Switch OFF: A Note by Mark Emery that Might Change Everything

Have you ever hit a crossroads within your soul you could physically feel? Have you ever prayed and asked God what to do and sat in silence…. beginning to doubt if you’d hear an answer?

Well, I think a note

Mark Emery

posted here on Substack back on December 17th is part of that answer. And not just for me, either.

Divine timing

He has an idea. Not just an idea, but a first step toward a solution with ramifications far beyond what we’d imagine.

I received an email on 12/17 that I was mentioned in a note Mark Emery posted.

I’d been so overwhelmed with work, tech, life, health issues, etc., I hadn’t looked at personal emails for weeks. I finally saw it tonight, and thank God for that.

I took a few days to get out of town and go fishing with my Uncle. I was away from everything. It helped tremendously.

Slowly, I began to regain my ability to think. The pain I’d been dealing with for months throughout my body began to subside. I felt rested for the first time in years.

Today, I came back into town.

I was fine. I had a new direction. I had some hope.

But as soon as I got on the internet, whoa.

All hell broke loose in a way you couldn’t make up if you tried. I’ll spare you the story.

It was clearly a sign, but one that had me feeling baffled and low.

“HOW did I get here again, what am I doing wrong!? What am I supposed to do!?”

I asked these questions to God and sat in silence.

I heard nothing, other than my own voice telling me to be quiet and listen.

Later, I opened the email, and saw what he wrote.

The first part of the text that met my eyes is what drew me here to read the full thing because it felt like an answer.

It was also the same thing I was saying in a podcast I recorded earlier (tonight) that I decided I would not release, because I had gotten so angry.

Attention Awareness: By reclaiming their time, individuals would recognize the value of their attention, weakening the systems designed to exploit it.

At the end of that angry podcast I recorded, I came to the conclusion that for a year I’d try a new way of living and see how much of a difference it’d make if I reclaimed my attention and energy from these parasitic data harvesting traps.

I figured that was why I had to get all that out via podcast, but didn’t see a point in releasing it. Maybe I should since I clearly had more to learn immediately afterward, but who knows.

First, I want to share what Mark wrote in its entirety.

You can find him on Substack at

Mark Emery

- his publication is called Who, what, where am I? Not so ironic, because that’s how I’m feeling to the core right now.

On December 17th, he posted this in a Substack note:

Switch off - Silent Protest #1

A surveillance capitalism protest where people collectively stop using digital devices (phones, social media, and the internet) for a day, week, or month would be a powerful form of resistance. The impact would grow exponentially with time:

A Day of Disconnect

Symbolic Impact: A one-day "blackout" would serve as a powerful symbolic protest, demonstrating public awareness of and dissatisfaction with surveillance capitalism.

Short-Term Disruption: Tech giants like Google, Facebook (Meta), and Amazon would experience a drop in ad engagement and data flow for 24 hours, enough to disrupt their analytics.

Media Attention: The event would attract significant media coverage, sparking public discourse about digital dependency and privacy exploitation.

A Week of Resistance

Economic Pressure: A week-long blackout would cause a tangible dip in advertising revenue. Advertisers paying for impressions and clicks would lose value, causing concern for ad-driven companies.

Behavioral Shift: People might start to experience psychological and emotional benefits—greater focus, less stress, and improved well-being—revealing the extent of digital overreach in their lives.

Attention Awareness: By reclaiming their time, individuals would recognize the value of their attention, weakening the systems designed to exploit it.

A Month of Rebellion

Severe Economic Impact: A sustained month-long protest would create a major financial hit for tech companies reliant on advertising, data collection, and engagement metrics.

Systemic Disruption: Data pipelines would dry up, disrupting AI systems, algorithms, and surveillance infrastructure that require constant behavioral inputs.

Cultural Shift: A month-long disconnection would encourage alternative, decentralized ways to communicate, organize, and share information. People might reimagine a healthier relationship with technology, prioritizing privacy, autonomy, and human connection.

Summary

A collective day would send a strong signal, a week would cause economic discomfort, and a month could seriously destabilize surveillance capitalism while empowering people to reclaim their attention, privacy, and autonomy. This form of protest would challenge the exploitative systems at their foundation, forcing discussions on ethical technology and privacy-first innovation.

Inspired by Tesstamona

I want to do this, and I was going to do it for as long as possible without saying anything, which is cool for me but doesn’t actually disrupt the spell we’re under collectively, nor the machine.

24 hours. Collectively, I don’t think that’s too much to ask.

I think I will release the podcast I recorded, and be totally willing to be seen as an angry lunatic for how I sound, because the whole point of the podcast was this:

We’re not just trapped in the algorithm ghettos, WE ARE BUILDING THEM. We are literally the builders of the digital gulags. We are the prison wardens, guards and inmates.

The machine cannot exist without our constant consent, participation and energy. That is 1000% what it runs off of. This is happening solely because we are engaging.

That’s how it’s been from the start.

We aren’t being herded. We’re willingly harvesting ourselves. The digital matterrium, the false world only exists because we are constantly creating it. Constantly feeding it.

What happens if we starve it, just for 24 hours?

Of course we won’t get all people to do this. There are people who would forgo their children having a future over not using the internet for a day.

I’m not concerned about them. I’ve wasted way too much time trying to reach the unreachable, which is most people.

As a result, I’ve lost the ability to reach my own Self, to hear my own voice, in an ocean of noise and false reality bullshit, and my health has paid the price; hence the sabbatical the past few days.

That’s the biggest lesson this past year has taught me.. one of them anyway:

Do not waste time marching to the beat of ANYBODY else’s drum, for ANY reason. You will regret it.

You will never be enough for impossible people.

And you will never convince anyone of anything they do not want to see. Ever.

So, don’t worry about literally everyone who just came to mind for you that you wish you could ask but you know would say no.

What about the people who would?

We can pass it along. We can choose to do it for ourselves. If we want to make it a coordinated effort, then continue this conversation in the comments please.

I’ll include the unhinged podcast - I’ll edit it so it’s not so harsh on the ears but there’s a lot more profanity than normal.

I was talking about this exact thing, the lengths data harvesting goes to and the need to move toward SOLUTIONS and to STOP talking about what we don’t want (technocratic dystopia) and to START talking about solutions.

I’ve spent years of my life down “red pill rabbit holes” - the shit that’s now “safe” to say publicly today, yet somehow considered “new” information, is shit I knew about when I was 16 years old. It’s not something I can wait around on. No more of that.

I want to talk about what I want to see more of in life, not what I want to see less of.

So, whoever wants to at least start with a coordinated day of disconnect, let us discuss in the comments, and I’m going to add

Mark Emery

as a contributor on this article since his note is what inspired this post.

To the subscribers of Mark Emery, please do not hold my audio recording / podcast against him if you find it to be unhinged, he had absolutely nothing to do with it!

Ok, let’s talk in the comments, if you want to hear the audio, I’ll include an edited version below.

Edit: Just kidding. There’s no way to make that audio recording not unhinged. For simplicity’s sake and to keep coordinated with his suggestion, I am going to not include it. Please weigh in with your thoughts on his “Switch Off” proposal.

May we use the ability to turn this thing off while we still have the choice.

**EDIT: It’s happening. January 12th, 2025. See here for more information: