And I do think that a normal person must be a bit pathologically skewed, here in 2022, if they are not a little bit cynical or paranoid when they interface with a computer.
Finally, one can be ultra-paranoid, cynical, or just mildly knowledgeable about the technology upon which the entire modern experience depends.
A few years ago in a digital self-defence class someone picked me up
on choices of words.
Paranoia and cynicism are pre-Snowden words from an era when the
nature of online computers was unclear to most people. Since 2013
(that's almost a decade ago now) we've been in a world where it's
taken for granted by anyone with an IQ of 2 or more digits, that
digital devices and many services are hostile. Cynicism and paranoia
are no longer strictly possible.
I was grateful to the young woman who pointed out that adopting
negative psychological language empowers the attacker and places the
victim on a back-foot. Cynicism and paranoia are no longer accusations
you need to hear, nor feelings you need to own.
Since then I have tried to couch digital self-defence language more
carefully in terms of self-respect, dignity, informed consent, and
ultimately in terms of ethics and morality that reasonable and
informed people expect. By "reasonable", we do not mean bullied and
browbeaten into learned helplessness by threats of compulsion, total
lack of real choice, subterfuge and deception.
Good points, though I was one of those people who was disturbed that Snowden's 'revelations' were news.
Pre-Snowden, there were many of us who weren't paranoid or cynical, but who were not surprised by surveillance tech. And some of us weren't tech experts either.
One person's cynicism is another person's gentle understanding of social mechanisms.
And I do think that a normal person must be a bit pathologically skewed, here in 2022, if they are not a little bit cynical or paranoid when they interface with a computer.
Finally, one can be ultra-paranoid, cynical, or just mildly knowledgeable about the technology upon which the entire modern experience depends.