Considering the omnipresence of technology and the fact that most jobs these days require one to have access to smartphones, access to internet, etc something to be overlooked and is itself the problem, not individuals who use the technology that is being shoved into their lives. Not everyone who dislikes the way the (western…?) world is “progressing” can afford the luddite luxury of living in the forest with wild beasts.

That’s sarcasm.

The thrust of luddite thinking is to acknowledge and fight against the technology that is being used to displace individuals in/and their communities. I think this mindset is too often unacknowledged and ought to be embraced whenever it’s being addressed, and the fact that so many people who abhor technology are nonetheless “addicted” to be a symptom of a larger problem which is western civ+capitalism obsession of smothering its society with these devices.

I don’t like technology (smart phones, cars, internet) insofar as it detracts/distracts from life, alienates us from our neighbors and community, is extremely undemocratic, attempts to convince us that our life is a waste of time if we are inefficient in life, etc etc. However it is 2016, I live in America and my jobs, education etc require me to have access to smart phones and the internet.

Pointing out hypocrisy is the laziest way of addressing these discussions, because you successfully shift the focus of the discussion and make it so the main point of the discussion is forgotten and ignored.

Addicts can hate the drugs that enslave them yet are incapable of emerging from the addiction alone. When your society is happily feeding your addictions, it becomes almost impossible to expunge yourself entirely from that addiction.

You should not wish death upon these sick.

“It’s like saying you hate the beach and then buying a beach house.”

The problem here is not this proclaimed aversion to technology per se. This kind of behaviour comes from the kind of people who believe complaining sets them somehow apart from the mayority. A form of snobism, we could say.