Delete Your Social Media – #SolutionsWatch

by | Aug 10, 2022 | Solutions Watch, Videos | 129 comments

Even the Big Techers admit it: social media is ripping apart the fabric of our society. So the solution is simple, right? Delete your social media! Or is it not that simple? Join James on today’s edition of #SolutionsWatch as he explores the solutions to the Media Matrix problem.

Watch on Archive / BitChute / Odysee or Download the mp4

SHOW NOTES:

Sean Parker, Chamath Palihapitiya – Facebook is ‘Ripping Apart Society’

The Media Matrix

Mass Media: A History online course

Interview 1740 – Declare Your Independence From The Media Matrix

Time Flies: U.S. Adults Now Spend Nearly Half a Day Interacting with Media

Unplugging From the Matrix – #SolutionsWatch

#deletetwitter

Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman

A Mass Media Reading List – Questions For Corbett

129 Comments

  1. “Digital Minimalism” by Cal Newport. I just finished reading it. Great Book!

    • riemer

      I liked his other book but not read that one but its probably just as good.

      will warn that many digital minimalists suggest pruning down your personal file storage and keeping stuff on the cloud…. that is an awful idea. Everyone should have an old computer or two with spinning hard disks to store their files in the age of data breaches and censorship

      Kindle paperwights are wonderful, and you never need let them get online if you use a GOOD usb cable to PC and leave them in airplane mode

      To save on papers Scan your old bills and your personal papers and such stuff and store them encrypted and offline on at least 2 disks and a USB thumb dribves in different locations.

      I’ve been ripping old DVD’s I get for nothing and now have hundreds of movies, (not that I watch much in the way of TV or movies, lol) and have hundreds of audio books and saved podcasts and books and stuff on an old PC by the TV that never goes online and cost me nothing except for the 2 spinning hard disks I put in it… and I cleared out a ton of Physical space in my home

  2. Good video. Personally I have no accounts on social media except here, another on a group chat, and an email. I withdrew from everything a long time ago.

    And in the personal real world, i am lucky. The only account I have is one for taxes. No bank, no cell service, nothing except taxes.

    These days personally I spend in total throughout each day about an hour online. listening to James, reading the “news” to hear what lies they are telling, or chatting here and there with family or friend.

    I used to do RSS feeds and listen to hours of podcasts while working. I got tired of it though.

    I read books for an hour each morning. I exercise for an hour. I meditate for an hour. I watch the Sunrise.

    For work, I mostly do physical work but at times I have obstacles and have to spend half a day researching online.

    My free time, which is not much, I either spend time with the family, or work on growing/fermenting food, or fixing up the home. I try to enjoy each moment in the real world observing, reflecting, and witnessing.

    I should be getting back to work and James is making me aware of the minutes passing by quickly here.

    I am curious as to how one can watch James’ videos directly on his server?

    • Just go to Corbettreport.com. connecting straight to his website. He has mentioned this before. I have always connected this way.

      • I am not sure that is correct. I always go direct to James’ site.

        For example, the video we are now commenting on is firstly thumbnail hosted by Odysee, then there are options to watch it on Archive, then Bitchute, then again Odysee, and then to download the mp4, which I am pretty sure is audio only. There is no direct video link hosted by corbettreport.com.

        I can understand why as video hosting is expensive. YouTube doesn’t make money and operates at a loss AFAIK. It is rather there for data collection. I was surprised to hear James hosts his own videos and am wondering where that is located as I would rather that route.

        corbettreport.com/?

        James?

        • “download the mp4, which I am pretty sure is audio only.”

          That is not correct. You get the video.

          • Ah, excellent, my mistake. Thanks for replying.

            • Just to be clear here. James said “only a few people watch on my server”. Downloading the mp4 is not watching on his server. I am still curious as to what James meant by his statement. I wonder if it is possible to watch the “download mp4” via chromium dev tools.

        • But isn’t James site…Corbettreport.com? I receive his emails and I click on them and then log in (as a subscriber) and it is Corbettreport. I do not use google..have never even had an account. So how is that not ‘going directly to his site’?…Did I misunderstand?I do not use U tube either.

          • klhop777

            ‘…But isn’t James site…Corbettreport.com?…’

            🙂
            Congratulations… your doing the correct thing.

            Mr Corbett asks us to come here to his website…. his video are on many other platforms so he speaks to the people over there as well, asking them to come here to Corbet report before he is banned on those other platforms

            • Thank you very much for clearing that up. I was a little concerned!

            • Since a couple of months I download all videos I think are important to me.

              Sometimes I copy/paste a whole article and PDF-print it to my harddrive.

              I do this because more than often I forget details and have forgotten where on CorbettReport I heard or read about them.

              Lov’en Greetz

              • “Since a couple of months I download all videos I think are important to me.”

                “Sometimes I copy/paste a whole article and PDF-print it to my harddrive.”

                Yes. Yes. Yes. <3

                If they are important to You, they are to Others.

                Archive all useful data. One day you may be the only source of that piece, that dot. Hopefully, not likely. But, redundancy can be a beautiful thing.

                I hope more and more are doing this, it will be needed in the future. If only for those who, as of yet, cannot see; they will need it. Or, for the others, to remember 'then'; they will need it.

    • I admire and applaud your prioritizing productive and nourishing activities.

      What are your favorite foods to ferment?

      I have a pile of Bhut Jolokia peppers, Turmeric rhizomes, Purple Russian Garlic cloves and Egyptian Walking Onion bulbs ready to harvest in our garden and I think I am gonna ferment them all together in a light salt brine and make them into some kinda raw fermented hot sauce 🙂

      • Gavinm. Firstly, thanks for your substack, good work.

        I suppose Kimchi is one of my favorites, it really is a work of art both visually and physically, finding one’s taste is difficult yet when found very rewarding. My first kimchi was way too salty and spicy! Preparing the food and making it sweat gives a strong connection to the vitality contained within. There is much to explore in the art of fermentation and I am a beginner having only started back in 2020. It interests me very much and I feel has a strong connection to the issues we have today. Béchamp and Pasteur began their journey by the studying of yeast! It also brings one to learn about microbiomes and our gut. Quite interesting! I really enjoy my carrots fermented with ginger too.

        One of my favorite series to watch on fermentation is this series (8 part series between 7-12 min each):

        https://invidious.snopyta.org/playlist?list=PLDfUp9XK6kA176NN76_4vxx983PEGK9q_

        (^^for those that don’t know that’s a youtube link but it is mirrored by invidious, a great way to watch youtube without visiting their site)

        Here is a good one on fermented chili sauce, you can use the methods and learn to adapt it however you wish I would think:

        https://invidious.snopyta.org/watch?v=WEToUavZ2uA

        And just a good post about fermenting in general:

        https://blog.themalamarket.com/sichuans-naturally-fermented-pickles-pao-cai/

        Gavinm, it sounds like your garden is doing really well! I am a beginner at that also and this year I lost near everything due to the extreme heat, quite disappointing but a positive learning experience.

        This next season I am starting with different ground as I moved recently, I am looking forward to the new challenges it presents. My last plot was on the side of a quiet parking lot in the countryside (we do what we can haha).

        I enjoy finding natural ways of growing things, I have researched Rudolph Steiner’s approaches on agriculture, Masanobu Fukuoka’s straw approach, and Charles Dowding’s no dig method. I have much more research to do on permaculture. It is all a fun learning experience but mostly it is hard work just learning how to grow food naturally.

        And this is how I reduce even more my near non-existant social media, just trying to focus on the natural brings me back to reality and helps me to live life in the moment and to remember that one day I will die. Life is short and beautiful. One cannot know Life without knowing Death, which sounds morbid but I feel is very true, this is, after all, a world of opposites for a reason.

        • @Hare

          Thanks so much for the thoughtful and in depth reply with links to informative/interesting material. I am glad to hear you appreciate the content I have been sharing on substack.

          I whole heartedly agree about Kimchi! It is one of our favorite fermented foods to make as well. I have experimented with fermenting food for about 5 years now and I grew up on a vineyard in the Okanagan of BC so I have been working intimately with fermenting organisms (using both packaged and wild yeasts to ferment fruit juice) for most of my life.

          Over the past few years of trial and error I ended up putting together three different recipes for our own take on kimchi (each one having a different visual appearance, different nutritional/medicinal focus as far as the range of anti-oxidants and other beneficial phytonutrients in the finished product and each using seasonal ingredients we have access to in abundance at specific times of year in our garden and/or from local organic farmers). The first version we make I just call “Garden Chi” as it is a variation on traditional kimchi flavors and appearance using some slightly different crops based on what grows best in our garden here in southern Ontario. The second is a super spicy, beta carotene and curcumin rich version of kimchi we make using Bhut Jolokia (aka “Ghost”) peppers, lots of carrots, golden beets, turmeric rhizome, cucumber, napa cabbage, ginger, Peruvian golden berries, diakon radish, Aji Charapita Peppers, Orange Bell Peppers and other herbs and spices. I call that one “Golden Dragon Chi”. Lastly is an anthocyanin rich kimchi we make in the fall that contains lots of purple and blue vegetables, herbs, berries and spices which I call “Purple Dragon Chi”.

          Sometimes when I am chopping, slicing, shredding and bruising up the ingredients while making one of the above described kimchi recipes I just have to stop for a moment and appreciate the rich spectrum of color, texture and invigorating aromas present in front of me.. the process in and of itself is nourishing to the imagination and provides poetry for the senses. Then comes the process of encouraging the community of beneficial bacteria to proliferate and ensuring they have an ideal environment to thrive and do their important work… that too is a process that offers it’s own form of nourishment for the mind and the soul as it offers opportunities to develop one’s patience, pattern recognition capabilities and humility (through accepting we cannot get the intended end result without the help of our elder species in the L.A.B. kingdom). The finished result is profoundly rewarding (both to the body, mind and soul) but so is the creative process, this is one of the reasons I love fermenting food so much (that along with the immense health benefits offered and the fact it is a method of preserving seasonal abundances that can be engaged in with low tech tools in off grid situations).

          (continued in another comment…)

        • @Hare (continued)

          I uploaded a couple screen shots and pics of my full recipe for “Purple Dragon Chi” from my soon to be published recipe/gardening book so you can try making your own version if you like: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1kmE6xCkOs5y-q9RFqd8qoxT4U2EE8Wgq?usp=sharing

          It is amazing to think how much of our modern culture (industrial processes, prevalent attitudes and even parenting methods etc) have their roots in Pasteur’s incomplete/skewed (and perhaps in some cases fraudulent) assertions about the role of “germs” in our world. The indoctrinated adversarial perspective many live their life by (always engaging in some form of ‘war on nature’, whether it be agriculturally/ outwardly or pharmaceutically inwardly) amounts to them essentially waging war on themselves. I am trying to help plant the seeds for a different way of perceiving our place in (and potential relationships we can forge with) nature in my book to hopefully offer tools to those that are motivated enough to take the first steps in beginning to ‘sign a peace treaty with nature’ and move towards creating symbiotic relationships with many facets of the ecosystems within and around us (both in the kitchen, in the garden and in the forest).

          In closing, I will share a quote from one of my favorite books:

          “The problem with killing 99.9 percent of bacteria is that most of them protect us from the few that can make us sick.

          Given the ‘War on Bacteria’ so culturally prominent in our time, the well-being of our microbial ecology requires regular replenishment and diversification now more than ever.

          Wild foods, microbial cultures included, possess a great, unmediated life force, which can help us adapt to shifting conditions and lower our susceptibility to disease. These microorganisms are everywhere, and the techniques for fermenting with them are simple and flexible.

          To ferment your own food is to lodge an eloquent protest–of the senses–against the homogenization of flavors and food experiences now rolling like a great, undifferentiated lawn across the globe. It Is also a declaration of independence from an economy that would much prefer we were all passive consumers of its commodities, rather than creators of unique products expressive of ourselves and the places where we live.

          Resistance takes place on many planes. Occasionally it can be dramatic and public, but most of the decisions we are faced with are mundane and private. What to eat is a choice that we make several times a day, if we are lucky. The cumulative choices we make about food have profound implications. Food offers us many opportunities to resist the culture of mass marketing and commodification. Though consumer action can take many creative and powerful forms, we do not have to be reduced to the role of consumers selecting from seductive convenience items. We can merge appetite with activism and choose to involve ourselves in food as co-creators.”

          ― Sandor Ellix Katz

          (continued in another comment..)

        • @Hare (continued pt2)

          I would be happy to offer some suggestions for setting up your next garden when I have more time if you like. I have experimented with a few techniques that have their roots in Permaculture design that can make your crops/soil more resilient and adaptable in extreme heat/drought situations. I have also been experimenting with growing a wide range of ancient heirloom veggie, herb and fruit varieties that have been selectively bred for many generations by various indigenous peoples to be very drought tolerant, disease resistant and nutrient dense (and I can share a list of those varieties at another time).

          I really appreciate your comments on how the impermanence of our individual lives on this Earth can be seen as a characteristic that imbues them with intrinsic beauty. This is something I wrote about in depth in my most recent substack post titled “The Story of the Animati Astra Terram”.

          In the story (an excerpt from my book) I invite the reader to see their own life as a perpetually unfolding piece of art in motion. Each choice we make is like stroking a paint brush across the canvas that is our life. I aim to invite people to see all moments in life through this lens, even those that are seemingly mundane.

          There is both scientific logic and spiritual wisdom backing the benefits of consciously engaging in such a shift in perspective. This is true for each time we choose to hold a thought, attitude and emotion in our conscious mind we are re-wiring our synaptic networks and re-attuning the receptor sites in our brain that receive the biochemicals responsible for our perceiving emotions. Thus, if we consciously choose to feel gratitude and appreciation (even while we are engaging in a seemingly mundane task) we are actually building up our brain’s capacity for experiencing greater depths of appreciation when we are engaging in all other tasks and experiences in life. Inversely, if we choose to allow frustration, impatience, boredom, anger or apathy to remain in the forefront of our thoughts while we engage in tasks we perceive as mundane we are training our brain to be specialized in experiencing frustration, impatience, boredom, anger and/or apathy. Additionally, allowing those thoughts and emotions to color our perception of seemingly mundane tasks could perhaps even create a sort of endogenous bio-chemical addiction, where we end up unconsciously seeking out more stimulus to produce those emotions, and which in time could lead to a decreased ability to experience gratitude, joy and appreciation while engaging in activities we consider preferable to the mundane task.

          Here is a fun and informative clip from an old documentary called “What The Bleep Do We Know?” that explores these concepts further: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BkI8LD24y0

          (continued in another comment..)

        • @Hare (continued pt3)

          I came across one of the spiritual lenses of perceiving the scientifically confirmed truth I described above when reading some books about the practice of mindfulness.

          The Buddhists have a saying that embodies and cultivates this way of living that invites one to “Wash the dishes like they are bathing a baby Buddha”.

          In closing for this comment I will share a quote from the Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh. He expands on the above adage, way of perceiving and engaging with each moment in life by saying:

          “If while washing dishes, we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us, thus hurrying to get the dishes out of the way as if they were a nuisance, then we are not “washing the dishes to wash the dishes.” What’s more, we are not alive during the time we are washing the dishes. In fact we are completely incapable of realizing the miracle of life while standing at the sink. If we can’t wash the dishes, the chances are we won’t be able to drink our tea either. While drinking the cup of tea, we will only be thinking of other things, barely aware of the cup in our hands. Thus we are sucked away into the future—and we are incapable of actually living one minute of life..

          ..The profane is the sacred.

          I enjoy taking my time with each dish, being fully aware of the dish, the water, and each movement of my hands. I know that if I hurry in order to go and have dessert, the time will be unpleasant, not worth living. That would be a pity, for every second of life is a miracle. The dishes themselves and the fact that I am here washing them are miracles!

          Each thought, each action in the sunlight of awareness becomes sacred. In this light, no boundary exists between the sacred and the profane. It may take a bit longer to do the dishes, but we can live fully, happily, in every moment. Washing the dishes is at the same time a means and an end- that is, not only do we do the dishes in order to have clean dishes, we also do the dishes just to do the dishes and live fully each moment while washing them.

          If I am incapable of washing dishes joyfully, if I want to finish them quickly so I can go and have dessert and a cup of tea, I will be equally incapable of doing these things joyfully. With the cup in my hands, I will be thinking about what to do next, and the fragrance and the flavour of the tea, together with the pleasure of drinking it, will be lost. I will always be dragged into the future, never able to live in the present moment. The time of dishwashing is as important as the time of meditation.”

          (continued in another comment..)

        • @Hare (continued pt4)

          When it comes to the addictive social media platforms that James discussed in his excellent solutions video above I feel like they (whether by design or by accident) accelerate the degeneration of our brain structure into being specialized at experiencing negative emotions (as well as projecting them onto others) and also cripple the user’s ability to be present and mindful (via hyperstimulation of the mind with endless scrolling set ups and various clickbait type content being promoted through behavior modification algorithms).

          Thus, the imperative of redirecting the majority of our energy (mental and physical) to practical creative endeavors that involve working with our own two hands in the garden, in the kitchen (and in a wide range of other nurturing low tech creative outlets) becomes ever more clear. I am so glad to hear that people like yourself (and many others on here) are already cultivating a life and way of perceiving that advances this redirecting of energy (away from parasites and towards planting the seeds for a new way of living and civilization to take hold on Earth).

          I am glad to have connected with another kindred spirit on here.

          I wish you many nourishing moments in the kitchen and bountiful harvests in your future garden(s).

          • Thank you for the information and also the recipe. Very rare.

            Best to you and yours on this journey.

            • Your are most welcome.

              Reading back over my comments I realize that I went on quite a tangent ranting about mindfulness. I apologize for the overwhelming nature of my comments, I suppose your words struck a cord in me in some way.

              That being said, I would also like to thank you for serving as a candle and a mirror for me in this way (through illuminating a reflection from within and invoking me to express my thoughts on those topics). It helps me to perceive more of what is in my mind and heart in greater clarity.

              I hope you enjoy the recipe and if you do end up making your own version of it I would love to hear how it turns out for you 🙂

              May the sun always shine brightly for you… if it is raining may the rhythm sooth your mind and nourish your crops… if it is windy may you catch a whisper from the trees and may it lift the seeds of your hopes and dreams to find a home in fertile soils.

        • Another gardener you might appreciate is Paul Gautschi at Back to Eden. He gardens without watering. I have implemented his method here on a large scale and after adding 2 new large (about 25’ x 30’) gardens this spring, I am now adding several more which will lie fallow from now til next spring and be ready for a good crop next year.

          • @the lilac dragonfly

            I love your website! Learning basket weaving is on the top of my list for 2023 🙂

            Do you ship your beautiful creations to Ontario?

            • Thanks for the compliment. 🙂

              Oooooo…. I can’t even imagine how much it would cost to ship to Canada…. It was going to cost nearly $100 for me to ship a basket to a friend in Idaho (from New Hampshire). It was a gift, as I have known her since I was about 3 and we share the same birthday, but at close to $100, I just couldn’t afford it. Then I contacted her husband who has a business. We shipped it through his account and he said it would cost only $18. Phew…. So she got a basket for her birthday. 🙂 But to Canada…. Maybe we could arrange to meet at the border on a snowmobile trail…. 😉

              • It is well deserved. I admire the diverse array of handmade creations and practical services you provide to your local community… it is something I would like to do in the future.

                ahh I feel your pain about the shipping costs, I have been shipping big bundles of heirloom seeds all over the world as part of a gardening/recipe book project I am working on self-publishing for the past year. Sometimes I have to take extra measures to disguise the heirloom seeds by putting them inside mass produced big box store type gifts (as sending free seeds is deemed as illegal and dangerous) haha. Heirloom veggie seed smuggling if you will.. what a world we live in…

                haha yes but i am old school so I will bring my snow shoes (and perhaps a set of skis too) and meet you with your snowmobile 🙂

              • I just had a humorous thought, imagine we trekked/snowmobiled through the wilderness to meet somewhere near the border so that I could buy a handmade basket and give you some heirloom seeds and some kinda of border control drone alerted the authorities. The government would probably expect some kind of duties or taxes to be paid for your basket and my giving you heirloom vegetable seeds without jumping through licensing hoops (that only huge mostly gmo seed corporations can afford) would be violating a bunch of arbitrary laws. We would probably both be arrested and/or fined, and for what? Unauthorized basket selling? Heirloom veggie seed snuggling? It is totally nuts the kind of world we live in… it is as James stated so concisely in his recent article, Government itself is immoral.

  3. Thanks for this good Solutions Watch. I’ve been a subscriber for a number of years, going directly to your website. I use Facebook. Never used Twitter or any other Social Media. I use FB for my activism along with many others. I’ve seen countless ‘normies’ wake up because of what we post. I think I have a solution for some using Social Media. Put down your phone! I have an IPhone but is not used for anything except calls and texts..period. If it is in my hand I am talking on it or sending texts. Do not use Apps of any kind. I use my laptop at home for ALL things internet related, and always have. I think this is more of a ‘Phone Addiction’. I even use a Garmin GPS, plug in for car. I have done this even while working full time, but now retired. Inconvenient? Maybe at first, but the freedom is monumental!

  4. A few months ago I decided to delete my anonymous Twitter account. Believe it or not I came to your site, did a site search on Twitter, and found the above clip from 2017 to help me make the plunge. It took a while for me to detox but it’s hard to describe how much better I feel now. So thank you then and thank you now. I’ve been off Facebook for a couple of years now, so that leaves Instagram and Tiktok to go…
    I do really enjoy garden, Christian, and canning Tiktok though.

  5. James, and all Corbett Report followers.
    I’m Ben Stone from the Bad Quaker podcast (now retired from production). I left YouTube and Facebook in 2013 when they shadow banned me due to my efforts to expose the lies about the Watertown lock-down and the murder of Michael Hastings. But I stayed on Twitter until 2016 when I came to the exact same conclusion that James has outlined. Namely, social media is a destructive addiction.
    Now I am free of all social media and I encourage all to do the same. I leave my phone at home when go to the store or take walks and I never search anything or play any games on my phone. I use it only as emergency contact.
    James, keep up the great work you do!
    Ben

  6. Hi All,

    It was over 10 years ago when visiting my family on the other side of the world that my younger sisters implored me to “get on Facebook” to “stay in touch”. That lasted a few months. I could see what this was, and burnt it down.

    Now that I’m publishing, I use twitter as a notification/advertising mechanism. Publish article, spam it on Twitter, delete tab. Sometimes I go and ridicule idiots like Blinken for the fun of it, maybe once every three weeks. But, that is it for me.

    Far more enjoyable is having dinner down the road with friends, or going sailing, or cooking, or reading a book!

    The key is to be aware of the “dopamine hit”. As soon as you start logging in to check if someone has responded to something you did, its time for a loooooong break.

    Good luck!

    Peace be with you,

    2-D

  7. When the lockdowns came in 2020 and I wasn’t allowed to work, my media time went from literally less than an hour a day, to eight hours, easy. I went from not caring about world events, politics, conspiracy, gossip and facebook to being completely immersed and consumed by it all. I used to be so present in my real life, and noticed my abrupt reclusion. Those first couple weeks were scary. A very new kind of unknown on many levels. (Even shopping online and getting my groceries delivered). I didn’t know what to think. I was considering every possibility, researching anything I could and hoping that next post that popped up on my feed would lead me to the answers. Some I did find online, but mostly those answers came from my real life, when my friends and family were still alive. When my customers and grocery clerks survived the frenzy. When I saw privacy robbed, and the fear factor on full, and the manipulation so obvious. When I expressed this, the Facebook algorithms started giving me more adds and less from friends. Then I noticed I got very little interaction because no doubt I was being hushed and downplayed in others feeds. So I finished with Facebook about the time the injections rolled out. While my social media was done, my screen time was still excessive and unhealthy.

    A year and a half later, I’m still averaging 3 hours almost daily watching, listening, reading, researching, and interacting online. (Though I engage less with “conspiratainment” and have zeroed in my propaganda lens). I like to think most of my time online now is practicing autodidactism. I have learned an incredible amount of information the past 2+ years!! (Probably more than I did as an undergrad). But I also consumed a lot of rubbish as well. Anyhow, I’m cutting out the garbage (mostly) and re-engaging with my real-life community again. I get device free weekends regularly now and I am learning to balance my time, energy, and resources.

    Being aware of our media habit is key as James reminds us. To add to that, practicing moderation is also essential.
    I like the World Wide Web and I like this “online community”. I don’t plan to give it up. But I also know that I like my real life more.

  8. I deleted social media in 2020 after the start of the scamdemic. I had a facebook and instagram and twitter. I wasn’t really active on these though as much as others. So it wasn’t really a big loss in my life.

    I’m going to be leaving my city too hopefully by the end of the year. This will be more of a shock I think. The town only has a population of about 70 people. There is another smallish town that’s about 40 minutes away where I can get some supplies, but I want grow some of my own food. The people in the new place are more liberty minded folks which will be great.

    I feel like I’m abandoning the city instead of staying and trying to change things, but so many people are leaving due to crime and rising costs. I think cities are unhealthy for the most part, but before the scamdemic could be fun in small doses. I loved to visit New York before all this covid panic. It’s such a shame the way it has ruined or harmed communities and economies. It’s been poisonous on so many different levels and social media was used to keep people glued to the screen instead of looking around with ones own eyes and ears.

    • “…I feel like I’m abandoning the city instead of staying and trying to change things…”

      Reframing might help ? 😉
      “I feel like I’m abandoning the Titanic rather then staying and trying to patch the holes while the officers and crew poke more holes in the side and the passengers argue over the best deck chairs….”
      lol

    • a trim-tabish thing to say

  9. AS a Partial solution….

    If you have an internet router (most folks have wireless) you can do the following probably…. if it for some weird reason goes wrong you can probably just do a hard reset (button on the box…probably 🙂 )

    This vid is better then my description

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMfSDD_ARiw

    1) Get into your Router via Web Browser

    2) Change settings to block internet during certain times of the day

    3) then CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD so no one else can get into your router

    • In addition to Ducks suggestion some other ideas (off-topic as they address security and health and not your time management) are:

      1) Stop your router from diffusing its SSID, broadcasting your SSID constantly is unnecessary and makes you vulnerable to bad-actors. (Such as Google Earth cars driving around and at the same time collecting data from wifi broadcasts).

      2) Don’t personalise the SSID name, keep the default or only modify it slightly by changing a number. Personalized SSID’s are more attractive to bad-actors.

      3) Set up MAC filtering. This is a bit more difficult these days as some mobile phones now have built-in MAC address randomization but if you trust your network (you shouldn’t) you can turn that option off (it is off by default afaik). MAC filtering is not very practical if you have constant new guests coming over wanting to access wifi but you can set up a “guest wifi” for that.

      4). Don’t name your computer or mobile phone with your name, i.e. “John Doe’s Desktop”. Just use a random word or name.

      5). Turn off the 5gHz network, it does nothing for your internet speed unless you actually have a 5gHz internet subscription. The 5gHz connection is just between your device and the router and does not increase speed significantly. There are a lot of questions around the safety of 5gHz and it is best to be wary for now.

      6). Install Linux on desktop. On Android, use ADBTools to remove bloatware, use F-Droid, use TrackerControl (track system apps also, off by default), use an “openKeyboard”, use a microphone blocker (PilferShush Jammer), replace the calculator and gallery, block all unnecessary permissions, use encrypted communications, cover the camera, etc etc. All of the above in “6)” won’t completely help but if you must use mobile and are “privacy-conscious” they will help your peace of mind somewhat. Turn off your phone unless you are using it and better yet leave it at home when you can.

      • Hare

        when I had a router I used to go and UNPLUG it when I did not want to be on…. just the PITA of going to plug it physically back in made me have to actually have to WANT to do something online…. TBH no one should ever leave their Wi-fi on all the time anyway just for their health.

        Good for security AND for time management

        Scotties Tech Info is good for setting up ethernet and wifi info see his “evil wifi light” project. super easy zero skill project

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47jRPZCSyZw

        • I do the same. I have found that at my various different residences over the years and with different providers that when the router is left off for a day or two, about 25% of the time there is a problem. In fact, just yesterday I had to hard reset the box after it being off all day and turning it back on no signal was available. Other times I have had to have technicians come out because they claim there was an “incident” on the line. Happens quite a bit but I turn it off regularly anyways.

          And yes, thumbs up on not making it practical. Definitely a good deterrant.

      • An alternative is not to use WiFi at all but to use wired ethernet to your computer(s). This eliminates a source of EMF exposure, and makes it impossible for people to break into your network by eavesdropping on WiFi. I should note that I normally do not use WiFi on my phone–for people who do, this suggestion may not be practical.

  10. They say that every journey begins with the first step. Perhaps one solution is to never take that first step no matter how curious you may be. Unfortunately, for the vast majority, I fear it is already too late.

  11. Just yesterday a girl driving in a car behind me approached quickly, speeding. She got right up on my ass so I gave her a couple brake taps to back off. As I watched her in my rear view mirror, I saw her let out an exasperated snarl and she jerked her wheel to the left to pass me quickly, only to be stuck in traffic behind other cars she couldn’t get around.

    But I thought about why she acted like that. And I have thought about this type of situation before: why do people act differently when driving a car than, say, walking on the sidewalk or standing in line at a store? I would say that the medium of the automobile, with its large metal barrier between you and others, tinted windows in some cases, speed that allows you to approach or get away from people quickly, etc. greatly impacts people’s behavior while driving one. The medium changes the persons behavior. Very interesting how this ties into the medium of social media, TV, radio, etc. and how those media have certain effects on the user.

    • scpat
      “…I saw her let out an exasperated snarl…”

      Actually she might have done that to your face…. plenty of young people have grown up in a world where being obnoxious gets you taken care of FIRST because no one wants the problem’s that come if they do it the old fashioned way and tell you to F yourself, or kick your teeth out.

      This kind of aggression is somewhat worse with younger women then younger men (who have a slightly high chance of getting into a fight for acting like that).

      I wonder how that will go if we have a power outage or monetary collapse? 🙁 On the one had most of such people are pretty pathetic, but on the other they can turn into a mob pretty easy.

      • “I wonder how that will go if we have a power outage or monetary collapse? ? On the one had most of such people are pretty pathetic, but on the other they can turn into a mob pretty easy.”

        Well we’ll just have to wait and find out. And I would guess we will find out at some point in the near future!

    • I hate when people are on their phone when they drive. I’ve had near accidents with people checking their phone, or just sitting in the intersection when the light was green. Very annoying. Driving is pretty dangerous with some sketchy drivers.

      I think driving a manual transmission helps me be more present and engaged with the machine I’m operating. I find it helps me drive better. I think the more removed from an activity as you say people behave differently.

      I was once chased by a car in a road rage incident. I don’t know what I did but the dude was pissed. He chased me in his car for several blocks. Since I’m in California I don’t keep a gun in my car like I would in a constitutional carry state. Incidentally I’ve noticed when I’m in one of those states where people are probably packing some heat, less aggression on the road. I do have a big stick in my car when I drive in California and some pepper spray though just in case. In other states, I keep a gun.

      • I drive a manual as well. Decided to a few years ago after never having driven one consistently my entire life. And it was for the same reasons as you. I wanted to be connected to the vehicle and play an active part in driving.

        With all the new tech that cars have put on in the last several years (backup cameras, blind spot detectors, automatic parallel parking, lane assist, collision prevention automatic braking, and all the other alert buttons and tones) people will eventually not even know how to drive. Maybe that’s the point!

      • Yeah, I’m in a heavy carry area. We don’t go around waving the middle finger because it could get shot off lol

        • Lol. I’m always a bit more cautious in those places too. I try not to accidentally trespass either.

    • scpat,
      That anecdote contains some food for thought… i.e. “The medium changes the persons behavior.”

      I’m guessing that one’s job or other venues could be said to be a medium, in a way.
      The “identity” or “behavior” of the individual might change in the context.
      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

      [i.e. stands for the Latin id est, or ‘that is’]

      • “I’m guessing that one’s job or other venues could be said to be a medium, in a way. The “identity” or “behavior” of the individual might change in the context.”

        Are you referring to, say, where someone who works in an office might have different behavior than someone who works outdoors, based on how the indoor or outdoor medium influenced them? I would agree, but I also think that the reason a person chose either an outdoor or indoor job is based on some other factors as well, such as their personality. So maybe the type of job impacts their behavior, but their prior behavior also impacts what type of job they would desire. Maybe I’m making a whole lot out of nothing, but those are my ponderings.

        • scpat

          True, their job will mold them- thats why I find social workers to be kinda disgusting people (decent humans cant last in the job) and cops to have a horrible sense of humor…. but I think you can often tell a lot about a person by their face.

          If we make a facial expression for years and years it wears into our face.

      • I have noticed several times that some nurses that seem like they do their jobs very well and come across as caring and proficient are quick-tempered, angry, impatient, and rude when not at work. It’s like they can be nice when they’re being PAID to be nice, but other than that … watch out for unpredictable outbursts. I felt very sorry for the family and children of one I knew. Phew…. I know this is not how all nurses are – I also know some that are kind and caring whether on or off the clock – but it does indicate that people can do things because they must do so for financial reasons. It doesn’t explain a specific personality type that would choose to go into nursing.

        • And some are rude, quick tempered, impatient when they are at work too, which is unacceptable if this amounts to disrespect and laziness. I think the phenomenon is now called “compassion fatigue” or burn out. Nursing is very stressful especially in critical care areas. In fact in some states nurses don’t really make a lot of money for the actual job they are doing, like in Florida that lacks staffing ratios. You can make money in other states but some states don’t pay, so the stress of moving or traveling adds a layer of discontent.

          And you are correct about some who just do it for the money and have no bedside manner at all. Some doctors are the same way. When I am unlucky enough to need medical care, the primary thing I value is if they fixed my problem or helped relieve symptoms. A little kindness goes a long way too, but I’d forgo that requirement if they saved my life. When I work with patients, I try to make sure that I’m keeping them safe and advocating for them. Being nice can help, but not always appropriate in certain cases, respectful treatment and treating people with dignity always. I think nice can be superficial. I’d rather have honesty and concern, rather than false acts of concern with a smile.

  12. There are some great comments on this Thread.
    It is nice to hear from people about this topic and their perspectives.

  13. I know I am not in the “norm”, but I have withdrawn substantially from tech dependence and it has progressed over the years really kicking into high gear these last 2.5 yrs… no FB or other “platform” social media. Had only a 3G flip phone until they started the network shutdowns… now got a “privacy” smart phone (which I don’t trust at all) that I only turn on 3 times a day to check for COMM from fam & friends

    I don’t use GPS… got a large road map atlas and have traveled several thousand miles this past year w/o one. I DO use a computer that has been a tool for me since the beginning (made my career in tech since the 70’s)… so I do a google map (sometime mapquest but can be problematic)… I write my own interpretation on a sticky that I put on my dash. Amazing how mindful you become when it’s up to you to know when to turn 😉 I’ve found I enjoy the trip more and I learn more about the roads and what’s on them as landmarks.
    I do have my own VoIP “landline” run by my own Raspberry Pi PBX… also I have a Raspberry Pi Cloud that I use to share content with fam & friends… it also can support text, voice and video calling within this limited sphere… used in in Costa Rica, Mexico and across the US.

    I have no interest in anything “going viral”… just staying in touch with fam and friends. These personal clouds can be federated to share content more widely but at a peer to peer level… and NOT inviting/allowing in the anonymous “public”.

    • … one last note… if I immerse myself in homesteading, I probably won’t have much time for tech anyway 😉

      • Ding! Ding! Ding! ?

        The winning strategy!
        Just like everything else that has control over us. The only way to beat it, once and for all, is to replace it with something better.

        • Hi Steve, Have you really sold your business, as your link now says? I’m reading a book, The Forgotten Crafts, by John Seymour, and was going to try to send you some photos of the section on boat building. There’s also a segment about coracle making and then sail making.

          • Yes. Its true. The time had come.
            I have to focus on regaining my health now. If possible.

            • Have you considered speaking with an allopathic doctor just to see what opinion they might have and what treatments are available?

              I understand the desire to avoid it entirely, but it might be worth just getting an opinion and also speaking with people who have had the same health condition?

              Some people use both allopathic and alternative medicine combined, or they use alternative medicine after allopathic therapy and some have had good results.

              I am not trying to push you in this direction, but wanted to put it out there.

              I am of the opinion that some treatments from allopathic medicine can be helpful and can act more quickly sometimes.

              Maybe you could consult with Dr. Mercola or another MD who is a bit more open-minded?

              • There is a lot of snake oil in western medicine, but not entirely. I have seen some good come from certain treatments and therapies.

              • “Have you considered speaking with an allopathic doctor ”

                I have. And I’ve been pushed by family to do so. But here’s the thing.
                I am sure because of my symptoms and my own research that I have colorectal cancer. The only thing that allopathic medicine will do for me is a colonoscopy. During the colonoscopy, which I’ve had two years ago, they not only look to see whats going on. But they automatically cut out anything they find.
                I don’t want to be sliced up again.
                Plus, in light of the previous few years, I would be a fool to let a group of allopathic medical people knock me out. How would I be able to trust them not to inject me with the death shot?
                I even asked the naturopath I visited why I couldn’t just have some blood, which there is an abundance of, examined under a microscope to see if there are cancer cells. He said that was a good idea but no one would do it. No money in that I guess.

                I agree that there are uses for the allopathic medical system and if I ever break a bone or need a laceration stitched up, I’ll use it. But not for what I’m dealing with.

                I hope that things change someday and doctors start remembering that the patients welfare is more important than money and open their minds to all methods of treatment. Till then, they have lost my trust and I will avoid them like the plague.

              • I understand your concerns, however there are some really good doctors out there. I highly doubt one will try to give you a vaccine and kill you during the colonoscopy. Unless you are in the office of a psychopath and you’d probably be able to tell.

                There are a lot of allopathic doctors who aren’t pushing the injection. In fact the doctors on the critical care alliance seem pretty trustworthy. Maybe they can give you a referral.

                Many doctors rely on positive reviews and have an incentive to help you to get more customers.

                One of the best things about western medicine is the diagnostics, particularly biopsy, MRI and even regular xrays are pretty good. CT scans should be limited due to the radiation.

                Maybe you have Chron’s disease and not cancer, but how will you know if you don’t get a diagnosis?

                Once you get a diagnosis, you can then decide what to do. I think you’re a good judge of character and would be able to find a good GI doctor who could do your colonscopy, someone who you trust. Just because they might have different opinions than you, doesn’t mean they will try to hurt you. Most people are not psychopathic.

                Once you get your blood work, colonscopy and biopsy then you’ll have more information.

                My aunt had a tiny lump in her breast, she had it biopsied and it was cancer. She refused to have it removed and instead thought that she could cure it through prayer, that god would cure her cancer. She died in two months. I regret not going out to see her and trying to get her to have at least look into other potential treatments, even to have the lump removed. Maybe she could have removed the lump and then done alternative therapies, maybe she would still be alive.

                At any rate, I don’t think your concerns about a doctor doing things against your wishes during your colonscopy is well founded, especially if you find someone you trust. They do exist.

              • I understand your concern about trust though. It important to trust. I have to have some benign growths removed from my uterus. I have to find a doctor who I trust who will not remove my whole uterus because that is unnecessary and harmful.

                I have found someone who will do that. I think you can find someone too, just to provide another opinion or to provide more information.

            • There are so many options, it can get overwhelming. If you want to pursue natural options, conveniently, there are quite a few natural-oriented doctors in Florida, and more not too far north. Robert Scott Bell is one (homeopath). Veronique Desalniers. David Jockers.

              Here are several websites with cancer info: https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/, http://www.cancerblacksalve.com/ (I suggest reading the 14-page info – especially the stories about how it has worked. I have used this and seen phenomenal results), http://phoenixtears.ca/ https://www.cancertutor.com/author/webster/ (I like this man’s approach because he includes options that are dirt cheap), https://www.chrisbeatcancer.com/ (Chris had colon cancer as a 26-year-old in 2003. He was told he would die if he didn’t do chemo. Now cancer-free.), https://www.herbhealers.com/ (Cathryn will get back to you if you e-mail her), greenmedinfo. This is more than plenty to get you started if this is your inclination. I think you have been to my website. Feel free to contact me there if you would like to.

              • I sincerely thank both of you beautiful ladies for your thoughts and advice. I know that you are caring and loving individuals.
                I have considered carefully the pros and cons of getting another colonoscopy. But because I decided that even if I had proof that it was cancer I would treat it naturally. I saw no benefit other than confirming the self diagnosis.
                I will investigate Crones disease though. I haven’t thought about that. Is Crones disease associated with large bleeding tumors?
                Again, if a doctor would simply look for cancer cells in the blood the question could be answered without surgery. But for some mysterious reason, they won’t do that.

                Anyway, I am really doing everything I can afford to fight this naturally. From the AquaCure machine I use extensively to the apricot kernels and chaga tea. I take the supplements and vitamins that the naturopath suggested for me plus some extra ones he didn’t.

                I’m sleeping in a faraday cage to block emf radiation and I sleep on a grounding sheet too. (Been sleeping incredibly well)
                I eat very healthy food. Almost no gluten and I drink very pure water infused with hydrogen.
                Since retiring I am feeling less stress. At least from that front. Now I just need to deal with the stress I give myself for not getting off my butt and getting outside to work in the garden or other chores enough.
                I may not beat this but I am going to give it my best shot. And I hope that its not just wishful thinking but the tumor that I am able to monitor seems to be shrinking.
                Time will tell.

                I hope that the entire medical system changes for the better in the future. But just like government. It has lost me. I don’t want to participate in it and only will do so out of absolute necessity.

              • Steve,

                There’s some differences in presentations and symptoms with Chron’s disease and colon cancer. But there are also conditions that cause bloody stool that are not cancer also. Colitis is one of them.

                You may be seeing blood clots or frank blood in the stool. It could be a type of hemorrhoid as well which also bleed.

                It could be cancer, but it might not be cancer, which is why I have found that I like a confirmation of what I am going to treat (when I have had symptoms of something).

                There are stool tests that exist to screen for cancer or genetic abnormalities in the blood in stool. Your doctor might want to look at your bowel tissue via conoloscopy which is why they may be suggesting this.

                Also, there are different types of cancer that comes from different types of cells, which I would find beneficial to know if it were me. Although if it was cancer you could see what works for the different types in the alternative medicine sphere, or different naturopathic providers who treat this in your area (they can treat you for all types since the protocols are probably less toxic than traditional therapy).

                I do know that if it were a tumor, removing it would probably help because that is the source of the problem, the diseased tissue. Having less of it to deal with is probably beneficial.

                It’s your body though, so you have complete autonomy to do whatever you think is best.

                I know you said you are married and so that does complicate things a little bit, or maybe she will respect all of your health decisions. Sometimes people change in the midst of a crisis if one arises.

                Another consideration since you say that you are bleeding. If you bled to an extent that your wife found you, would she call 911? Then what? I think it is important to have a directive in place so that your wishes are known.

                I have to make that document for myself at some point as well because it’s good to have in case I end up in a hospital sometime (god forbid).

              • Steve,

                I do think it would be important to know if you actually have cancer. I won’t bug you again with this, but I do think this is very important to confirm this.

              • “ Steve,

                I do think it would be important to know if you actually have cancer. I won’t bug you again with this, but I do think this is very important to confirm this.”

                Don’t be silly. You aren’t bugging me in the slightest.
                But why is it important? I would not treat it any differently than I am if it were confirmed.

              • Inflammatory bowel disease, like Chron’s disease or ulcerative colitis are autoimmune conditions and can improve with specific dietary adjustments or with other treatments.

                There are other bowel issues, like diverticulosis with bleeding that can develop into diverticulitis (that can cause sepsis). Then there are arteriovenous malformations of the blood vessels that feed to colon which can also cause bleeding.

                I presume that knowing what the problem is a person can have a better treatment plan.

                Inflammatory bowel disease and cancer are different entities that can have overlapping symptoms and different treatments. A diet adjustment for one issue may not be helpful for the other.

  14. Another book that did a great job breaking down how form determines content was Jerry Mander’s book Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television. It was written long before the internet and social media, but almost all of the principles he discusses apply to modern-day media. After reading that book, I tossed my TV in the dumpster and never looked back 🙂

    • Christopher Lasch wrote “culture of narcissism” and laid out the weird cultural mental sickness we’re having now before the Internet was even a thing normies could imagine having

  15. “how-how? do you watch?”

    The net browser bar is the current version of library card catalogs + lots of the books from all the libraries + ones that will never be printed. Even a decade ago a traveler reported a Singapore shop selling a laptop with one time net access fee because it had a fold out soft “dish/antenna” so that it could connect to satellites, so from west whoop-whoop one could check the rain forecast for north-nonesuch or any other preponderance of factoid. phew, serious upgrade. bit quicker and further ranging & no ivy or pillars required. I wonder if propagandists ever used to make fake 3×5 catalog cards? likely it was more efficient to just write non-fiction laced with fiction.

    This topic might well be reduced to “find the right dose”.

    A:
    There’s no question, call it “AI” or “beast”, “it” is owning more of humanity’s attention than anything ever. (spoiler: human attention is our most powerful asset, no wonder the beast wants it); through attention we deliver and receive intention, or we charge others and recharge ourselves. Attention-on: chi conduit is active, and can flow both ways.

    and

    B:
    Theres no question that the speed of info sharing and the number of minds that do it, can make finding a “solution” fun and exciting, even life saving.

    exhibit A is a numbing of the species capacity to feel; the flowing measure of our choices/decisions. The end game is people being reduced to ones or zeros.

    exhibit B is the very way in which humanity will get beyond the bad-mitten of its dualistic psychic lock, the fast aggregation of dot connecting may enable that lock to get picked,,

    “if it doesnt kill you it’ll make ya stronger”, just be careful not to O.D., witness the various forms of mindkontrol or mood entrancement. My guess is that the “dopamine hit” that facebook loves to claim, is actually a fanning of the monkey brain flames.

    The “monkey brain” (with apologies to monkeys), is one of the first phenomenon to surface when first trying to meditate. It becomes painfully obvious that the internal dialogue of the mind is a loosely connected easily perverted squall of desires and questions that need steering, but without guidance or luck, that shoe keeps strutting until the sole wears right through and one gets to FEEL the ground again.

    as well, powerful tools with risks of grave damage perhaps, like the facehook guy says at the end: shouldn’t be given to children.

    karuna karuna!
    (attention attention!), please be careful rather than interested in what you do with it.

    • vadoum
      “….The net browser bar is the current version of library card catalogs + lots of the books from all the libraries + ones that will never be printed…”

      Its a library FOR YOU and a few others, but not one in 100 people are actually made smarter by the internet.

      As Chris Stoll wrote in Silicon Snake Oil when he utter got it wrong (and utterly right) about the internet, the Computer on your desk is (for most people A TELEVISION…. who thinks that people give more attention to their office work now they have a television on their desk? How many people ever actually used TV to get smarter?

      Only now its worse, the TV is in hand or pocket…. and unlike old TV its actually good, with endless amusements and entertainments.

      The Internet really is not benefit FOR MOST PEOPLE, it just lets most people become even more vapid and stupid and turns NPC’s into sock puppets- its destroying them even while it makes a tiny minority of us smarter and more powerful.

      • Duck
        ” not one in 100 people are actually made smarter by the internet.”

        dont know if I’m smarter? though that may depend on what sort of smarts you have in mind, but I can say the net has radically improved logistical flow at times, like you say, for ME (and what army?).

        I think the net is likely to be accused of aiding and abetting the mass murder, gargantuan theft, and belligerent lying otherwise known as business as usual in the 2020’s, as well as the scale and speed of whats rising in response,, which would include some of those hundred you mention, bouncing back better.

        it was the best and worst of our mockingbird nature
        it was the rolling 2eye stone
        a spun top whose wobble was in its final eccentric throws
        crossing us under a veil of static electro fuzz
        where meaning too often slipped down a dimension, never gone, nearly but

  16. i never got into (anti) social media at all. i could never see the point to the twits, farcebook or any other need to broadcast my personal information to people i don’t know and don’t know me. take a look at the emotional state of our cultures and then ask yourself..do you really want their 2cents? the internet should be for banking and emails…thats it.

    as for chamath palihapitiya gaslighting by saying he did a ‘great job’ and they knew in the back of their minds what they were doing, while simultaneously saying he won’t use his own product OR allow his kids to as they are ‘ripping apart the way social society works’…..but the rest of the world can use it without warning. grow up dude. facebook is now karmabook..and its all yours.

    for those with souls out there, these people serve as warnings for what happens when you abandon your soul. centre yourself, connect to the power of truth and breathe, x

  17. I don’t have television, and didn’t have one for most of my adult life; had to buy the tv set when I had children in primary and high school age because they were embarrassed to have friends over in a tv-free household, but they also didn’t like much to be honest, never had video games for them either, and they also didn’t ask for it.
    I’m also not on ANY (anti)social media, no fakebook, Instagram, Twitter, WhatsApp blabla, despite driving my friends and family mad and they driving me mad from insisting and pushing and demanding me to have these shit…
    Gosh, I waste enough of my time on the internet like I’m doing here now writing this… hahahahaha
    I have an email and a mobile and I do watch Netflix, so, I’m not immune, but I can’t IMAGINE having anything more than this bare minimum.
    I hope this inspires people “trying to quit”. My friend, not only can you survive, but you will thrive!!!!

    • justsaying

      “…. and I do watch Netflix, ….”

      I hear that if you get a VPN to hide your computers ‘IP address’ you can torrent a whole load of the content that, pedophile propagandist, Netflix puts out.

  18. It will be interesting to see exactly what happens when the “Cyber Attack” (said in a Claus Schwabian accent) actually happens, or when the internet goes down for a while to make it accessible to a “Driver’s License”, or to scrub all the unapproved sites off, or just plain old extended power outages. I would think The Powers that Shouldn’t Be would be concerned that this might break the spell that the internet/television has cast. Being well aware of that kind of result, and how it might affect their control over the population, I’m sure they have a devious plan in mind when they finally pull that trigger.

    In the event that truth has been blocked or scrubbed making it impossible for me to visit sites like this one (and I would think for many of the viewers/listeners here) that would be the end of my internet usage period.

    • I really doubt they will ever totally shut down the net…. can you imagine the mass chimp out when credit and debit cards stop working…?

      I dont recall the details but there was a minor chimp out in stores when just EBT cards stopped in one town a while back…. magnify that to everyone not being able to buy stuff with any card. I dont know much about their systems but I expect that walmart and such run their stock ordering systems over the internet system and do not have private data lines and interaction with the government is almost totally Online for many people- even when doing taxes.

      The net is also their eye upon us…. I can imagine that they would deliberately shut off their surveillance and propaganda on the masses because it would be unpredicable what would happen… they will just demand 2factor authentication for more and more services and rig the search engines I think

  19. Social media shook me fully awake in 2013. I was sceptical about 9/11 right from the start, but I was still committed to the political system and thought the right leader could save us – until 2013. I thought Obama (or “Obomber” as I call him now) becoming US President was one of the best things that had ever happened in my lifetime, as I blamed Bush and his associates for 9/11. I found it very uncomfortable – even a bit painful – when left-leaning anarchists I was following on Twitter seemed to despise him. I didn’t understand it – until I clicked on the links they were sharing. Even then I found the truth too painful to handle, until a relatively minor event finally opened my eyes and made me realise that the whole thing was fake and Obomber was either a puppet or a psychopath (or both). But it was Twitter and those links that forced my eyes open.

    I stopped using Twitter about a year ago because I found it too negative and toxic, even though the hostility wasn’t being directed at me. I find Facebook and WhatsApp helpful for keeping me in touch with friends and relatives who live overseas or far away. The only social media app I have on my phone is WhatsApp, and I’m forever using the “mute” button. I ditched “Messenger” long ago because the mute button didn’t seem to work.

    I think the most insidious thing about these apps – and many other aspects of “smartphones” and the internet – is the way they distract you. If I need to search my emails for something, I see lots of other emails trying to get my attention. If I need to check up on something I saw in a Facebook group on permaculture, something else is likely to catch my eye. I think social media can be a great tool, but only if we train ourselves to use it in a disciplined way.

  20. I have facebook, telegram, viber and signal. Nowadays I use all of them mostly for communicating with family and friends because I live abroad. I created a fb account when I was 18 and I used to (still am?) be addicted to it. I was on facebook every day for many hours. Now, I will spend 1 to 2 hours per week checking the newsfeed (only on my days off work). I rarely post anything. Facebook is the only social media account I am thinking of deleting from time to time. But I never do. I always think that I will lose contact with so many people (I only have people I know as “friends on fb”) and not be able to communicate. Maybe this is just an excuse in my head, cause I can use telegram, viber or signal to communicate. On those media though, I will actually have to start an interaction with them to see how they are doing (on fb they just post stuff and I see it). Which doesn’t sound bad at all. It will be deleted one day, I know that much.

    • (on fb they just post stuff and I see it)

      Hey Theo, you won’t see how your friends are really doing. You will see what they are doing “on Facebook” Aka Fakebook. Better give them a call.

  21. I briefly got one Twitter. Still I guess have the account. Never closed it out but all I ever saw was a bunch of people arguing politics. Never really understood how it worked.

  22. Greetings, fellow members.
    As a brand new member but long time follower of James Corbett, I’m proud to finally be able to buy a membership.
    I’m more of a reader than a poster so I’ll just throw this maiden post in for the sake of introducing myself to the community.
    I’m 61, Scottish and I make my meagre living as a professional musician (piano and vocals).
    If I ever have anything worthwhile to contribute to the debate, I’ll gladly throw in my thoughts but don’t hold your breath waiting for my wisdom!

  23. Just invented a great word to describe the next scam:
    Planflation- The planned inflation to make everyone poor and “own nothing”.

  24. I’m in a bit of a conundrum.
    I can’t delete my social media accounts because I don’t have any. ?

    • what?
      no social media? (lets ignore the social & media aspects of this thread). Your social credit score must be an irrational or even imaginary number; but thats next level, beyond conundrum or dilemma, no matter how beyond the beyond your position in the world of digital capture, it sounds downright normal. might even get you noticed by those non-wave making meeksters.

      • …how about not having social media and NO credit cards! Do you know that you can be denied a (first) loan because you don’t have any debts??? hahaha It happened to me! What a crazy insane world we live in!

        • “…denied a (first) loan because you don’t have any debts??? hahaha It happened to me! What a crazy insane world we live in!…”

          That happened to me.

          At the time I was angry but now am grateful….funny how they make people beg to get on the Usery carousel.

          Userers and Sodomites are in the same circle of Dantes inferno…. funny how our debt soaked Society has such an outpouring of sodomy too.

    • yeah Pint, thanks for that. Well spoken sir

  25. The only reason Corbett hasn’t been booted from Twitter like all of us red-blooded Americans is that he’s way too nice. You don’t need to quit Twitter, just start being an ass hole on Twitter. It’s fun (you’ll love it). I got banned for truthing about the vaccines, but the final straw that got me permanently banned was saying the fag-word about Rachel Levine. Oops.

  26. Not surprisingly, by reading the comment section here, one can tell this is the kind of place where most will have one way or another already taken steps to delete some of their social medias. So, going another direction and taking the subject from a broader perspective, I would propose a couple of things.

    The obvious stuff to start with is of course zero TV and/or mass media (living without advertisement, for instance, is bliss), as well as to leave your phone at home as much as possible. That way, it stops being an extension of your body as it is too often the case: you lose that reflex of mind-hand-phone loop.

    But beyond that, to try to not watch, read or hear any work of fiction for as long as possible is also very interesting as it really changes your perception of reality.

    To finish, I would strongly recommend to not worship social media personalities. I know we have that natural tendency to idolize the orators we listen to and agree with, it’s embedded in us. But we really have to learn to stop doing that, especially if we are supposed to be those who have a critical mind regarding this topic of the Media Matrix as James calls it.

  27. Here is a suggestion, one that can be practiced every day. Have a family dinner hour each day. The whole family gathered together to prepare and eat dinner together. No devices allowed. No TV playing. Just the family gathered together, face to face, enjoying a meal, as well as each other. A little bit of sanity apart from the digital reality that seems to be taking over.
    This may even provide teachable moments. For example, if you have a teen who experiences genuine anxiety because his or her device is not ready to hand for an hour, encourage your teen to take a close look at his or her reaction. What this displays is addiction, an addiction just as real as heroin or crack. Assure your anxious child that the anxiety will pass, not just now — when he or she will soon be back online — but because, in time, a period spent away from digital crack will be experienced as a welcome break. That may be an eye-opening experience.

  28. Thanks for this. Sadly, I have been a heavy Facebook user for 14 years. I formerly had Twitter and Instagram accounts but never posted a thing on either. So they were easy to delete, and I haven’t missed them a bit. LinkedIn is practically a requirement in my line of work, but I only use it when necessary.

    Facebook is my problem. It has introduced me to some wonderful, like-minded people, and I love seeing their thoughts. I’ve been blessed to meet some in person. It enabled me keep in touch and reconnect with old friends and family members I’d have lost track of years ago. It gives me a platform for unpopular ideas, at least when they pass by idiot bots and fact-twisters. As a music lover, I’m grateful to be able to keep up with concerts and new releases. People have offered many helpful hints, and I can keep up with news not or falsely reported in the corporate channels. People who share my world views are spread thinly.

    As far as hateful conversation over trivialities, I’ve been a jerk at times but try hard to minimize that now. Being on there has also taught me the very valuable skill of being able to walk away from people who resort to hateful personal attacks both online and “real life.” Who cares if I don’t get the last word in?

    And then there’s the rest of Facebook, which there’s no need to elaborate on in this audience. 90% of it, maybe more, is utter and pure crap. Censorship is ludicrous. These things can really drain one’s spirit.

    All in all, I try to focus on the good things it’s brought me. A big step forward for me would be to drastically reduce time on there. And now, I think I’ll go post this video there.

    • I really enjoyed watching that!
      I’m glad it had subtitles.

      LYRICS (FR)

      [Couplet 1]
      L’amour est comme l’oiseau de Twitter
      On est bleu de lui, seulement pour 48 heures
      D’abord on s’affilie, ensuite on se follow
      On en devient fêlé, et on finit solo
      Prends garde à toi
      Et à tous ceux qui vous like
      Les sourires en plastique sont souvent des coups d’hashtag
      Prends garde à toi
      Ah les amis, les potes ou les followers
      Vous faites erreur, vous avez juste la cote….

    • Great music video! Thanks for sharing. Social media is very similar to addictive drugs for many people.

  29. We humans are together about 10 000 000 000 individuals. Well, not yet, but hopefully soon.

    Most of us want nothing more than to live and let live. 99,9 percent of humanity want only that. To be friends and make the best of their lives where ever they happen to live.

    Is it not strange that the remaining percentage want us all to engage in some kind of war?

    I have no problems fighting – as long as I fight alongside with the majority of
    9 999 000 000 of human beings, against that fucking war mongering cowardly tenth percentage of a million foes of humanity that want death and destrucion to all but themselves.

  30. Wow, this might be the first time I’ve heard James say, “asshole” and multiple times at that. Impressive.

  31. Well said indeed.

    Nurturing things to grow onto their full potential, building, creating, fixing and taking time to appreciate the little things in the garden offers rewards to the body, mind and soul that 1 trillion ‘likes’ on social media could never come close to matching.

    On a separate side note, do you use thermoelectric generators to produce electricity with your wood burning stove(s)? I find the flat square/rectangular units (which can sit on the stove’s surface) very useful in off grid situations and at home as well (to a degree).

  32. Thanks for the excellent solutions watch episode James.

    I can relate to the part about how you got off twitter and never looked back. I did that a while back and felt the same. Also, having just got back from a week spent in the deep wilderness (with no internet/cell service at all) I can say that I did not miss facebook at all either. I am whole heartedly looking forward to deleting my account on there after I am done fulfilling my book publication-related obligations on there.

    I am currently watching bits and pieces of the Mass Media course and will send you a question as soon as time allows. You filled it with such comprehensive data that questions do not seem warranted through much of it but I will certainly take you up on that offer for a q&a when I feel compelled to ask a question.

  33. I myself have quit using media now and again because it’s gotten to me, but I feel a person stopping using media is like stopping smoking or drinking, you have to want it. Life itself make it impossible to stay off media permanently. Banking for instance requires using your computer or smart phone where I live. The only reason I learned how to use the damn thing was I HAD TO, same with the virus, If I wanted to learn anything real time I had to get on a computer. Anyway I think I made my point. P.S. Silicon valley types among others want to bioengineer us to media via implants , that alone so send red flags down your spine if you will.

  34. I subscribe to this and the Rose Channel where I took “Candles in the Dark” then re-took it with Larken here in Vegas where I attended “AnarcoVegas” and “FreedomFest”. After about a decade, I no longer subscribe to “The Dollar Vigilante”, too repetitive. I am a life member of “Libertopia”.
    I find YT very informative on SpaceX, Tesla, StarLink, BEVs, and many other things. I enjoy leaving comments. Lately, YT has been publishing Larken’s work uncensored. They might be changing. Also, I am watching “Gracearchy” and Joe Jarvis (a voluntarist).
    From the ’50s I only watched PBS, docs, science, nature shows, except for “StarTrek” and Steve Allen’s “Meeting of the Minds”. I read “revisionist history” a lot, Rodale Press, and Austrian economists.
    I edit & reject content constantly. I am addicted to technology, especially BEVs. I have two Apteras on order. I am following the adoption worldwide and the MSM blindness to it. I find this social phenomena fascinating.

  35. James:
    How is it that even the alt media has run with the idea of Mass Formation and any analysis of the history of media, it’s consolidation and effects are often overlooked. Isn’t the problem exactly the understanding of the tribal mind and the manipulation therof? Is there security in having an explanation, even if wrong, as long as we have the comfort of belonging.
    Why would Desmet be promoted ad naseum, yet you, and your course, and other analyses are buried under the parroting? Often, in a group, I hear it’s all because of mass formation, shoulders are shrugged and a feeling of helplessness takes over. Isn’t a major reason we are in this mess due to the sheep following the media lies? Especially in a time of fear. Let’s discuss how the media spins out various narratives and keeps us fighting each other, depending which rabbit hole our ego is attached to. That Russian Propagandist was right. The best way to control the public is to feed them 1/2 lies and 1/2 truth and watch them self divide. Is tyranny really so easy? In 1913, the bankers wanted to change the public’s resistance to the proposed Federal Reserve Act. They thought that if they bought up 200 newspapers they could turn public opinion in their favour. After only 25 were purchased and their Machiavellian narrative of how the bankers were against it was inserted, public opinion had already favourably shifted towards the elites goal. Mass Formation may explain some of our issues, but certainly not all.
    I highly recommend James’s Media course.

    Two reviews of Desmets ( Mass Formation) book.

    https://www.americaoutloud.com/mattias-desmet-demoralizes-the-freedom-movement-mass-hypnosis-expert-or-trojan-horse/

    https://home.solari.com/book-review-the-psychology-of-totalitarianism-by-mattias-desmet/

  36. I was appalled at the language on this episode and had to stop it, as I always do when verbally assaulted, whether video, print, or audio. I had thought of a few people that might be interested in the info, but, alas, also refuse to forward things that I myself have to turn off or stop reading, as I will not propagate or perpetuate vulgarity, profanity, obscenities, or other filth. It is really a shame to ruin good content with such degrading additions. I hoped for, and expected, better from the Corbett Report. The man’s children need to be protected from his filthy mouth, not just from the internet.

    Despite my extreme disappointment, and my inability to pass this episode along, I will contribute to the conversation.

    Born in the late 60s, my grandparents, with whom we spent several summers and my third grade year, could not get television reception in rural Vermont. I don’t remember having a television at any of the places we lived, although there may have been one at one place when I was little. I do not remember watching television until my 9th grade year. My mom didn’t like it, so we were limited to 2 hours per day that year. Then we moved back to a place where there was no television/reception.

    During my first year of college, knowing how addictive television could be, I determined not to watch television at college, as I wanted to get good grades. I went home nearly every weekend, though, and I would watch television there (even while doing my homework). My mom still didn’t like television, and if it had been up to her, I doubt she would have gotten one. She was living in a furnished place, and the television was there.

    For the next two years at college, I didn’t watch any television as I focused on my studies.

    I moved in with a family for about a year and that was the first time living with a television since 9th grade. They watched a lot, but with work and coaching soccer and other activities, I don’t recall watching a whole lot. Then my sister and I got our first apartment. My priority was to buy a washer and dryer to avoid a laundromat. My sister’s priority was getting a television. That’s when t v watching started for me. I also regularly babysat where there was a t v and it was on pretty constantly.

    Three years later, I had a baby boy and I started seeing things differently … and eliminating shows as inappropriate for my baby to hear/see. The last show to go was one day when Vanna White strutted across the stage in one of her skimpy outfits. I was shocked and didn’t want MY SON to see that. That was in early 1993 – the end of television for me.

    I never got into (anti) social media either. In 2000, we moved into the woods and off grid. I do text and I sometimes sit outside our library to use their internet connection. Very rarely, I am there for hours, very late at night, watching things I didn’t intend to watch. I have limited data. I have had times when I had ready and unlimited access to the internet, but currently continue to refuse to get unlimited data (sometimes frustrating) as I don’t want to spend even more time on this little phone, and not in real life.

    • The use of one bad word did not ruin this pod cast for me. In fact, I would say your view is a bit harsh. When people use bad words it can be a narrow definition and not as descriptive as if a person would have used a longer description to describe a behavior. And some bad words are worse than others.

      You are certainly entitled to your view, and I hope you take no offense by my opinion. When I’m talking to someone, I can usually tell what words to use to not offend them. This is harder if someone is speaking to a large audience.

      The word he used though, everyone has one of those. I think the term means to put out waste and someone who does this can be described as that word. I think. I haven’t looked it up.

      Also, I’m sure JC is a good dad and doesn’t need to keep his kids in such a bubble that one bad word harms them. They are probably a bit older too where they hear worse words from their friends. To imply that he is harming his kids by using a bad word is unfair and probably inaccurate. Kids will face worse than foul language during their lives unfortunately.

      There was a book I read years ago called non violent communication, about how to convey a message to others so that they can hear it without insulting them. I think I’m going to order it to review the content.

      Your comments about how you avoided toxic media is interesting because it indicates that you had the intuition to know what was harmful and you were a good mom by being engaged with your son. I have read that TV can lower IQ. I will have to research the studies on this.

    • Ok, I got to the end of the video and see that there was more profanity at the end. You have a point with that part, yet JC did not use those other curse words.

      I think he was trying to reach a certain audience with those words, to jar get through to them. So though it was vulgar, unfortunately some people will hear the message that way, namely the people who are using social media. You’re probably not the audience he was trying to reach.

      Anyway, I get why some people could be offended at the end of the video. I doubt very much that JC talks like that with his kids though.

      • I did not catch any profanity or bad words. They must have slid right past me.
        However, I don’t care enough to rewatch in order to hear a word.

        Slang and real street talk is full of once was once considered “bad” words.
        I hear all kinds of words when talking to people in certain crowds, and for those audiences profanity is very, very appropriate – not some high-horse academic vocabulary.

        “Concepts relayed” are what is important in my book.

        • Agreed and I was trying to convey this to the lilac the dragonfly above.

          I don’t really care if people cuss, but an elderly person might be offended, different cultural norms and such. I didn’t cuss around my grandparents when I was young. I also know that they would be able to get beyond cuss words too.

          I found the message of the podcast to be a good one, and to cast it out because of some bad words is short-sighted.

  37. Drawing parallels to drug addiction is interesting. I think this could possibly be studied by PET scanning of the brain, to document the possible harms.

    I think it probably is a little less addictive for some than a drug addiction, perhaps because the chemicals themselves can be damaging at the molecular level. The amount of dopamine release is probably less than that with certain drugs. But a study on this would be interesting.

    A person could try to notice how they feel after using social media particularly when they notice the likes they get. I think there is something about that in particular. And what about that in particular I wonder?

    • “A person could try to notice how they feel after using social media particularly when they notice the likes they get. I think there is something about that in particular. And what about that in particular I wonder?

      What is worse than not getting likes? What is worse than being disliked?
      I think it is being ignored.
      I think that modern day life has gone a long way toward isolating people. Maybe people seek online what has become rare in real life. Fellowship.

      • Yes agreed. People lack fellowship in real life. Myself included. With respect to this particular site, I think people are seeking a type of community and to learn, which in the past real life fellowship has provided. In a way it is positive because as demonstrated with the scamdemic a person can be surrounded by people who they cannot form fellowship among. Some have tried and are ostracized or felt that they must conform in order to even exist in it.

        There is a bit of vicariousness in online interactions especially if a person stays home and has no real life persons who they can talk to.

        With social media in particular, some people find that that becomes their only form of interaction with other humans or it will be the majority of it. That is unhealthy. People can lose their “emotional intelligence” and social skills.

      • Steve Smith,

        Yes, to be ignored, to feel unheard is a whirlwind cycle of pain. It leaves one to feel so alone. It can create anger, frustration, sadness and a lashing out, a distaste for the world and for its occupants.

        After many years, I try to view it as a positive test upon myself. A lesson to learn to have silence within and to have an acceptance of our realities and to live more as a witness.

        I do battle constantly inside feeling that just witnessing doesn’t help others but I also know that my participation over the years has been generally ignored and rejected. Having a good memory I hear how others distort the truth and manipulate it to fit their current needs, how quickly to forget.

        And, as I have gotten older I realise how little I know and I now have lost my passionate fire that kindled me so much in my younger years.

        Onward and upward I suppose. It is through my lessons I now try to pay full complete attention to those that speak to me, to truly listen to someone is quite the art. And to truly listen, including the heavens the birds and the bees, is quite the remarkable gift for myself and others.

        • Thanks for those heartfelt thoughts. You echo my sentiments.
          To be present. To cherish the moments that never seemed important enough to notice. To be alone and not lonely.

    • And, regarding the hate people express on social media and some forums must provide some type of reward, like the expression of anger on someone to release this feeling.

      I try, not always successfully imagine that I had a person in front of me and how I would speak to them.

      With type written media, you can’t see the face of the person who reads your message and would a person even say it if they were face to face? Their words might change entirely if they had the person face to face or even were speaking to them on the phone.

      You can’t interpret non verbal cues with written media and what you write. This allows people to write things that are more harsh. And sometimes this more harsh message won’t be received even if it there are some good points raised.

      • Absolutely. I have often made polite replies on Twitter (for the reasons you explain) to posts I don’t agree with only to receive vitriol back. Of course I then reply in kind and it spirals out of control. It benefits no one. I deleted my Twitter this afternoon. Yes I came across like-minded people making good points and sharing interesting stuff, but sometimes those people also turned out to be racists etc etc. We will all agree with someone else on some things, and disagree on others, but Twitter facilitates antagonism. I’ve often looked at the profiles and feeds of people I’ve argued with and thought,’Actually I agree with that’ after calling them an idiot or whatever. I’ve even ‘liked’ other things they’ve tweeted. Crazy eh? Glad I’ve put a stop to it now.

  38. This podcast has started my journey how to deal with social media and it reminds me of quitting smoking I did some years ago. A part of me is clearly addicted to social media which I didn’t know. So I learned a lot and it will make my life better, and myself better dropping these platforms.

    This means I will change my life and habits after this talk/pod. And that is good! Thanks James, and community reading these reply’s. Excellent stuff. I am truly in good company here in this space 🙂

  39. In a world where people don’t grow their own food or build their own houses or hunt wild animals or work 16 hour days in a factory, there is simply too much free time. That’s why we have to be entertained with TV and the internet. Unless of course you try to find better ways to spend your time, but the masses are the masses. Another problem is many people are poor and have few options and social media is an escape from their miserable lives. Myself, I am getting bored with it all. I have a feeling that James is also getting tired of all this and I wonder if he is going to retire and move on to other things. I see the world moving toward a great ‘regression’ so there may very well be more gardening and living simpler lives, but it won’t be easy in a world where all the land is owned by REITs. I just realized that REIT= ‘right’. See, they are taking all the land ‘rights’. Maybe we should all band together and buy land before it’s too late.

  40. I just deleted my Twitter account. 🙂

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