I'm starting to think digital sovereignty and privacy isn’t just our right, but a fundamental part of our physical and mental health in the modern world.
Unless we choose open‑source, privacy‑first, human‑centered tech, the benefits from modern tech platforms will come with a serious cost: our nervous system stays stuck in low‑grade stress and anxiety, which has real physical and mental impacts.
I’ve felt this directly. I dealt with chronic back pain for years, until I realized stress and fear were contributing to it, and I believe my digital life was a larger factor than I'd understood.
Shoshana Zuboff calls this the "compulsion loop": platforms deliberately provoke anxiety to drive engagement, which yields more data, tightening the loop.
The beautiful thing is that all the tools to opt out exist now so we can still reap the benefits of tech without the costs. (yay NOSTR for solving social media)
It’s not easy, though. I’ve spent my free time over the last year learning alternatives. It’s made a real difference in how I feel but there’s still more to learn. Once I make one switch I see 10 more things to improve upon.
This has become my primary focus: learning tools for digital vitality and I plan to help others do the same. I don't want our kids to be more nodes in the surveillance capitalism state.
caseyfrank / casey frank
npub1yh…hkeuz
2026-05-19 19:43:48 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1yh8rgez9k63h6lrdxcc87pah28fq6h7gddwnx9ndkm2vg3vpgjqsmhkeuzPublished at
2026-05-19 19:43:48 UTCEvent JSON
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"content": "I'm starting to think digital sovereignty and privacy isn’t just our right, but a fundamental part of our physical and mental health in the modern world.\n\nUnless we choose open‑source, privacy‑first, human‑centered tech, the benefits from modern tech platforms will come with a serious cost: our nervous system stays stuck in low‑grade stress and anxiety, which has real physical and mental impacts.\n\nI’ve felt this directly. I dealt with chronic back pain for years, until I realized stress and fear were contributing to it, and I believe my digital life was a larger factor than I'd understood.\n\nShoshana Zuboff calls this the \"compulsion loop\": platforms deliberately provoke anxiety to drive engagement, which yields more data, tightening the loop.\n\nThe beautiful thing is that all the tools to opt out exist now so we can still reap the benefits of tech without the costs. (yay NOSTR for solving social media) \n\nIt’s not easy, though. I’ve spent my free time over the last year learning alternatives. It’s made a real difference in how I feel but there’s still more to learn. Once I make one switch I see 10 more things to improve upon.\n\nThis has become my primary focus: learning tools for digital vitality and I plan to help others do the same. I don't want our kids to be more nodes in the surveillance capitalism state. ",
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