2025-10-14 03:14:00
Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!
Here are a handful of Thanksgiving-related stories:
🍗 Growing up we weren't really a Thanksgiving family, and by this I mean we never, ever celebrated it. It just wasn't a thing for us. While I don't feel like I missed out, there's definitely something I like about how our apartment currently smells like cranberries, shortbread, and all kinds of herbs. My partner's family did Thanksgiving properly, which means she does Thanksgiving properly, which means that despite the fact that I was clearly born to be a jester of sorts I will get to act like a medieval king later today while eating (and gesturing with) a turkey leg and watching the Jays game.
🥘 The only time I remember doing something notable with my family for Thanksgiving was like 25 years ago. I was living with my folks after dropping out of undergrad and we were going to try to do something Thanksgiving-y, by which I mean "have dinner at home while saying the word Thanksgiving," but that didn't end up happening because my dad blew a gasket about something stupid (as he was wont to do) leading my mom and I to say "fuck it we ball" and surreptitiously leave the house and drive to the greatest restaurant in Scarborough —— Federick —— whereupon we stuffed our faces with Hakka.
🏒 When I was in first year at McGill in 1997, I realized very quickly how important Thanksgiving was to people and their families. I had two hockey tickets to see the Flyers play the Canadiens and it took me weeks to find someone to go with me because basically everyone I knew was "going home for Thanksgiving." For those scoring at home, the Habs got crushed 6-2.
🦃 In second year, in 1998, I was living in a basement apartment on Mackay in downtown Montreal and though I was broke, I was determined to "provide" for myself and my girlfriend at the time, a first-year student from Vermont named Sarah. I got us two turkey subs from Subway and was hailed as a conquering hero. Ah, youth.
⚾ Growing up we were a Blue Jays family and we still are, which means yesterday's ALCS Game 1 loss to a very good Seattle Mariners team still stings today. Still, as I wrote on October 8, the momentum is what matters. We took it when George Springer homered on the first pitch of the game but then Seattle took it when Cal Raleigh homered —— and they never gave it back. Today we start anew with our young prince Trey Yesavage on the mound. I can't wait.
Still gonna win.
==On y va!==
✍️🔥 Tremendous poem, no notes. (Instagram/someflowerssoonsubstack)
🦭🦭 Tremendous aquariuming, no notes. (Imgur)
🎃🎃 I'm only posting this because it's going to unlock some dormant or heretofore undiscovered kink for one of you. (Imgur)
🥪🥪 In which I continue my commitment to spending my NYT gift links on you guys because it makes me feel good to start and/or support conversations about sandwiches. (NYT)
🚰💧 If you're like me and forget to drink water you might need a smart water bottle. On that tip, HidrateSpark Pro 1 and Pro 2 are currently on (flash) sale. NB: This is not an affiliate link and I would never post one of those without telling you. (HiDrateSpark)
⏰📻 Found this excellent old-school Sony clock radio on Poshmark and am considering adding it to my collection of old(er) tech that can live in my home without being connected to the internet. (Poshmark)
🔤🔤 I'm currently rereading this book, written by the former executive director of the National SCRABBLE Association, as I am exploring joining the local NASPA club. (WW Norton; Toronto Scrabble Club)
😎😎 I get more compliments on my sunglasses than anything else I wear, so I'm shouting out Izipizi, who makes them. NB: This is not an affiliate link and I would never post one of those without telling you. (Izipizi)
🎭🎭 Bob Hoskins (RIP) didn't know what Super Mario Bros. was when he signed on to play Mario but the end of this 17-second clip truly lands the plane. (Twitter/ATRightMovies)
⚾🦜 One of the only good moments from yesterday's ALCS Game 1 was when Edwin Encarnacion walked the parrot before throwing out the first pitch. (Twitter/BlueJayHunter)
🌲 gonna let's
🌼 go
🌱 touch blue
🌳 grass jays
🌷 now clap clap clapclapclap
Be good to yourself.
==If you enjoyed this post, click the little up arrow chevron thinger below the tags to help it rank in Bear's Discovery feed and maybe consider sharing it with a friend or on your socials.==
2025-10-14 00:49:00
Today I dropped off my work car for service. They told me it would take two hours, and there wasn’t much I could do but sit and wait.
When I told a colleague, he said: “Oh, what a drag! It’s always like that. I hate waiting!”
Me, I thought: “Yay, two hours to tinker with my blog.”
So I found a seat in the lounge, grabbed a cup of coffee (there’s always free coffee at car repair places here in Sweden, it’s practically a law), and opened my laptop. By the time my car was ready, so was the little thing I’d built while waiting: a new notes section 1.
Those two hours flew by. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded if they’d said it would take an extra hour.
Hobbies are important. We all need a hobby — and if at least one of them works anywhere, that’s a win.
The content is pulled from my micro blog, birming.com. That means you won’t see those status updates in your RSS feed for robertbirming.com. In short, your feed will stay clutter-free.↩
2025-10-13 23:03:00
I've been avoiding writing. Paradoxically, it's when I am avoiding it that I know should be writing. Avoidance, for me, always meant I am avoiding confrontation with myself. There's always something I don't want to name yet, and writing will force me to name it.
How much more will I write about depression? It feels incessant, like tracing the same wound over and over. What enrages me is how, every time I try to shove it into the past, it drags me back, erupting through my chest with a perturbing violence that shakes my core.
These days, I imagine another me, the me who's stopped trying. I am not gentle with her. Not this time. I shake her by the shoulders, force her to get up: When will you get it together? How do I put some sense into you? There’s something violent about the way I fight her, something desperate. Maybe because I know she’s not really separate from me. She's me. The part that no longer wants to move.
I know better, though. Don't I? That depression hates movement? That it feeds on this exact inertia, on the long, airless hours I disconnectedly spend rotting in bed half-alive, waiting for something to change without lifting a finger. It thrives on my stagnation, when I am too paralyzed to fight it, because I am too busy fighting myself.
Depression hates the smallest acts of motion, I think. It hates when I get out of bed before noon, when I write even one line, when I send a message or wash the dishes or look out the window or talk to a friend. Hell, it hates when I still believe in the idea of a future for myself.
Movement is resistance. I don’t have to sprint. In days like these, I know even crawling counts. Even when I don't believe it will matter. Because as long as I am moving, it can't fully consume me. I will find a way out of its grip even if it kills me.
Depression hates a moving target. And so I keep moving.
2025-10-13 21:04:00
I read an article yesterday, stating that on average, people spend 4 hours and 37 minutes on their phones per day^1^, with South Africans coming in fourth highest in the world at a whopping 5 hours and 11 minutes^2^.
This figure seems really high to me. If we assume people sleep roughly 8 hours per day, that means that one third of their day is spent on their phones. If we also assume people work 8 hours per day (ignoring the fact that they may be using their phones during work hours), that suggests that people spend over half of their free time (and up to 65% of it) glued to their screens.
I never wanted to carry the internet around in my pocket. It's too distracting and pulls me out of the present moment, fracturing my attention. I've tried switching to old-school black and white phones before, but always begrudgingly returned to using a smartphone due to the utility of it. The problem, however, is that it comes with too many attention sinks tucked in alongside the useful tools.
I care about living an intentional and meaningful life, nurturing relationships, having nuanced conversations, and enjoying the world around me. I don't want to spend this limited time I have on earth watching short form video and getting into arguments on Twitter.
This is what I enjoy. Picture taken yesterday in Scarborough, South Africa.
I've written at length about how I manage my digital consumption, from turning off notifications to forgoing social media entirely. The underlying premise here is that if you're trying to lose weight, you shouldn't carry cookies around in your pockets. And my phone is the bag of cookies in this metaphor.
We're wired to seek out distraction, novel information, and entertainment, and avoid boredom at all costs. But boredom is where creativity and self-reflection do their best work. It's why "all the best ideas come when you're in the shower"—we don't usually take our phones with us into the shower (yet).
According to Screen Time on my iPhone, on average I spend 30 minutes per day on it, which I think is reasonable, especially considering the most-used apps are by-and-large utility apps like banking and messages. This isn't because I have more self-control than other people. I don't think I do. It's because I know myself, and have set up my digital life to be a positive force, and not an uninspired time-sink.
There are many apps and systems to incentivise better relationships with our phones, mostly based around time limits. But these are flawed in three ways:
The only way I've found to have a good relationship with my phone is to make it as uninteresting as possible. The first way is to not have recommendation media (think Instagram, TikTok, and all the rest). I'm pro deleting these accounts completely, because it's really easy to re-download the apps on a whim, or visit them in-browser. However some people have found that having them on a dedicated device works by isolating those activities. Something like a tablet at home that is "the only place you're allowed to use Instagram". I can't comment too much on this route, but it seems reasonable.
My biggest time sink over the past few years has been YouTube. The algorithm knew me too well and would recommend video after engaging, but ultimately useless video. I could easily burn an entire evening watching absolute junk—leaving me feeling like I'd just wasted what could have otherwise been a beautiful sunset or a tasty home-cooked lasagne. However, at the beginning of this year I learnt that you can turn off your YouTube watch history entirely, which means no recommendations. Here's what my YouTube home screen now looks like:
Without the recommendations I very quickly run out of things to watch from the channels I'm subscribed to. It's completely changed my relationship with YouTube since I only watch the videos I actually want to watch, and none of the attention traps. You can turn off your YouTube watch history here, and auto delete your other Google history (like historic searches and navigation) here, which I think is just good practice.
I also used my adblocker, AdGuard on Safari which has a useful "block element" feature, to block the recommended videos on the right of YouTube videos. I use this feature to hide shorts as well, since I have no interest in watching them either, and YouTube intentionally makes them impossible to remove. If you're interested in a similar setup, here are the selectors I use to block those elements:
youtube.com###items > ytd-item-section-renderer.style-scope.ytd-watch-next-secondary-results-renderer:last-child
youtube.com###sections
youtube.com##[is-shorts]
youtube.com###secondary
The only media that I do sometimes consume on my phone are my RSS feeds, but it's something I'm completely comfortable with since it's explicitly opt-in by design and low volume.
While I still have the twitch to check my phone when I'm waiting for a coffee, or in-between activities—because my brain's reward system has been trained to do this—I'm now rewarded with nothing. Over time, I find myself checking my phone less and less. Sometimes I notice the urge, and just let it go, instead focusing on the here and now.
I think that while the attention-span-degrading effects of recommendation media are getting most of the headlines, what isn't spoken about as much is the sheer number of hours lost globally to our phones (3.8 million years per day, according to my back-of-the-napkin-math). And while people may argue that this could involve productive work or enjoyable leisure, I suspect that the vast (vast!) majority of that time is short-form entertainment.
My solution may sound overkill to many people, but I can say with absolute certainty that it has turned me into a more present, less distracted, and more optimistic person. I have much more time to spend in nature, with friends, or on my hobbies and projects. I can't imagine trading it in for a tiny screen, ever.
Give it a try.
Happily on the beach for sunset.
2025-10-13 00:00:00
A few days ago, a Twitch livestreamer streamed herself giving birth. As others sat on a sofa on the left filming and making content about it, you got to see her on the right in a tub, pushing, the more intimate parts turned away from the camera. In the background was a TV displaying the Twitch chat.
I'm not here to comment on this decision directly, as she and the people involved have to make that decision and be comfortable with this moving forward, but it did make me think - we must be living through the ==least privacy-conscious time== right now, huh?
Maybe it is not even about being conscious of privacy, it's the growing devaluation of it. It goes a little deeper than just misguided retorts like "But I have nothing to hide!".
Ideas around privacy and data protection tend to overlap. Historically, if you wanted to keep something private, you just didn't talk about it, didn't write it down, didn't have it published - but that approach stopped working in the late 1900s. That's when the first data protection laws were created, as more data was recorded via new tech and states were interested in surveying or obtaining said data more or less forcefully.
First, there was the Datenschutzgesetz (data protection law) of the state of Hesse in Germany in ==1970==, which focused a lot on actual data safety. Then closely after, we have Sweden's Datalagen (data act), mistakenly often said to be the first worldwide (which is wrong!) that came into effect in ==1974==. This law was established to regulate the handling of personal data and address Swedish citizens' concerns about privacy in the context of growing data processing technologies.
A very important court decision was the ==Volkszählungsurteil (Census verdict) of 1983== by the Federal Constitutional Court in Germany. It laid the groundwork for informational self-determination, which means: Your right to decide who gets your data, how much, what kind of data, and when. The court held that those who don't know or can't control what information is being stored about their behavior tend to adjust their actions out of caution (also called =='Panopticism'==) and that this not only restricts individual freedom, but also harms the common good, because a free and democratic society depends on the self-determined participation of its citizens.
Offense about a census is something we can can hardly relate to nowadays, seeing how freely we share all kinds of information online; but back then, the idea of a census was a big deal. We cannot forget that ==just 40 years prior==, that very same country gathered data on Jewish people, Sinti and Roma, disabled people, queer people and others to systematically oppress, torture and kill them.
The hesitancy to gather data about specific groups after this ran so deep that it actually had a negative effect: In Germany, it was hard to detect or track the negative effects of ==thalidomide ('Contergan')==, a widely prescribed medication that ended up causing miscarriages and severe disfiguration in babies, because the state did not want to monitor congenital disorders so strictly after the Nazi regime had mandatory statistical monitoring under its ==Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring== to commit various crimes against disabled people. That delayed making the connection between mothers taking thalidomide and the birth defects, harming more people in the meantime.
As you can see, there used to be a lot of awareness around the risks of data you share and who collects it for what purposes - something that we are increasingly missing nowadays. It's not just that the internet and especially social media has normalized it, but that it also gets ==rewarded==.
Back then, what was the expected, foreseeable reward for sharing data with your state for the average person? Absolutely nothing, except for maybe getting punished for it in the future. There was also a culture of ==stigma and shame== around sharing too much of your life.
Nowadays though, sharing data freely with all kinds of actors, mostly companies, promises you ==fame and money== - even information around debt, mental health, or a very messy house that people historically would rather die than share.
For over two decades now, we have seen countless people have their lives changed by just ==one viral moment==: Paid thousands for videos; book deals, podcast deals, album deals; roles in movies, collaborating with other stars, invited to red carpets and fashion shows; moving into mansions. The viral moment didn't have to be good, it just had to shock.
Not sharing your life this intimately, or not sharing data at all, bars you from this completely, but participating is playing the lottery that this might happen to you, too. As living gets more precarious for many, gaming the ==attention economy== is a chance they're willing to take, especially because it doesn't immediately seem like it has any sort of downside. If you win, you win, and if you don't, you don't and just make friends and share things with family and have an archive of your life, right?
Obviously, it is not just that. People have had their lives ruined by ==doxxing==, by hacks, by scammers using their own shared information against them. Companies leak data that puts the users at risk of ==identity fraud==, stalkers misuse the trust the users give to them and the platform. People use the media others posted of themselves against their consent to create compromising ==deepfakes==. Employers scour the net for your personal information before hiring you, and people might find out where you work and message your workplace to get you fired. States descend into ==authoritarian regimes and fascism==, using what you have said online to persecute you.
Unfortunately, users think all of this only ever happens to other people and is therefore not something they should keep in mind and consider while making accounts and posting. In their eyes, the victims have brought this on themselves, live in 'bad' countries, or had bad luck, and any measure taken to be more privacy-conscious is seen as completely wasted because of the surveillance device we keep in our pockets.
To be clear, I am not saying that we should just shut up online; this very blog is the antithesis to that, and it would be hypocritical. But it has to be said: It is simply important to ==be aware, make a conscious decision and draw your own boundaries==, while considering the worst case scenario.
It is also about recognizing when we have been ==pressured and manipulated into oversharing== by companies whose business model depends on it.
Charlie White, while talking about the birth livestream, fittingly said the following:
"I hate that there has been a complete ==deterioration of the value of privacy==. It seems like people don't want privacy anymore. Like, there is no such thing as a special moment anymore if you can't ==monetize it and publicly display it==. Something like the birth of your child, to me, would be [...] something so personal that you wouldn't want just a bunch of strangers peeking in on. [...]
To me, this seems like a sign of the times where everything needs to be content-brained, content-oriented. There's really no other reason to be livestreaming the delivery of your child other than the obvious attention it's going to bring with it. To me, that just feels so odd, so [...] dystopian. [...]
It turns something as sacred as life entering this world into a ==monetizable spectacle==. An event that tons of people were watch-party-ing like it was a fucking football game. [...]
I just think that is so fucking sad, that everything has to be content now. Before that baby can even have its first thought or open its eyes, it's already a piece of content, it's already in the social media chaos, it's already on camera.
And to me, that's just crazy, but to many people, it's not. Which to me, that's kind of concerning, because we've deteriorated so much that ==everything is expected to be content now.=="
This is perfectly capturing the problem and the general attitude.
We are in a culture that has lost the ability to properly assess the risks and draw boundaries in regards to privacy, where everything is content and new extremes need to be reached as viewers become desensitized or tired of the usual content strategy. People increasingly feel the need to ==go harder, show more, do more==, be even more vulnerable to capture their audience or even get noticed, and it shows. We are reaching new levels of ==self-surveillance== by the minute.
We surveil not only our selves though, but also expose ==others==, whether it is the people in our lives or simply strangers on the street. Our conflicts with others, or others' helpless, humiliating, embarrassing, weird or dangerous moments are now our content as we lift our phones to film the catastrophes, wars, fights and meltdowns we see. It's hard to draw the line between activism and monetizing crimes against humanity with some of them - is it just posted to create awareness, or also because it is content that will do numbers?
There's also another aspect: We are living in more ==anxious times==.
The news cycle is constant and global and doomscrolling is common, so we have never been more aware of everything bad that is going on everywhere at the same time. It shows in our actions and mental health, always seeking to reassure and pacify ourselves. Our increasing feeling of being unsafe or our property being in danger is weaponized by companies looking to profit off of it.
Don't you wanna see who's outside of your door? How about your driveway and your garden? How about the inside of your house so you can always check what your partner, your children and the pets are doing, or catch a burglar or fire early? Don't you wanna know where your loved ones are at all times?1 It's giving way to constant control and checking.
This has made so many people very comfortable to essentially deliver an ==almost completely unprotected livestream== of their location, themselves, their neighbors, strangers just walking by, delivery personnel, friends and family, and any other guest (like repairmen) in or around their homes. Surveillance has made the switch from being seen as oppressive and overbearing to being basically synonymous with safety, which you can see ripples of in law as we are dealing with the ==UK's Age Verification Law== and the ==EU's ChatControl==. One has passed, one has a surprisingly likely chance to pass compared to the attitude and voting from the prior attempt. It's clear something has changed.
Recently, I had to argue for or against a law for collection of IP addresses to fight cybercrime ('data retention' or 'Vorratsdatenspeicherung') for a class in my law degree. We were supplied with, but also had to research, arguments for both sides. Surprisingly, despite good arguments that the whole thing would not even be constitutional, I had a good amount of peers that valued a faux sense of safety over the constitution. One literally said =="I would rather sacrifice my freedom than my safety"==.
So, in this culture, how do we teach people the importance and value of privacy, where becoming a glass citizen2 is potentially a golden ticket and giving us a sense of safety, while being easier and way more fun in the short-term than the alternative is?
To be honest, I just don't know.
I feel like none of the arguments are reaching people anymore. They just don't care. It pales to other, more immediate concerns in their life, feels futile and touches too much on the few ways they seek relief in life. Being privacy-conscious is seen as if it is taking something away from them instead of giving them something.
For some, it seems to be reduced this one-sided, technical challenge of choosing the right device or OS or browser, which complicates it further.
Privacy isn't just turning some trackers off in the settings, it's also you figuratively pulling the blinds shut on your online presence for some moments.
I'll leave you with a screenshot that my wife fittingly sent me this while writing this post:
Sidenote: Should I start taking the difference between hyphens and em dashes seriously? Is it a good time to switch while AI is overusing the em dash? Let me know. I just never cared to select the em dash, as the hyphen was faster.
Reply via email
Published {{ post_published_date }}
Even I share my location with my wife and have GPS on some of my belongings. Sure, it is convenient for when I lose it, and it gives me a sense of safety that my wife knows where I am, but I am not naive about the downsides and normalization of more extreme forms.↩
English version of the idea of a 'Gläserner Mensch', a data protection/privacy concept about becoming fully transparent/see-through due to all kinds of surveillance.↩
2025-10-12 15:45:08
Article written by cris
Recently, Pirate (pun not intended), my dear online friend and very active contributor to the Gazette, published his opinions about piracy, which not only shot to the top of the Trending page but also led to a small controversy (that is solved and we shall not discuss here).
Conflict and crisis are often the greatest sources of inspiration, so it occurred to me that I have some experience with piracy on the consumer side that might be worth sharing: a different perspective, one of someone who has gone from being a fierce defender of piracy, to renouncing it altogether.
This post is not a reply to Pirate though. Even if I wanted it to be, I couldn't possibly. Pirate brought forth some solid, well-constructed arguments. I am about as skilled at doing that as a donkey is skilled at knitting scarfs. (No offense to donkeys.) The goal of this post is just to show you the thought process (the feelings) of someone who doesn't "illegally download copyrighted materials on the Internet" (take that as my definition of the verb "pirate" and the noun "piracy", for the purpose of this post), which, believe it or not, is a species of human that, albeit in a microscopic minority, does, in fact, exist, and needs not to be ashamed of it.
It took me a long time to find a relevant topic about which to write a post for the Gazette, but I think that this one is. A small, social, and somewhat technical platform such a Bear, naturally attracts users who, for example, are into coding, Linux, and of course, piracy. However, it also attracts people like me, who just want to write, and who also happen to not pirate anything. So, this post is my way of saying that, if you, like me, don't pirate anything, by choice, then you're not alone.
So, without further ado, I will be sharing my experience in four areas: video games, movies and shows, music, and books.
The first time that I ever pirated something may just have been Pokémon Ruby Version and Pokémon Sapphire Version, all the way back in 2004. It's crazy to think that those games already ran flawlessly on VisualBoyAdvance on Windows XP back then.
I began to leave the nest as early as 2009, and with that, I lost access to all of my Nintendo consoles and games (which my siblings proceeded to destroy, thank you very much). So, naturally, the Dolphin emulator became my only vehicle for returning to my all-time favorite video game: Animal Crossing for the Gamecube.
On top of that, Dolphin enabled me to play through many games that became some of my absolute favorites, such as the Tellius entries of the Fire Emblem series, which not only introduced me to the franchise, but were so much fun, that I even attempted a second play through.
As a Nintendo fan, I hope against hope that the company will ever provide a convenient and qualitative way for me to experience all the classics that are out of print. That's not the reality that we live in though, and so, given that I'm too poor to be able to invest hundreds of dollars on secondhand hardware and software (which wouldn't go into Nintendo's pockets anyway), I saw piracy as really the only way to scratch that itch.
Over the years, however, I have soured on more attempts at playing classic games (even Animal Crossing) than not.
The reason is as simple to state as it is complicated to logically defend:
It just doesn't feel the same as the original hardware.
Pirate read a draft of this post before I submitted it and agreed with me here. Whenever he can, he buys the hardware, mods it, and then runs the games on it, as intended. I'd love to have the money to be able to do the same.
Side note: Brazil is an interesting case scenario. There is a large and vibrant community of video game pirates there. As a vast majority of the population lives below the poverty line, piracy and emulation are the only means through which the average Brazilian can experience the medium. In fact, many Brazilians actively contribute to the development of better, more efficient emulators.
Emulators are great, and they often run the games better than the original hardware (cough cough Nintendo Switch cough cough), but something about owning the console and using it as intended, feels better, more natural, and more "plug-and-play" than having to manage files and apps.
I've never been much into the "customization" that piracy enables either (I'm talking about game modding, enhancements, ROM hacks, etc.). It all flies over my head. If you don't understand the feeling that I am expressing here, then I might just not be able to explain to you why none of it attracts me. It is my belief that there's a spectrum that goes from "tinkerer" to... (I'm not sure what to call it)... "non-tinkerer". On this spectrum, I squarely fall on the extreme end of the "non-tinkerer" side. This is to say, I want to buy a console, buy the games, play them as they were intended to be played, and not veer from that experience. Staying in that walled garden is how I experience fun and comfort.
You're obviously free to think of me as dumb, lazy, or a sheepish normie. I don't think that I'm any of those. I think that I just have a different personality, and that's OK.
So, I eventually decided not to pirate classic Nintendo games anymore.
That decision is made somewhat easy by the fact that the company is actively taking down the websites that are preserving its legacy.
I have a Nintendo Switch 2 now and love playing on it, no matter what anyone says about how Nintendo has recently been pricing their products or managing their ecosystem.
Side note: Yes, I borrowed money from a friend to buy it. Yes, you're allowed to judge me for complaining earlier that I'm too poor to buy secondhand hardware and software, but then get a loan for an "overpriced" console and games. Here, I'll give you even more reasons to judge me: I also own an iPhone Xr (since 2018), an M1 Mac Mini (since 2021), and a 10th-generation iPad (since 2024). If you're trying to find any rhyme or reason to my purchase decisions, then you've come to the wrong post my friend. Haha. I'm about as blindly brand-loyal as it gets. In the case of Apple, it's not for status, but for something far worse: an aesthetic preference for their ecosystem. In the case of Nintendo, it's a preference for the cute, colorful, joyful, nostalgic gameplay experiences that they offer.
half of the audience stops reading
I stopped watching shows altogether due to lack of time. It's just too great of an investment. It's why my only hobby is gaming. I intentionally chose one hobby, so as to not overwhelm myself trying to invest time into every single medium of entertainment, or worse, do what most Americans do to "make time" for all the shows that they watch.
Movies are more digestible though, so if a sufficiently interesting one comes along, then I may end up watching it (might happen around three times a year).
I have two reasons why I have gotten tired of pirating movies though:
First, if I allow piracy into my life, then suddenly the options become endless. Limiting my options prevents me from feeling overwhelmed.
Second, there may be all kinds of pirated streaming services and torrent sites out there, and I have explored almost all of the most popular ones out of curiosity, but they're not as accessible or convenient as they're made out to be, at least not for me. Simply opening up the Netflix app (the only one that I pay for) or going to the theater (which I love doing) is just a different level of convenience (not to mention that torrenting isn't safe if, like me, you have no clue what you're doing).
I had a bit of the same "overwhelm of options" issue with games, but movies and shows are just too much.
I pay for Netflix. My wife likes to watch Asian dramas on it. As for me, I will occasionally watch a movie on it if it catches my attention, either because it got really popular or was recommended to me by friends.
People complain a lot about the fragmentation of the streaming platforms, but I have embraced it, because it got rid of my feeling overwhelmed at the amount of options for movies to watch. For all its faults, on occasion, Netflix releases some absolute bangers.
Side note: I stopped pirating anime and manga much for the same reasons.
I listened to music a lot as a teenager, and I downloaded it all from the Internet.
Back then, I also had the time and patience to edit the tags of each file to perfectly organize everything by album, with the cover art, and then some.
My interest in music has waned over the years, although I did enjoy Spotify for a long time. Unfortunately though, that platform has become riddled with poor design choices and so much slop that it made me pull out of it.
I now have YouTube Premium, which enables me to use YouTube Music. It does the job whenever I feel a craving to listen to an old song or when I need check out a new tune that a friend recommended to me.
However, as I said before, I have lost almost all interest in music. I have to say that YouTube Music is also pretty flawed for me in terms of its UI.
I don't want to pay for Apple Music (since I don't even listen to music that much anyway), but I certainly don't want to return to maintaining my own files. It's too much of a hassle. I therefore have erased music as a hobby for my life, and its piracy along with it.
Side note: That may sound weird to those of you who think in terms such as: "How can anyone just live without listening to music? That must be so sad and boring!" Trust me when I say that you can live without a lot of things, and very happily so. Haha. Gaming is the one entertainment-focused hobby that I truly love above all others. All else is optional.
Another side note: I sort of subtly touched on this point in the previous section, but I want to reiterate that I also won't die out of ignorance because I'm not aware of all the entertainment that is currently a part of the Zeitgeist: be it movies, shows, music, anime, or manga. On my death bed, you can be sure that I won't regret not having spent the majority of my time alive making sure that I listen to and watch everything that society tells me to. I think that this obsession with "being in the know" and the FOMO that comes with it, is what pushes a lot of people into piracy, even when they're not particularly fond of it.
I was big into pirating books before I bought my iPad. I have since paid for every single one, except when my wife entered residency and needed to get three books, of which one costs $180, and two cost $300.
It made me feel very uncomfortable to peruse Anna's Archive, and I have become less and less comfortable with the idea of downloading copyrighted material on the Internet. It just doesn't feel safe anymore, no matter how many layers of VPNs I strap on. I have friends who have gotten letters from their ISPs warning them about fines if they continue to download movies and games, so times seem to be changing. My own ISP has begun to warn me through my browser whenever I visit piracy-related websites, even when they host no content.
I can imagine that the crackdown on books will start soon if it hasn't started already, so my wife and I decided that this was our last digital heist. I hope that the almost $800 of pirated books for her residency don't come back to bite us in the rear. I hate that education in the 21st century is pay-walled like this, but between perhaps borrowing the books from someone or getting the information through other (legal) means, and potentially getting fined, we've made our choice.
I'm not a fan of piracy because it's illegal, doesn't make me feel safe anymore, and doesn't always provide the convenient experience that many people say it does.
As I said in the beginning though, those aren't my arguments against piracy. Those are my preferences, and I know that there must be one or two other people out there who, like me, just want to consume digital content as it was intended to be consumed, even if that means that we're paying more, getting less, and not owning anything.
Side note: I won't take anything with me when I die anyway, so why bother hoarding stuff, digital or physical?
I know that this will come across as spineless to a lot of people, but steering clear of piracy feels safe and simple, and that feeling matters to me. I wanted the others who feel the same way that I do to know that they are not alone. Just because piracy is more popular and accessible than ever, and just because the IndieWeb attracts a lot of people who stand by it, that doesn't mean that there aren't any people among us who prefer to stay out of it. I'm not accusing anyone specific on the IndieWeb of elitism in this regard, but if we want it to be truly inclusive, then that has to include "normies" like me.
However, I do believe that copyright laws in certain instances have gone way too far. Nintendo, for example, will never re-release my beloved Animal Crossing for the Gamecube, and even if they do, it will be a subpar experience through Nintendo Switch Online, or a bastardized remake.
Maybe one day I'll climb out of poverty and buy myself a secondhand Gamecube, but what am I supposed to do until then? Well, as I said before, you'd be surprised how many things you can live without, even things you deeply love. So, I will opt to embrace my homesickness for this game until the day comes that I can experience with without having to resort to piracy.
This is not fair though. The game is more than 20 years old. Nintendo shouldn't be legally allowed to hold it hostage. That's not how copyright should work.
I have become a bit of a meme in our group for repeatedly sharing this link every time we discuss copyright, but I want to finish my diatribe by bringing it to your attention as well. It's an excellent documentary about copyright laws and the creative process, which I have shared with hundreds of people over the years. It should give you a good idea of what my thoughts and feelings on the matter of copyright law are.
We are all humans. We are one species. We share one planet. I see no reason why knowledge and the arts should perpetually be pay-walled. It is my belief that a rich public domain would quickly propel us forward as a society. Alas, human nature is also one of greed and selfishness, so I don't expect copyright laws to ever favor the public domain.
I don't call for creators and inventors to be deprived of their livelihood, but I call on lawmakers to give them a reasonable amount of time to profit off of their ideas (I think that 20 years is more than long enough), and then let others get inspired by them, just as they were inspired by the works of those who came before.