’Denmark Switches.’ A national campaign to collectively move off Big Tech.
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@CiaraNi
Also on LibreOffice. I haven't yet replaced my Windows with a Linux & still have Android on my sparsely apped 7y-old Oppo, but Guggl, Metta, Amerzon, Appul are all deleted/uBlocked & I have never missed any of them.@Quantillion It's both liberating and a good learning experience, how little we miss programmes and solutions we once thought were everyday essentials.
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@CiaraNi Once again reminded of one of the big booking sites getting a hotel's disability accommodations completely wrong. I had an itch so I called the hotel directly and they admitted Big Site got it wrong and cancelled without a fuss. Called a replacement hotel on the phone and they confirmed accommodations and booked us in a flash.
I hate doing things on the phone, but I'll make an exception for hotels.
@troublewithwords This matches my experience. A quick phone call to an actual human at the actual hotel and it's sorted in a flash. It's good that you twigged something might be awry and were able to fix it beforehand.
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I stopped using Booking.com ages ago, tired of the spam and Big Corporateness of it. Now I only book directly with hotels. Every time, it's cheaper and the experience is better. If I need to contact a hotel, I communicate with a human. When I needed to make a date change not covered by the booking: 'no problem!' They changed it instantly for free. I'd forgotten how actual customer service used to be. I also forgot to actually delete my account. #DanmarkSkifter reminded me. I just deleted it.
@CiaraNi
When our family visited the UK last fall, I did the same thing. Almost every BnB gave us a discount for direct booking., and we got to deal directly with the owners.Here's a good way to turn the tables on those third party booking sites: reverse showrooming. Use the online resource to find the lodging you're interested in, then bypass them entirely with a direct contact on their own website or by email.
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This makes so much sense! I shall be following in your footsteps the next time we go away.
Stuff the Booking dot this, and Airb&b that! They make a pretence of being cheaper but often aren't and, if anything, are taking a large percentage away from the smaller hotels and B&Bs.
@grb090423 I haven't used AirBnb. Something about the concept put me off and I dislike the way it made life miserable & expensive for local people living in tourist-hotspot cities. But I know people who used to use it, then decided to stop, like me turning away from Booking.com. Their experience has been the same. They book directly with 'real' B&Bs or hotels now for the same price or cheaper and find it simpler to book. They say there's less faffing around and messaging than with AirBnb hosts.
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@CiaraNi I think this migration to find tools to use, instead of being used by tools, gives me #DigitalAfterlife vibes. The existence of life after enshittification.
'Tools to use, instead of being used by tools' - that's it! Life after enshittification is liberating and enjoyable. I have a slight qualm about the phrase DigitalAfterlife, because I associate that with enshittified digital products that exploit grieving people by selling them a digital version of a dead loved one.
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@grb090423 I haven't used AirBnb. Something about the concept put me off and I dislike the way it made life miserable & expensive for local people living in tourist-hotspot cities. But I know people who used to use it, then decided to stop, like me turning away from Booking.com. Their experience has been the same. They book directly with 'real' B&Bs or hotels now for the same price or cheaper and find it simpler to book. They say there's less faffing around and messaging than with AirBnb hosts.
It sounds so much better.
I know people who use both of those horrible sites we've mentioned and they are very much under the impression they're onto something good. I guess it's a matter of believing the hype.
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'Tools to use, instead of being used by tools' - that's it! Life after enshittification is liberating and enjoyable. I have a slight qualm about the phrase DigitalAfterlife, because I associate that with enshittified digital products that exploit grieving people by selling them a digital version of a dead loved one.
@CiaraNi maybe 'User Rebellion'. Your post is great food for thought. Semantics can make or break a defining a movement.
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@CiaraNi
When our family visited the UK last fall, I did the same thing. Almost every BnB gave us a discount for direct booking., and we got to deal directly with the owners.Here's a good way to turn the tables on those third party booking sites: reverse showrooming. Use the online resource to find the lodging you're interested in, then bypass them entirely with a direct contact on their own website or by email.
@donaldham This is exactly it. Every time, there's a discount, or a good offer like free breakfast, or something like that.
'Reverse showrooming.' I love this phrase and will be adopting it, please and thank you. I've done this too, browsing Amazon (back when its site search actually worked) or Booking.com websites to narrow choices down or check some details, then I'd buy the actual book at my local independent bookshop or book the accommodation directly with the hotel or B&B.
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I'm enjoying the results of disenshittifying my digital life so much that I need a more celebratory word for it than 'disenshittifying'. So far, every solution I’ve switched to is better than the Big Tech one I left. Not ’better’ as in ’not enshittified’, but better designed. LibreOffice: does what I need and only does what I tell it to do. AntennaPod: much better features than Spotify. Tuta: functional and calm and 10 months later, I still haven’t received a single spam mail.
@CiaraNi
Luddites got you covered..Going Full Lud.
Put a little Lud in your life. -
@CiaraNi maybe 'User Rebellion'. Your post is great food for thought. Semantics can make or break a defining a movement.
@Nead I like the energy of 'User Rebelliion'.
Good point about the role of semantics in a movement for change. I remember being un-fond of the word 'enshittification' when I first heard it. I thought it had a juvenile sound. Then after a while, I realised how perfect it was. It captures the mood, and it grabs attention, and it cuts to the chase about how badly things have been, well, enshittified. I can't even think of a way to describe the situation without that word any more.
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@Workshopshed It is certainly a digital detox, and I like the alliteration of that! I'm still reaching for something more positive. I've been so struck by the fact that the non-Big Tech solutions are actually better, as in 'better designed', that I want to turn the focus from 'I am giving something up' to 'I have gained something, I now use a Better Thing'. It's like an upgrade. I can't express it properly, I realise here - this is why I need a word for it!
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@donaldham This is exactly it. Every time, there's a discount, or a good offer like free breakfast, or something like that.
'Reverse showrooming.' I love this phrase and will be adopting it, please and thank you. I've done this too, browsing Amazon (back when its site search actually worked) or Booking.com websites to narrow choices down or check some details, then I'd buy the actual book at my local independent bookshop or book the accommodation directly with the hotel or B&B.
@CiaraNi
From 2001-2011 I was an emerging tech consultant for Fortune 500 companies. A huge concern then was showrooming.That's the practice of going to a physical presence retailer, say Best Buy, to inspect a TV, then buy it online from Amazon.
It's very satisfying to turn the tables on big tech.
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@CiaraNi
Luddites got you covered..Going Full Lud.
Put a little Lud in your life.@faduda I am definitely enjoying putting a little Lud in my life. The more Lud, the better. I am still reaching for a word that focuses on the fact that I am not Boycotting A Bad Thing but Gaining A Good Thing. If that makes sense. I am having difficulty explaining myself, I realise. This is why I need a word for it!
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@CiaraNi
From 2001-2011 I was an emerging tech consultant for Fortune 500 companies. A huge concern then was showrooming.That's the practice of going to a physical presence retailer, say Best Buy, to inspect a TV, then buy it online from Amazon.
It's very satisfying to turn the tables on big tech.
@donaldham Ah! Now I get the wider context. Oh yes, how satisyfing that this is being flipped around now!
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@Workshopshed Oh how lovely! I have never heard of Mingei before. That is a nice analogy for the 'disenshittifying' process. That was so pleasing to learn about. Thanks for sharing the link.
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@gmc I only know Steady from using it to pay my Mastodon-green membership. I just signed up as an alternative to using Patreon. I don't know anything about it from the host side, if that is what you meant. Here's the site link:
Steady – You create. We take care of the rest.
Start your newsletter or membership on Steady – simple tools, real experts, and a team that grows with you. Get started for free now.
Steady (steady.page)
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@gmc @CiaraNi @oldrup Steady is a German membership platform. https://steady.page/en/
This is how our page for Mastodon.green looks like https://steady.page/en/albinsocial/about
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It sounds so much better.
I know people who use both of those horrible sites we've mentioned and they are very much under the impression they're onto something good. I guess it's a matter of believing the hype.
️@grb090423 I think we all just slowly got entangled in these solutions. The Big Tech Bros designed them to manipulate us, to destroy competition, to deceive us into thinking that we were gaining something, to make it expensive for us to leave. And 'everyone' used them. No wonder it's been hard to see a way out, or even to realise that we wanted to find a way out, a better way.
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@donaldham Ah! Now I get the wider context. Oh yes, how satisyfing that this is being flipped around now!
@CiaraNi @donaldham
The only thing is, based on latest experiences in Scotland last year. Only a few commercial places rented out via AirBnb. The owner(s) far away, a local system in the town for cleaning, repairing accommodations. No private owners to please.
Charming old town with even independent bakeries and groceries. "Yes. we do get some more visitors here. Your places were empty, rundown. In good shape now".
For this year we did it direct in a similar place without Uber-tourism. -
Before I could pick my 2026 goal for #DanmarkSkifter, I did a digital status. I was mildly surprised when I saw my 2025 digital changes together. I looked at the list and thought: ’Tell me you hang out in the Fediverse without telling me you hang out in the Fediverse.’
From Outlook to Tuta
From Office to Libre
From MS Authenticator to Ente Authenticator
From Google Play to F-Droid
From Spotify to AntennaPod
From Firefox to Vivaldi
From DuckDuckGo to NoAIDuckDuckGo
And I bought a back-up drive.Impressive!
