04 november 2025
by Rebecca, et. al.
We've been thinking about getting off the internet and computers in general. We'd get a smol smart-phone (or a flip phone), and check our email once a day in the library. Maybe put our private key on a usb stick and stand up a https://github.com/huashengdun/webssh to shell into town once a day. Or maybe keep a smol laptop and don't let Madison let me know the wifi password, so we have to go the library to use the internet.
"Why" is an appropriate question to ask. We've noticed that computers (mostly via the internet) have been inflicting a constant low-level stream of psychological damage, and we're wary of an internet that continues to be leveraged to train large language models and other AI technology to extract creativity and sweat from the publishers thereon. All the while, every time we use our phone, we feel the competition for our attention, fueled by that clean burning righteous indignation, that our mental health simply cannot afford. We don't want any part in that economy anymore. Even our job at the Wikimedia Foundation has been taking a toll on our mental health for the entire last year. I just want out.
What will we do? Well, we've already decided that next year we're going to (hopefully) attend a theology school to get our MDiv and (hopefully) join the Unitarian Universality ministry. That would start in the Fall. In the Spring and Summer, we'd likely get a part-time job, maybe at a pot shop in Toronto, and work on our short-story/novel in the Lili Kiwen universe.
This change, if it happens will be gradual. Our friend dzwdz asked us if this was perhaps a manic episode (we have Bipolar II). That's a question that is always good to ask and often hard to answer. This doesn't feel like a manic episode, but we think the best safeguard is to do it under the observation and guidance or our life partner, Madison (ivycreek) and take it slowly.
We' want to stay connected to Tilde Town. We'd like to say hi on IRC when we're at the library and post on BBJ. All these are just ideas now. We want to stick around at work at least in to January to finish (or at least contribute to) a project that we're passionate about. But this plan gives us hope for peace in our soul.