Who's Really Driving? A Quiet Reflection on Tech, Choice, and Control

Everyone I speak to says the same thing.

They don’t need more automation in their lives. They don’t feel the need for technology to be as present, as persistent, or as all-encompassing as it has become.

They like talking to real people. They’d rather speak to a human than navigate a robotic phone menu.They’d prefer a printed boarding pass over downloading another app they’ll forget to delete. They’re tired of hearing “unexpected item in bagging area” for the five millionth time at the self-checkout they never asked for.

They don’t want to second-guess whether a video is real or AI-generated. They don’t see why they should move to a digital ID when their physical driving licence works just fine.

They don’t want everything to be online - their work, their social lives, their shopping, their calendars, their conversations, their communities.

They don’t feel the need for this much convenience tech.

And that makes me pause and ask: If no one’s asking for it… why do we have it?

Have we chosen this?

It’s easy to forget that the technology shaping our lives isn’t neutral. It’s not being rolled out slowly and thoughtfully, in response to widespread public demand. It’s arriving fast, often without consultation, driven by incentives far removed from our wellbeing.

We are told it’s for efficiency. For scale. For convenience.

But whose convenience, really?

We’re feeding a system — one designed not for collective calm or connection, but for profit. For speed. For scale. For ever-greater extraction of data, time, and attention.

And the truth is, it’s working. Not necessarily for us - but for a very select few.

I’m not anti-tech.

I’m deeply grateful for what technology has made possible. I’ve used it to build a community, to create work I care about, to stay in touch with people I love. I wouldn’t want to live without it.

But I am pro-real life.

This moment deserves a check-in with ourselves.

Are we designing technology around human needs?Or are we slowly reshaping ourselves to fit the demands of technology?

Are we choosing apps over eye contact because it’s better — or because it’s all we’re being offered?

Are we trading away spontaneous conversations, imperfect encounters, shared pauses and messy humanity… simply because the digital route is faster?

What if we took a moment?

To slow down.To look up.To ask questions.To opt out — even briefly.

Not forever. Not in protest.But just to remember what it feels like to be undistracted, unplugged, and deeply human.

That’s why we started The Digital Detox Club.Not to escape technology — but to rebalance the scales.

We still have choices.We can design our days around presence.We can choose real connection in a world of infinite feeds.

Maybe it’s time we stopped being users… and started being humans again.

Laura x