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I suppose, in a way. It's really easy to give up Facebook and Twitter. Which I've done. Giving up Amazon is different. They actually ship me real, tangible

by jcadam 6y ago

I suppose, in a way. It's really easy to give up Facebook and Twitter. Which I've done. Giving up Amazon is different. They actually ship me real, tangible items I need. Items that I'd have to track down from different retailers who would more than likely take longer to get those items to me. I'm making an effort to get certain items from other sources (electronics from Newegg, for example), but I'm still a Prime member. Google is in between, I guess. I use DuckDuckGo by default. But, I admit, I sometimes do a "!g" when I'm not satisfied with DDG's results. But in all, I'm much more disturbed by what the Social Media giants have been up to than Amazon, Google, and Apple, so there's a bit more motivation in that regard.

arrosenberg 6y ago
> Giving up Amazon is different. They actually ship me real, tangible items I need. Items that I'd have to track down from different retailers who would more than likely take longer to get those items to me. I'm making an effort to get certain items from other sources (electronics from Newegg, for example), but I'm still a Prime member. The other side of this is that Amazon's marketplace is filled with counterfeit products and is built on questionable labor practices. They are big enough to distort the entire market and make small businesses compete in unnatural/suboptimal ways in order to satisfy Amazon. The fast shipping and some of the cheap pricing is taking advantage of a public good (the Post Office) and it's unclear, especially recently, if Amazon is being given preferential treatment in their contracts. All in all, while it may be more convenient some of the time, the concentration of power and money is not healthy long term for a democratic country. It seems to me that a properly lead and funded Post Office and a dynamic, competitive marketplace of small and medium sized businesses would provide just as good an experience and doesn't have the risk of market capture or complex lobbying operations popping up.
treis 6y ago
Pretty much everything you buy on Amazon can be bought elsewhere. It might be inconvenient to shop elsewhere but the option is there. Of the big tech companies they are probably the easiest to avoid. Practically everyone will have an Apple/Google phone. You can de-Googlfy or de-Applfy but you can't do both. Facebook, yeah you don't need it. But if you want to see pictures of your nephew and that's where they're posted you don't have much choice. Microsoft you can get away from but pretty much anyone buying a computer has to pay the MS tax (or the Apple tax). Hard to avoid Office, LinkedIn, or GitHub at work as well.

by jcadam 6y ago

arrosenberg 6y ago

> Giving up Amazon is different. They actually ship me real, tangible items I need. Items that I'd have to track down from different retailers who would more than likely take longer to get those items to me. I'm making an effort to get certain items from other sources (electronics from Newegg, for example), but I'm still a Prime member. The other side of this is that Amazon's marketplace is filled with counterfeit products and is built on questionable labor practices. They are big enough to distort the entire market and make small businesses compete in unnatural/suboptimal ways in order to satisfy Amazon. The fast shipping and some of the cheap pricing is taking advantage of a public good (the Post Office) and it's unclear, especially recently, if Amazon is being given preferential treatment in their contracts. All in all, while it may be more convenient some of the time, the concentration of power and money is not healthy long term for a democratic country. It seems to me that a properly lead and funded Post Office and a dynamic, competitive marketplace of small and medium sized businesses would provide just as good an experience and doesn't have the risk of market capture or complex lobbying operations popping up.

treis 6y ago

Pretty much everything you buy on Amazon can be bought elsewhere. It might be inconvenient to shop elsewhere but the option is there. Of the big tech companies they are probably the easiest to avoid. Practically everyone will have an Apple/Google phone. You can de-Googlfy or de-Applfy but you can't do both. Facebook, yeah you don't need it. But if you want to see pictures of your nephew and that's where they're posted you don't have much choice. Microsoft you can get away from but pretty much anyone buying a computer has to pay the MS tax (or the Apple tax). Hard to avoid Office, LinkedIn, or GitHub at work as well.