When I was growing up, we had no mobile phones. In fact we had no computers: they existed but lived in big air-conditioned rooms and only computer experts were allowed near them. The media of the day was the magazine and it typically came out monthly and of course newspapers which came out daily or at the weekend. There was television but it was limited to BBC 1 and 2 and ITV. Finally there was Radio. Yet I didn’t feel a lack of information or connection to other people.
There were many successful businesses too – they did marketing differently but were successful at both employing people and making profits. It certainly wasn’t always perfect but it was a more moderate way of life. Consumerism was still a new concept and we all enjoyed living with a lot less, without realising we were living with less. Of course most shops were shut on Sunday and typically shut at 1pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays: “early closing” was still a thing then. There were takeaways but no home deliveries and mopeds were a rare sight.
Today social media dominates the entire way we live. In previous times, media outlets had to be truthful or be brought to account. There’s no such regulation any more. If you don’t use social media your business is dead. But why should we support businesses whose ethics and politics we simply cannot support? What today can be more subversive than simply choosing to not use social media?
I still use some social media but I am at the point where I simply do not want to use it at all any more. I prefer a kinder way of doing business that relies on relationships, getting to know people and referrals not clickbait, algorithms and AI. But can I persuade my customers and clients to come to my website or to talk to me instead of looking to social media? Can I explain, successfully, that using social media doesn’t accord with my values one little bit without appearing to be a crazy person? Is it wrong to want to do business without algorithms and billionaires controlling our every move? Is it wrong to want to be free rather than a slave to the authoritarian institutions we have created that control our planet and countries beyond the democratic control of our governments? Does anyone else feel dejected when their recently elected left of centre government wants to invest massively in AI?
Has anyone else out there had enough of this rollercoaster.