Cyberpunk authors have been introducing progress-hostile/'go back to the past' movements and factions since the 80s, arguably it's older than cyberpunk-style technology itself (cyberpunk-style technology definitely being a thing that already exists, arguably since the www-internet but nowadays with VR, AI and electronically enhanced prostetics we're definitely getting into the flashier stuff). And remember that the cyberpunk genre paints the future as bleak, in terms of how the common people live most cyberpunk worlds are clear downgrades compared to the actual 1980s.

And e.g. the amish rejected the industrial revolution.

I think you'd appreciate The Prisoner. One of the core themes of that show is the misuse of technology by the ruling class

If i could freeze technology at a particular era it wouldn't be the 80s. I think i would pick some time after social media existed but before it was weaponized. So like maybe early 2010's. Up through about the early 2010s it seemed like tech was constantly making life better, but since then it seems like tech is increasingly making life worse

Yeah it is totally valid. Actually just came across someone that was talking about something similar to this.

https://youtu.be/S1ypWcqnojM

Edit: The main idea was that we as humans tend to get trapped in something called progress traps where as we advance technology we use that advance to over exploit our environment leading us to more problems down the line.

~Anti~ ~Commercial-AI~ ~license~ ~(CC~ ~BY-NC-SA~ ~4.0)~

I had that feeling at some point, and then I just stopped reading news about technology. No more news about the fancy new storage device, no news about exotic mobile displays etc. I just read about science stuff in general. It’s more delightful to read what astronomers have found on the moons on Saturn or what microbiologists have found at the bottom of the Mariana trench. I felt much better after adjusting my news diet.

You’re probably reading stuff that makes you tired. Try to identify what that is, and avoid that sort of material. For me, it was tech news.

BTW, if you have a tendency to get tired of this stuff, try to avoid conflict news. That would just make you sad, angry and anxious.

The future is tied to big companies and subscribing to thier services. I would love to get a smart watch for my health checks. I love the circle to search from anywhere on your phone screen (samasung phones). I would love to try those ray bans AR glasses. But I will almost never get to use them because that means signing my data away to make big companies bigger.

What's important is individual choice. You should keep systems that exhaust you at arms length, & integrate systems that benefit you into your life. Everyone should have options for structuring their life to suit their idiosyncratic needs.

Edit: Also, keep in mind that news orgs make money by showing you technological failures.

Agreed, I have a Thinkpad T440p and I love it. Consider that your problem though may not be about technology but perhaps consumerism and the underlying economic reasons that makes us tired and depressed despite everything being "better".

The bicycle might have been a good place for us to stop.

I don't know about how "normal" that might be but you're feelings are valid. You also can't stop progress. People are hardwired to make crazy new stuff and we're really good at it.

But just because it exists doesn't mean you have to use it. You can live a rich, full life even living like the Amish or other in low tech environments. The Mininites (like the amish but with phones and cars and computers) only adopt technology that benefits them and thier community. They live more primitively than most of the global north mostly for religious reasons, but there is wisdom in focusing on gizmos, gadgets, and software that improve your life in some way and ignoring what doesn't.

My issue with technological progress is that at this point most of it seems like it is no longer of benefit to the average person. Rather it is more about ways for corporations and governments to control us or extract more (e.g. money, data) from us. Most consumer tech is trending towards enshittification.

The exception to this is medical advancements.

Change is hard, but necessary.

Isnt this the premise of the matrix? Tech plateaued in 1999 and went downhill from there

That's the points of game I played. Humanity left all progress to an advance AI but it kept holding back technologically because humanity couldn't keep up with the endless break throughs. Which led to the rouge AIs that hacked into it got some really advance gear.