I’ve Had Enough
I had Chinese take out food for dinner the other day. As usual, it came with a fortune cookie. The fortune inside was a bit different than what I’ve seen as a typical fortune before. Usually they’re some variation of “you’ll achieve great things soon.” This fortune, however, made the following claim:
“As long as you don’t sign up for anything new, you’ll do fine.”
I’ve been thinking about that fortune ever since that meal. It’s absolutely right. Everything these days makes you sign up for an account, create a profile, populate it with personal information.
So you can be tracked.
So you can be advertised to.
So you can be sold.
A user.
A customer.
A member.
A data point.
A number.
An object.
…
Enough.
Enough is enough.
We’re light years past enough.
I say no way.
I say no thanks.
Do not want.
I don’t want to sign up.
I don’t want to make an account.
I don’t want to provide a username.
I don’t want to think of a password.
I don’t want to create a profile.
I don’t want to give my date of birth.
I don’t want to set my location.
I don’t want to verify my identity.
I don’t want to have a personalized experience.
I don’t want to upload a profile picture.
I don’t want to write a bio.
I don’t want to choose a color scheme.
I don’t want to review my settings.
I don’t want to add tags.
I don’t want to join a group.
I don’t want to connect with other users.
I don’t want to view my stats.
I don’t want to collect points.
I don’t want to earn rewards.
I don’t want to accrue data.
I don’t want to be tracked.
I don’t want to be advertised to.
I don’t want to be sold.
I don’t want to be a user.
I don’t want to be a customer.
I don’t want to be a member.
I don’t want to be an entry in a database.
I don’t want to be a number on a spreadsheet.
I don’t want to be objectified anymore.
I don’t want to be objectified.
I don’t want to be.
I don’t want to.
I don’t want.
I don’t.
I…
I’ve had enough.
I won’t be signing up for anything new.
Because, as my fortune said.
I’ll do fine.
