We’re not widgets, we’re not data, we’re done.

July 4, 2025

WASHINGTON D.C. — In what economists are calling the most coordinated act of economic self-respect in modern history, over 70 million workers across the United States walked off the job last week, participating in what is now being called “The Human Strike.” The strike, which spans teachers, healthcare workers, delivery drivers, coders, baristas, and even mid-level brand consultants who finally snapped, is not about a single employer—it’s about the entire system.

“Look,” said Dolores Finkle, a 33-year-old freight dispatcher turned strike marshal. “We’re not protesting for something this time. We’re protesting against being erased. You can’t automate empathy. And you can’t algorithm your way out of this mess.”

Not a Union Strike. A Human One.
While organized labor supported the movement, most strikers are not formally unionized, they're just over it.

“It wasn’t one thing,” said Kenan Gribble, a former UX designer who now hosts daily sidewalk philosophy salons outside a shuttered WeWork. “It was everything. The layoffs. The rent. The quiet quitting that got loud. The fact that I asked my boss if I could take a mental health day and he sent me a Calendly link.”

The final straw for many came after Project 2025's Phase II rollout, when what was once conspiracy became codified law: no healthcare unless employed, no school unless screened, and no internet unless ‘verified by a partner platform.’

Productivity is not a moral obligation.
Dr. Rita Von Clewn, professor of Economic Ethics and founder of the nonprofit People Over Profit, called the strike “a long-overdue refusal to be useful to a machine that’s eating us.”

“Capitalism without boundaries becomes cannibalism,” she told reporters. “And while I’m flattered the billionaires want to live forever, I’m not interested in being their battery pack.”

The Numbers Don’t Lie—Just the Apps Do
While the White House released a now-deleted post claiming that “only 4% of citizens are participating,” a cross-analysis by The Institute for Things That Actually Exist showed over 65% of the U.S. labor force has engaged in some form of economic resistance in the past two weeks—whether through walkouts, coordinated sick-outs, or refusing to open emails with the subject line “Quick Check-In .”

Even some delivery drones have reportedly begun flying in slow, sassy loops in solidarity.

Tech Executives: “We Never Could Have Predicted This,” They Say, Into Microphones They Own
Representatives from Google, Meta, and Amazon issued a joint statement reading:
“We always knew humans were valuable. We just... didn’t think they’d figure that out too.”

Meanwhile, Elon Musk has not made a public statement, but sources close to XAI say he’s been running simulations on how to generate GDP with only 5% of the population “if they’re obedient enough.”

A Cross-Class, Cross-Party Awakening
Unlike prior resistance movements, the Human Strike is not easily categorized.

It’s been joined by:

• Rural postal carriers
• Former consultants who once believed in “disruption”
• Librarians and line cooks
• Millennial dads who learned how to bake sourdough during the AI layoffs
• Grandmothers who “just got tired of pretending they weren’t angry”

“It’s not about Left or Right,” said Brenda Holstein, a retired factory worker from Michigan. “It’s about not letting a handful of data lords turn the rest of us into frightened renters with no say in how this world works.”

 What’s Next?
The White House has issued no formal response, though insiders say private negotiations are underway. Rumors swirl of a proposed “Digital Bill of Rights”, Universal Basic Dignity, and even a “Human Non-Replaceability Clause”—though no official details have emerged.

Meanwhile, on the streets, the chant is simple: “We built the empire. And we can unbuild it.”

Closing Thoughts
As the world watches, one thing is clear: This wasn’t a protest. It was a remembering. That labor isn’t just a means of survival. It’s how we give meaning, value, and shape to the world. And if that world forgets we’re human? We stop working for it.

APRIL 28, 2025

10 Million Log Off: The Digital Exodus Reshapes the Global Attention Economy

In what analysts are calling the “Woodstock of Attention,” over 10 million people across the United States and beyond unplugged from Big Tech platforms last week, marking the largest coordinated digital walkout in human history.

Dubbed the Digital Exodus, the movement targetted massive drops in daily active users across Meta, X, Google, Amazon, and Apple services - with major advertisers reportedly “panicking quietly into their cold brew,” according to one former Google employee.

At the center of the movement is a simple premise: attention is power. And for the first time in decades, it seems that power is moving back toward the people.

“We thought the platforms were immortal,” said Mila Forrester, a digital strategist-turned-permaculture farmer. “Turns out they’re just ad companies with really good UX.”

The movement began quietly in corners of Discord servers, community gardens, and living rooms where people had begun questioning the emotional costs of the algorithm economy. But in the weeks leading up to Earth Day, momentum surged, thanks in part to rising concerns about digital surveillance, political manipulation, and what one protester called “the spiritual crime of endless scroll.”

The tipping point? The platforms themselves. “You can’t declare loyalty to authoritarian regimes, profit off public breakdown, and still call yourself a neutral tech company,” said Professor Rani Okafor, who’s been tracking corporate entanglement with Project 2025. “Eventually, people notice.”

The Exodus Playbook, a grassroots PDF that circulated widely across networks and group chats, offered a roadmap: 1) Cancel Prime. 2) Leave Meta. 3) Switch to open-source tools. 4) Reclaim your time. 5) Tell someone else.

Within days, hashtags like #DigitalExodus, #OffTheBig5, and #SovereignScrollsOnly began trending off platform, largely through encrypted messengers, decentralized media site, local zines, and public art installations.

While Silicon Valley CEOs have downplayed the impact, internal memos leaked from Meta suggest they are “strategizing around emotional re-engagement pathways” — which apparently includes offering free puppies via Instagram stories.
Governments around the world are reportedly “watching closely.”

In Denmark, parliament held a session on “post-platform governance.” In Brazil, cooperatives are forming around community-owned mesh networks. And in the U.S., three Senators have quietly asked what happens when the lobbyists lose their data.

For now, those participating in the Exodus say it’s not about perfection — it’s about direction, it about movement, it about taking our power by, one by one. Every action matters. Every person matters.

“We’re not just logging off,” said ex-product manager Jamal Dorsey. “We’re walking toward something - each other.”

Big Tech’s next quarterly reports are expected next week. Some predict investor panic. Others say it’ll blow over. But as one mural in Portland now reads in bold colors above a cracked iPhone: “The Revolution Will Not Be Monetized.”