because I can't learn to use it (or don't want to), but because I like *not* using it. I'm happier off the leash.

But this year a lot of things are making me realise just how much the businesses I interact with are working on the assumption that everyone is online all the time. Utility companies, banks... heck even the post office is moving inexorably down this path. Their entire business model is based on "of course you'll be using the app on your phone - why wouldn't you?" When you tell them you're not online at home, they look at you like the entire concept is inconceivable.

Then, of course, they assume that you're not online because you don't know how to use the technology, and you'll eventually learn. There's no consideration that you might be offline by choice. This is a lifestyle decision. If I grow my hair into dreadlocks and wear yoga pants, you might get it.

I feel like I've reached a point where I can no longer opt out, as much as I might want to. If I don't swim out into the deep water, I'll find the water at the shallow end has simply dried up.

Against my will, I'm being dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century. We'll see how long I can maintain the resistance.