Kevin Korte

For decades, big tech companies and politicians have conditioned us to see technology adoption as progress, as an unstoppable march forward. Companies promise convenience, efficiency, and connection. They deliver on these promises remarkably well. But in doing so, they’ve quietly shifted power away from individuals and toward their systems, which they designed to optimize for engagement, profit, and control. Our phones know more about us than we know about ourselves. Companies scan our emails. Our behavior is tracked, analyzed, and predicted. Yet we accept this as the cost of participation in the modern world.

Define What Control Means

Before we can decide whether we want technology to control us, we must define what control actually means. Is control about understanding the tools we use, or is it about actively choosing which tools we integrate into our lives? Is it about maintaining privacy, or is it about exercising agency in how companies and governments use our data? The answer encompasses all of these dimensions. Control over technology means knowing what you’re agreeing to, why you’re agreeing to it, and what alternatives exist. It means being willing to say no.

Most people have never engaged in this exercise. We adopt technologies because they’re free, because everyone else uses them, or because opting out creates friction. The path of least resistance has become the default choice. But a choice made by default is not a choice at all. Instead, it is a surrender. The technology companies have counted on this psychological tendency, building their products and business models around the assumption that users will prioritize convenience over autonomy.

Looking inward means asking yourself uncomfortable questions about your own role in this dynamic. Why do you use the platforms you use? What would you lose if you stopped? What would you gain? How much of your resistance to change is rational, and how much is simply habit?

Ethics Of Technology Adoption

There’s a critical difference between using technology and being used by technology. When you use technology, you maintain agency over your actions and the actions of the technology. However, if you surrender control, you become the object, a data point, a user, a product. The transition from one state to the other is so gradual that most people never notice it’s happening. Your preferences shift. Your attention becomes fragmented. Your sense of privacy erodes. But because the change is incremental, it doesn’t feel like a loss.

The only way to reclaim agency is to make deliberate, conscious decisions about your technological life. Reclaiming agency requires honesty about your own weaknesses and temptations. If you know that social media platforms are designed to be addictive and that you struggle with digital discipline, then you face a choice. You can either accept that these systems will control you, or you can make structural changes to limit their influence. Some people choose to delete their accounts. Others set strict usage limits. Still others use open-source alternatives or decentralized platforms to maintain control over their data.

These choices aren’t easy, and they often come with social costs. You might miss out on conversations. You might feel less connected to your network. Others might perceive you as a worrywart or old-fashioned. However, the discomfort of these choices is precisely why they’re worth making. Easy decisions rarely lead to meaningful change. The fact that stepping away from mainstream technology platforms creates friction is actually evidence that these platforms have successfully embedded themselves into the fabric of our social lives.

Building A Technology Philosophy

Creating a framework for how you engage with technology requires stepping back and asking more profound questions about your values. What aspects of your life do you want technology to enhance, and what aspects do you want to protect? Where do you draw the line between convenience and autonomy? What role do you want privacy to play in your life?

These questions don’t have universal answers. Someone who works in technology might reasonably accept inevitable trade-offs that another person wouldn’t. Someone with health concerns might rely on wearable technology in ways that others avoid. The key is that your choices should be made consciously, based on your own values and priorities rather than on defaults set by others.

Taking Control Through Informed Choice

The most practical first step toward controlling your relationship with technology is simply becoming informed. Understand how the tools you use make their money. Read privacy policies, not because you’ll understand all the legal language, but because the effort itself signals to your brain that this matters. Seek out alternative tools that prioritize privacy or user agency. Support companies and projects that align with your values. Supporting them might mean paying for services rather than using free ones that monetize your attention. It might mean using open-source software instead of proprietary platforms.

The technology industry wants you to believe that you have no alternatives, that the ecosystem is locked in and unchangeable. This narrative is false. Alternatives exist at every level. The reason they seem less attractive is simply that changes require effort. Yet, overcoming that friction means that you are now serving your own interests. It frees you from companies that have built their empires on data extraction and behavioral manipulation.

Technology companies will control you exactly as much as you permit them to. They have the power to offer convenience and connection. But you have the power to decide whether those benefits are worth the cost. You have to look inward at your own priorities, values, and willingness to make difficult choices to find out whether you want to serve them or be free. No one can make that decision for you.