Amazed that I had to scroll down this far to read this. Capitalism does not magically create a fair society through the creation of value (which seems to be what its proponents keep saying: investors generating economic activity and wealth).
But similarly you could have a socialist economic system, with no real democracy. Which, as we've seen, devolves into a corrupt oligarchy.
We've seemingly lost this perspective in the decades since WWII, but a solid representative parliamentary democracy and separation of powers are the best way to create and maintain a fair society. It requires some other conditions too, like good education, free press, etc. but the core is a system where power is distributed and temporary, depending on democratic processes (elections).
This democratic legitimacy is what we should be defending at all costs, imho. It's not sexy, though.
Because I like small diagrams and schematics. Doing that in an app, especially on a phone, is tricky.
And I find that structuring my thoughts on paper just works better than doing it digitally straight away.
An irrational fear of suddenly using all of it up. Before they got their phones, we drilled it into them to be conservative in their data usage.
It's not that they complain that they have too little data, or how annoying it is that they have to leave it switched off to conserve it, they somehow are convinced that it is pointless to leave it on. We have mentioned numerous times that we'd be fine with upgrading their data plan, but they don't want to.
It's like us in the nineties dialing into our ISP to download e-mail. Weird. Cheap. But weird.
I send SM's to my kids when they're on the go, as they religiously disable gsm data and only use wifi, which means they regularly don't get my WhatsApp messages.
Before they got their own smartphone I was scared that their data plans would cost me an arm and a leg, but it turns out they're extremely stingy with their data 🤷♂️
There are degrees of monitoring. This is basically my approach:
no smartphone before 12yrs old
no computer, tablet, smartphone or similar in their bedroom before 16yrs old, specifically at night.
family link (android) installed, with tighter controls the younger they are. This is discussed and also explained as a measure to protect them
if they are under 16, we create social media accounts together and discuss what is appropriate, what can/should be public/private etc.
That is basically it. A lot of it is being around, available and approachable. It's not perfect, but it has several layers of protection, and is built around creating trust and teaching valuable media skills.
If I had to pick one, I'd say the 'no internet devices in bedrooms' would be the most valuable one. Because of that, I know what games my kids play, they can deconnect at night, and it's fairly easy to enforce.
The larger danger is the erosion of kids' privacy. People are so panicked about all the dangers out there, and there are so many monitoring tools available to parents and educators, that it's no wonder that kids develop trust issues and/or are afraid to take up responsability.
I say this as a dad of two teenagers: the kids are allright. Love them, hug them, talk to them, show interest in their lives. Don't use surveillance as a substitute.
Taking the logic too far, I think. There is also a business interest in selling you storage and storage devices, it's not just Hollywood calling the shots.
Of course, in a totalitarian system (North Korea style) the ownership of storage media will probably be tightly regulated and controlled, but that's a wholly different scenario.
Belgium. Debit card most of the time. Covid was a turning point, as it popularized QR codes and this in turn led to more payments by payment apps.
I rarely ever carry cash anymore.
no 'clean desk' policy but the ability to personalise your workplace
dishwasher and general kitchen stuff not being a 'shared responsibility' but someone's job.
office being in a nice neighborhood with fun things to do after work or during lunch
My employer spent the past ~10 years de-personalising our offices, and now they wonder why people don't like to hang out in their sterile 'clean' building.
I was a premium subscriber, simply because I used Reddit a lot, I could financially bear it, and I generally liked how the place was run so I wanted to support them. Now I feel betrayed and my trust is violated, like when your friend borrows money off you and then never pays it back and just laughs in your face for being so naive.
So I went from 'I love Reddit' to 'fuck Reddit' in about a month. Impressive achievement.
You can't sue scissors. They have deep knowledge of the law.