The Degrowth movement is based on the simple analysis that the core problems of modern society is that economic growth is driving nearly everything we do. Growth is destroying the Earth, oppressing others, and not making a very particularly great life for most anyone. Even those at the “top of the pyramid” of our society are under a constant pressure for performance because in a growth society, you never have enough.
I used to think that computing was this benign force for the world. That it was inherently more connective, had a lower impact on the environment, and offered humans a great way forward. Instead I’ve seen that it’s rotten to the core, because the fundamental driver of our society is growth.
With PopCap, there was a point where we were making great games that we were proud of, and making millions in profit per year for a small indie studio. There was this constant insecurity; however, and so in order to feel safe we kept growing. The more we grew, the more we felt we had to grow to be safe. That if we just grew 15% more we’d be stable and could breath out.
The problem is our growth society is such that lie is the core of the trap. There’s always the next milestone and “if we just get that next level…” but unfortunately humans aren’t wired that way. We are built with the law of diminishing returns. And this is what’s so insidious in a growth society.
Growth is ostensibly the way we get our basic needs met, experience self acceptance, or receive social validation, but if we can never be fully satisfied, then we’re in a very viscous cycle of insecurity. If everything around us is pushing a culture of growth, this gets worse. How many people do you know who keep accepting promotions and worse work life balance even though they know it will make them more unhappy just so they can grow their finances?
If our answers to our insecurities are growth, but growth is what’s driving the insecurity, then we will just more rapidly destroy the Earth.
And that is what we’re doing.
The software we use everyday is built to exploit those insecurities because the best way to grow in a growth culture is to exploit people’s inherent insecurities. If I want to sell you a beauty product, it’s a lot easier if you feel inadequate.
While this is true across all levels of consumerism, the fact that technology companies are in the middle of many of social and news interactions means it’s made all the worse because we are comparative creatures.
Our insecurities about ourselves, our loved ones, our neighbors, or the world drive more clicks, thus the software we use amplifies those insecurities.
We don’t have to use services that increase teen suicide, or funnel multiple genocides, or data-groom children into meat puppets for advertising to share photos, or see updates from friends. We don’t have to be left feeling worse about ourselves and the world every time we try and connect online.
In order to do so we have move beyond growth as the main driver of technology. We need to slow technology down so that we didn’t measure the success of social media based on engagement or ad dollars, but instead usefulness, connection, or empathy.
