Digital Autonomy

What is ‘digital autonomy’?#

Digital autonomy (or ‘user agency’, or ‘digital wellness’) refers to the ability of an individual to make their own choices in the digital realm without being manipulated by big tech, coercive/enshittified UX design, or restrictive algorithms that serve you content to keep you glued to the app/platform that you’re using.

For example, if you’ve ever wanted to just use Instagram to connect with your friends without being served content (including ads), you probably have a desire for digital autonomy. Or if you’ve ever downloaded an ad-blocker on a web browser, you’ve already exercised your digital autonomy.

Having a high amount of autonomy online means the online space works for you (and people around you). Low autonomy means you may be funneled toward a specific behaviour (like buying a product that was advertised to you based on the information collected about you, or scrolling longer because you’re being served content that has a high probability of engaging you).

Currently, web browsers allow some amount of autonomy. You can install browser extensions (e.g., Adblock) to shape your digital experience, to some extent. Some browsers (e.g., Google Chrome) are more invasive in that they track your browsing history, to build a more accurate profile of who you are, how long you spend on different kinds of websites, and what products you’re likely to buy. Other browers (e.g., Firefox) are more autonomy-oriented.

Mobile apps are very restrictive. IP laws prevent people from being able to reverse-engineer or modify apps to suit their needs. That’s why we don’t have an official ‘ad blocker’ for Instagram on mobile. We can change laws, but that typically takes time, knowledge, and collective action/empowerment. While that’s brewing, on this page you can find resources that give you more personal autonomy in how you engage with digital spaces.

Browser Extensions & Mobile Tools#

Social Media Feed Blockers#

• News Feed Eradicator
  Removes algorithmic feeds from Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram LinkedIn, and replaces them with inspirational quotes. Chrome extension | Firefox extension

• BeTimeful
  Mobile & browser news-feed blocker with timed breaks (the supercharged version of News Feed Eradicator). Free forever for individuals.

• Distraction-free Apps (Android)
  Modified Instagram app that provides a ‘distraction-free’ Instagram experience, to stay connected while being able to toggle on/off features like endless feed, explore page, and other addictive clutter.

• Distraction-free YouTube
  Offers options to hide ads and certain recommendation features on YouTube. Chrome extension | Firefox extension

General Website/App Blockers#

• LeechBlock NG
  Block up to 30 sites on a custom timer that you can modify. You can block sites within fixed time periods (e.g., between 9pm and 10am), after a time limit (e.g., allow up to 10 minutes per hour), or some combination of both. Chrome extension | Firefox extension

• Regain
  Android and iOS app to help regain control of screen time. Features include app blockers, focus timers, screen time trackers, break reminders, delays before opening an app. iOS | Android

Privacy & Tracker Blockers#

• uBlock Origin
  Gold standard open-source ad/tracker blocker.

• Privacy Badger
  EFF’s automatic tracker blocking tool.

Cookies & Consent Automation#

• Consent-O-Matic
  Open-source tool that auto-fills cookie consent forms based on your preferences, developed by researchers at Aarhus University. Gives you control without the repetitive, time-consuming clicking.

• CookieBlock
  A browser extension that uses machine learning to enforce European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) cookie consent at the client.

Browsers Focused on Autonomy and Privacy#

• Mozilla Firefox
  Far more user-autonomy-oriented than Google Chrome; allows extensive customization. A lot of the features you have to install above ship with Firefox.

• Brave
  Privacy-oriented browser with built-in adblock, browser AI and VPN features, and auto-rejection of all cookies.

Research#

• Online manipulation: Hidden influences in a digital world
  Privacy and surveillance scholars increasingly worry that data collectors can use the information they gather about our behaviors, preferences, interests, incomes, and so on to manipulate us. […]
  A review paper for understanding digital manipulation.

• Dark patterns at scale: Findings from a crawl of 11k shopping websites
  Dark patterns are user interface design choices that benefit an online service by coercing, steering, or deceiving users into making unintended and potentially harmful decisions. […]
  A paper that introduces a comprehensive taxonomy of ‘dark patterns’ in user experience design (e.g., sneaking, urgency, misdirection, social proof, scarcity, obstruction, forced action). Basically the classic tools of social influence from social psychology, rebranded and applied to the digital environment in a capitalistic market-context.

• The dark (patterns) side of UX design
  Interest in critical scholarship that engages with the complexity of user experience (UX) practice is rapidly expanding, yet the vocabulary for describing and assessing criticality in practice is currently lacking. […]
  A theoretical paper that establishes ontology and classification frameworks of ‘dark patterns’ and whether this is a useful way of thinking about ethical concerns in digital technology.

• A comprehensive study on dark patterns
  As digital interfaces become increasingly prevalent, certain manipulative design elements have emerged that may harm user interests, raising associated ethical concerns and bringing dark patterns into focus as a significant research topic. […]
  A recent and comprehensive study demonstrating a taxonomy of ~68 types of dark patterns. Currently, tools aimed at detecting such patterns in UX design offer only about 45.5% coverage, suggesting the need for more effective tools.

• Dark patterns after the GDPR: Scraping consent pop-ups and demonstrating their influence
  New consent management platforms (CMPs) have been introduced to the web to conform with the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, particularly its requirements for consent when companies collect and process users’ personal data. This work analyses how the most prevalent CMP designs affect people’s consent choices. […]
  A study showing how cookie consent layouts violate GDPR through ‘dark patterns’.

Now for more some more classic literature…

• Social influence: Compliance and conformity
  A review of the social influence literature, emphasizing how influence happens at the periphery of awareness.

• Nudging privacy: The behavioral economics of personal information
  A short piece on how behavioral ’nudges’ can be used for or against privacy; privacy decisions are susceptible to framing.

• Privacy and human behavior in the age of information
  A comprehensive and accessible review paper that examines three themes (uncertainty, context-dependence, and malleability) of privacy preferences. It also finds that people systematically underestimate privacy risks.