All posts tagged: Luddite

This Luddite Puppet Hopes You’re Not Reading This on Your Smartphone

This Luddite Puppet Hopes You’re Not Reading This on Your Smartphone

Published by skeptic

Keep yourself open to, “OK, I’m gonna look around. Is there a Luddite poster here? I’m at my local bookstore. OK, is there some information here?” It’s this idea of social infrastructure, switching people over from the idea of, “OK, I’ll look at an Instagram page, and here’s all the events” to the idea of, “I actually have to leave my house.” Be on the lookout. We’ll be out here. Tompkins Square Park, probably, other parks, privately owned public spaces. We have events all over this city. It’s amazing. Knicks in five. I love New York. Gowanus, we like to play a little game on each show. I love games. We’re very proud of it. It’s called Control, Alt, Delete. So I wanna know what piece of tech you would love to control, what piece you would alter or change, and what you would delete, or vanquish from the earth. Wow. Are you ready? Control, Alt, Delete. OK, great. Let’s start with control. This is so funny that you’re asking me this. I would say …

It’s time to reclaim the Luddite

It’s time to reclaim the Luddite

Published by Sam Flores

Delivering the commencement address at Wesleyan on May 24th, Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut) inadvertently demonstrated the success of a century-spanning smear campaign against a single historically significant term. Murphy had a powerful piece of advice for the graduating class: Resist efficiency. Casting Luddites as anti-technology has slandered an historic labor uprising as a destructive tantrum thrown by fearful, hidebound cranks. “Every day, technology companies are rolling out new products that cut the time it takes to do everything in your life, from eating to shopping, to dating, from getting [from] one place to another,” the senator said. “These aren’t products designed to make you happier. These are products designed to make you more efficient . . . Our entire economy is built on rewarding companies that are efficient at making a profit, not based upon how they treat their workers, the social value of their product or the impact they have on the community.” But Murphy was quick to assure his audience: “I’m not a Luddite.” Because we all know what that means: In history …

Inside the Luddite Festival Harnessing Gen Z’s Rage Against Big Tech

Inside the Luddite Festival Harnessing Gen Z’s Rage Against Big Tech

Published by skeptic

On a Sunday evening in the middle of Tompkins Square Park in New York City’s East Village, hundreds of people gather in front of a giant papier-mâché face of a woman wearing a crown. She’s the backdrop of a play, her body made up of curtains that look like a dress but serve a dual purpose, allowing actors to scurry on and offstage. I’m here to watch a performance called “Luddite Recreations,” which is a history of the Luddite movement—a group of artisans and textile workers who resisted the adoption of machines during the early years of the Industrial Revolution in England and whose resistance to being displaced from their work was met with violence by the British monarchy. It’s one of the opening events of the Summer of Ludd, a weeklong series of talks and activities like how to flirt and date offline, mending, and learning to fight against data centers, all focused on getting people off their phones and into community. A poster skewering ChatGPT. Photograph: Vittoria Elliot Photograph: Vittoria Elliot Everything is …

Timex Ironman Review 2026: A Luddite Fitness Bro’s Dream Timepiece

Timex Ironman Review 2026: A Luddite Fitness Bro’s Dream Timepiece

Published by Jenni Sidey

The fitness watch world has never been more advanced. Most offerings these days track almost every measurable metric, including heart rate, pulse oximetry, and heart rate variability. They have built in GPS, compass, altimeters, and barometric pressure sensors. Many watches will monitor your sleep and can help build a training plan. They track your workouts, providing a host of valuable data and those workouts are (of course) then uploaded to Strava. It’s great, and we should all be so grateful to train with readily available insights that not too long ago were reserved for pro athletes—if they were even available at all. It can also get tiring. We become beholden to the metrics, less likely to log an easy run or bike for fear of our Strava peers’ perceptions. Maybe we bail on those weekend plans in order to protect the holy sleep score. Here’s the thing: Sometimes we could all use an infusion of old school, analog, low-tech. As much as we love to work out with our Apple Watch, sometimes an endless barrage …

The Next Generation Luddite | Psychology Today

The Next Generation Luddite | Psychology Today

Published by Jenni Sidey

There’s a rebellion forming in classrooms and dining rooms. Parents are opting their children out of school-issued laptops and are asking teachers to return to pen and paper. In a recent report, families described a growing discomfort with this digital imperative in education. Importantly, this is less about the logistical aspects of technology and more about something universal: Control. These instincts seem reasonable. Screens distract, and artificial intelligence hovers over homework like an invisible, or worse, a co-conspirator in cheating. If the tool seems to distort the learning process, remove the AI. It would be easy to dismiss this reaction as technophobia, but that would be lazy. While the anxiety underneath it is real, the object of resistance may not be at the heart of this disruption. The Echo of the First Luddites The original Luddites weren’t irrational men smashing machinery as a reaction to innovation. They were skilled workers responding to a system that threatened both craft and identity. Automation altered the economic logic of their world, and with it, their sense of agency. …