alt Hacker NewsI think HN is reflective of the tech industry.
I’m in my 40s and have been working in tech for a long time. I remember a time when it genuinely felt like the industry was a force for good in the world, opening doors for people to do things they never used to be able to do. And the companies were so open, e.g. I remember Facebook’s OpenGraph opening up a world of new social apps that were exciting to develop and to use. For sure there was a level of youthful naïveté at work there but it was still an exciting and interesting time to be in the industry.
That positivity still happens today but to a far less degree. Nowadays it feels like every major tech player is all about lockin, about dark patterns that draw users into their services whether they’re happy about it or not.
We used to point and laugh at the cynical, out of touch companies like Oracle. Now it seems everyone aspires to be them. So yeah, I’m often negative on HN.
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Blame the algorithm x shareholder combo. Hell I'm 30 and I thought the tech industry might be just the force that sets the world straight because it was all about making human lives better.
My take is that that very openness is what encouraged people to pour their hearts and souls into an online presence and directly resulted in the situation we see today. It was an aberration caused by the development of new and exciting tech, and not the potential start of a new and sustainable form of improved life.
As a side note, the "openness" at the times you discussed were still very limited in demography and geography.
I think this is more reflective of your own position in the tech industry.
Your perspective is common and I see it a lot, but primarily in older and jaded developers.
When I switch cohorts and work with younger people in the real world (not chronically online) it’s a complete 180: Back to being excited about tech and the future, not really dwelling on the things that HNers complain about because they’re too busy looking forward than back at the tech world.
As everyone loves to point out here, there are so many options to escape the stuff you don't like. I'm in my 40s too, and although I gripe about ads and dark patterns occasionally, I actively work on eliminating those things from my digital life. As a result I'm generally happy with the state of tech. There's very little unpleasantness that I really can't escape from. I've debloated windows, run a good ad blocker, use LLMs to filter the garbage out of HN and reddit, avoid social media apps, use LLMs to set up my local-first homelab and mod games to my liking, etc.
There's a few ways to go here. 1) (vast majority of people) don't even notice what's going on and generally fine with things. 2) notice, and sink into negativity and helplessness. 3) notice, and actively weed out the garbage.
Who would you rather be?
Apple, Google, or Meta?
Apple obviously. They protect their users and still have a generally positive social vibe.
Meta and Google are largely only spoken of in negative light socially, and constantly castigated for their "user hostile" behavior.
But what is the ultimate irony here?
Apple only exists for people with money. It's a pay-to-play enterprise, and only a small sliver of the global population can afford to be part of it.
Google and Meta welcome everyone, and give everyone access to the same services and features (by and large).
I think there are a lot of people, who if they truly stepped back and understood this whole picture, would be left in a tornado of a soul search. How could the free companies with no bias towards wealth possibly end up as the bad guys?