this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2026
120 points (97.6% liked)
Privacy
50790 readers
621 users here now
A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
Some Rules
- Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
- Don't promote proprietary software
- Try to keep things on topic
- If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
- Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
- Be nice :)
Related communities
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
This is not "participating in society", this is participating in, contributing to, and directly benefitting from the very thing they're complaining about.
You do understand what "participation" means, right? You understand that the original comic is specifically talking about contributing to and benefitting from the very thing they're complaining about, right?
I agree with your other point that GN should offer more alternatives to watch their videos, but this one is creating a distinction without a difference.
The original comic is referring to cars and iPhones (or smartphones more broadly). Basically, things you absolutely need to "participate in society" for most people. YouTube is very much not one of those things.
I have multiple young-ish (30s) friends that don't own a phone (not just smartphone; any phone), and basically all people I know above 80 years don't own one either.
You can absolutely live a perfectly fine and good life without a smartphone. You're just drawing the line where it's convenient for you.
Or let's put it in more familiar words...
Your personal anecdotes aside, myself and many others literally cannot . Modern society expects you to own one, including organizations like banks, healthcare, and, possibly most importantly, employers. It's literally mandatory to participate in much of society.
Similarly, my local city has nothing representing public transportation or safe routes for walking or cycling. In addition, in areas where many of the jobs are, housing is obscenely-priced, and completely unaffordable for "normal" people, so living close to work isn't an option either.
No job is going to require you to watch YouTube news.
It may be initially inconvenient, but you can choose a bank that offers 2FA/TAN beyond the smartphone app.
Not sure what healthcare apps you mean. There's lots of categories, so won't comment without clarification.
Same for employers tbh. Would love an example. (Besides: work apps can't be forced on your private phone in most places.)
I live in "modern society" and do own a smartphone, but I'm aware that it's a convenience, not a necessity.
For you. For many people it is not. You're projecting your personal experiences onto the rest of the world.
I know plenty of people without cars or smartphones that still participate in society. This is a terrible argument.
It's not a terrible argument for people who have adequate reading comprehension.
So you've moved the goalposts from "that's not just participation, it's [things that participation entails]" to "well this doesn't apply unless you need it to exist"*. GN needs a major platform like YouTube to actually reach an audience.
* By the way, the comic is illustrating a man with a car that's seemingly from the 1920s or 30s, so there goes that tenuous argument.
I haven't moved anything, and you know I haven't. I'm not going to continue engaging in bad faith discussions.