Web3 Is Here—but Are You Ready to Lose More of Your Time?
Web3 was supposed to set us free. More autonomy. More ownership. More control. But after a weekend on a tiny island in Sweden, I’m starting to wonder: is it actually making life easier—or just pushing us deeper into a digital existence?
I don’t know if we were ever aiming for a technology that serves humanity, because look around. Instead of giving us more time to be human, it feels like we’re being asked to put more and more of our lives on-chain, in permanent, trackable, financialized ways.
I don’t think everything should be online.
I don’t want my reputation, relationships, or real-life actions to be turned into tokens, scores, or assets. But that’s exactly where things seem to be heading.
Hear my frustration. Technology is supposed to free us, not capture us.
I mean, the washing machine freed up hours of manual labor. And the car gave us the ability to explore and connect. Oh yes, the telephone let us communicate instantly without travel. These technologies saved time and made human life easier.
Now look at digital technology:
- Social media gave us connection—but also addiction.
- The smartphone gave us convenience—but took away presence.
- Web3 promised us decentralization—but sometimes feels like it's just making everything a marketplace.
Yes I am bullish, cryptocurrencies are effective in cross-border transactions and save time, and smart contracts can be tremendously helpful in providing effective solutions when certain conditions are aligned. All that big-tech stuff is useful for our financial system and can benefit companies and society. But…
I mean, where is the part where technology gives us back time instead of just finding new ways to extract our attention, our data, and now—our very identities?
After a weekend offline, it’s refreshingly clear—our humanness exists beyond the blockchain. Most of life doesn’t need to be on-chain. In fact, almost nothing does!
- Do we need every purchase, every interaction, every choice to be permanently recorded?
- Do we need to turn every action into a financial transaction?
- Do we need to tie our identity to an unchangeable ledger?
Question: When I tokenize my soul (on Cardano), can I sell it to the devil for a quick buck? Or do I need to use the SOL network for that?
I get why trustless, transparent systems matter for big things—finance, governance, global coordination. But my everyday life, or soul, should not be tracked with the same permanence.
Web3 has the potential to give us freedom, but only if we use it in ways that actually make life easier—not just more digital. Dear Web3 God, I’ve got one request: Can I get my daughter back from the digital abyss that snatched her?