I’m slightly regretting calling this blog ‘Remind Me Later’, as it implies that it is something that can be parked on the back burner of life, to be added to the great To Do List that never gets done. Whereas, of course, it is a must-read of considerable urgency. (I refuse to add a winking emoji as a signifier of irony at this point, but I trust that one is not needed.)
The intention behind the title was laudable enough. ‘Remind Me Later’ is one option available to you if you don’t want to install an update immediately. Too busy to be interrupted right now? Of course, no problem. Apple/Microsoft/Google (delete as applicable) understands that you might be busy at the moment, so when would you like to install the update? Try in an hour? Overnight? Or Remind Me Later?
The frustration arises when it becomes apparent that there is no chance to Just Say No (capitals). No thank you, I do not wish to install this update, because by doing so you will render my old-but-perfectly-legal (and fully paid for) copy of Photoshop unusable and to replace it you will require me to take out new (and expensive) monthly subscription instead. So every day we go through the same charade: Remind Me Later. Hence the title of this blog, wittily (insert appropriate emoji icon here) suggesting that it is something from which you cannot escape.
There is a much more fundamental issue to do with the lack of a ‘no thanks’ option, however. To paraphrase Foucault, all relations are power relations, and this omission lays bare the true power dynamic that now exists between ourselves as users of tech and the tech corporations as suppliers. For we are not being given true choice and so presumably we are being thought of as children rather than adults: we are not considered capable of making our own decisions.
‘Just Say No’ was the slogan for an advertising campaign against drug use. It is interesting how the removal of the ability to say no is situated in the landscape of powerlessness and addiction. We are being forced to follow the tech playbook, and the expectation is that sooner or later we will be brow-beaten into submission by repeated asks. The tail is wagging the dog.
