This article or ones like it are, IMHO, long overdue. There is a bias online for people who are always online. It sounds obvious but "tech" companies and people online ignore or have a blind spot for people who remain offline. "Tech" companies and avid internet users generally see the world through their computers. If something is not represented online, then it is unlikely to register with them as being relevant. For example, as alluded to this by this Axios article, the opinions of people who do not express their opinions online.
It is rare to find someone online advising readers to ditch their pocket computers and disconnect their laptops. It would be like a newspaper pre-internet advising readers to stop buying newspapers. Therefore, everything read online must be weighed against this self-serving bias. Web traffic is the lifeblood of Google, Facebook and their ilk. If people go offline, the losses would be substantial. The civilised world can survive offline, as it did when many of us were born, and for centuries before, but Big Tech and their wannabes cannot. This is because, generally, they are only internediaries (middlemen). They sit on a computer network, observe and manipulate traffic of the people who use it. These companies want people online 24/7. As the article states only a minority of people have complied. Contrary to the title, this offline majority is neither new nor silent.
It is rare to find someone online advising readers to ditch their pocket computers and disconnect their laptops. It would be like a newspaper pre-internet advising readers to stop buying newspapers. Therefore, everything read online must be weighed against this self-serving bias. Web traffic is the lifeblood of Google, Facebook and their ilk. If people go offline, the losses would be substantial. The civilised world can survive offline, as it did when many of us were born, and for centuries before, but Big Tech and their wannabes cannot. This is because, generally, they are only internediaries (middlemen). They sit on a computer network, observe and manipulate traffic of the people who use it. These companies want people online 24/7. As the article states only a minority of people have complied. Contrary to the title, this offline majority is neither new nor silent.