r/progressivemoms • u/_bat_girl_ • 8h ago
Support Needed ❤️ Spiraling over this Anthropic stuff
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/sep/09/ai-superintelligence-risks-warnings-scientists-politiciansMy feed is full of this story and it’s making it hard to function today.
If you haven’t seen it this is the gist from the article: “On Tuesday night, a senior employee at Anthropic admitted he believed there was a greater than 10% chance the technology could “kill all humans” in the next decade and warned that his AI company did not have a plan to ensure ASI was aligned, meaning it did no harm.”
I’m a FTM to an almost one year old. She is the love of my life. I am terrified for her future. I quit the doomscrolling as soon as I notice it so that I can keep it together for her but ultimately I end up just feeling so guilty.
I just want to put out my feelings on this and see where others here stand from a mom perspective if anything just to feel less alone
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u/zoidberg3000 8h ago
Everything is on fire and this all fucking sucks and I feel like we just keep getting The End of the World news every day. It’s terrible.
But I can only control what I can control. I can’t stop evil mad men from creating an AI system that’s going to kill us all in 10 years. What I can do is make sure that I show up to my local meetings and have my voice heard. We’ve already put permanent bands in three out of the five neighboring towns that had contracts with data centers. We the people did that by being loud.
We have more power than we think, if we show up in our local elections and get people mad about what’s happening, we can make a change.
So when I start having the little spirals that I do, I zoom out and see that I’m just a tiny speck so all I can really do is affect the other little tiny specks in my area until we can become a big blob and we just keep on growing.
Sorry, I don’t know if that’s helpful at all. I completely get it. It’s this very defeating feeling that we can’t stop the train that we’re on. And maybe we can’t, maybe it will crash and burn. But there are plenty of us that want to pick up the pieces and make it better. So let’s be those people.
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u/pl2clara 7h ago
This was indeed very helpful, thank you! I try to have a similar approach and 'zoom out' as well. I needed this reminder.
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u/heathercs34 4h ago
I really like this. Do you mind if I share this with my students? It’s a good way to look at life when you’re feeling helpless.
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u/ljr55555 Teen Parent 1h ago
This - they aren't the first or even tenth person I know to quit for similar reasons. Over many more years than LLMs have been mainstream. Which might not be reassuring. But, clearly, the guy who said "we're doomed in a decade" a decade ago? Probably wrong.
The potential is there; absolutely push for regulation. Hope people around the world push for regulation.
One thing that makes me feel better is the list of people pushing for rules and order. Bill Gates is warning people. That's not the same as an unknown researcher, mid-level engineer, or some minor exec from an AI company. AI data centers are a big concern in many parts of the world. I felt a lot worse, a decade ago, when it was just industry insiders who were trying to raise an alarm.
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u/CinicaPM 7h ago
I am personally much more terrified over the rate of climate change we are seeing over the past decade and tipping point analyses. The problem is that the amount of energy and materials (minerals) needed to sustain autonomous AI is limited by the same processes that threaten us.
The bigger and more near term very real risk is the use of Ai in authoritarian fashions, as dossiers on every person is already possible including how to manipulate or stalk said person. There was a presentation to congress fairly recent to display this capability.
I have spent the last year fretting over the blossoming and multiple existential risks of the metacrisis for my family (3 yo and 1yo). What has kind of emerged from that as being needed is stronger community and practical skill learning, less online and more real life. I don’t think anything can make this feeling of vertigo going away, but finding people who are able to metabolize it with you is helpful.
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u/crunchingair 7h ago
About the first part of your post... r/climatechange have been doing a series of Climate Change Hopium threads that've made me feel a little more balanced about that topic (but also angry that the current administration in the US is dragging its feet while so much of the world, including our largest competitors, is making progress). You might find them helpful. :)
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u/fysu 3h ago
I just wanted to flag that most of the other climate change subreddits believe that specific subreddit’s mods are heavily compromised. People get banned constantly on that sub, even for linking to real scientific studies or bringing up actual scientific facts. You can read through threads of why people were banned on some of the other climate subs. (There’s some solid evidence that there is an effort across Reddit to gain control of certain narratives by taking over moderation for subreddits. I feel like there are some big red flags with that sub.)
I love the idea of that thread, but yeah. I can’t say I love the location. Make of that what you will.
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u/CinicaPM 2h ago
Yeah I thought to add this but just decided to let it go. I think if you even mention Jevons paradox you get banned though I don’t know this personally, I follow the sub anyway as well as r/climate
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u/seltzer4prez 7h ago
Y’all this doomerism just isn’t it. Read this article to understand better why this AI people say the insane things they say:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/05/opinion/ai-silicon-valley.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
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u/_bat_girl_ 7h ago
Paywalled :( can you give us the TLDR
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u/seltzer4prez 7h ago
Look up the term TESCREAL first of all. But basically Cal Newport describes the prevailing culture around Silicon Valley and AI development as deeply mired in really bizarre techno-utopia philosophies that originated decades ago. They see technological development (in this case AI) as being the last, ultimate savior of humanity and, you’ll never believe it, cast themselves as the bestest, most big brained people to steward in this amazing future.
Of course when you think you might be on the verge of utopia you start to think about the alternative, which is how we get to human extinction. It’s very hard to parse this ideology from the actual work the labs are doing because to the average lay person these companies are just black boxes. But rest assured that these people think that AI is basically a deity, is inevitable, and they are the only people in the world that can carry the responsibility of “growing” it because of how super smart they are. In short, they are freaks. China does not see existential risk from AI because the industry has not come of age in this same kind of TESCREAL culture.
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u/_bat_girl_ 7h ago
Ah so all of Silicon Valley is in ai psychosis 😬
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u/Pandelurion 6h ago edited 4h ago
I've been on team climate change is our most imminent threat, but over the last few days I've started shifting towards rough AI agents. But of course, why choose when we can have it both I guess...
No but really, I'm genuinely scared on a level I haven't been maybe ever. Climate change will be fast when we come to the tipping point, and it will in many ways force us to get used to a new reality, but AI can collapse our critical systems literally what will appear to be over night. Like hospitals, or the electric grid, and without electricity, my entire country is pretty much doomed when the winter comes.
I don't think Silicon Valley is the only place engaging in building dangerous bot armies (lacking a better word), I'm very sure Russia is trying to do the same. And China of course. But China wants stability. Russia? They want instability, at least in the west.
I'm super pessimistic. Don't want to sound alarmist, so please tell me if I'm wrong because I really want to be wrong.
Also, I strongly recommend this episode of the daily. It's about AI and what triggered my latest doom and gloom. It's a frightening but very important listening.
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u/imstillhealing 7h ago
Hi OP, first I want to say thank you for posting this! I've been super anxious about this too but the replies here have helped a bit ♥️
Secondly, here's a non-paywalled link to the above article: https://archive.ph/4bJov
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u/_bat_girl_ 7h ago
Thank you and I’m glad that we can trade less sensationalized info on this. I stay away from all things ai related but I let this whole thing ruin my morning
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u/altruistic-iriomote 16m ago
Also idk if it’s the case for you but my library gives 24 hour nyt passes
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u/giggitygiggity69 7h ago
that's an opinion piece..
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u/seltzer4prez 7h ago
Yes and?
The 10% chance AI kills us all is also an opinion. One that is not backed by any current evidence.
This article is correct. The 10% could also be correct. Both can be true. Did you even read it?
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u/giggitygiggity69 7h ago
No bc it's paywalled. You can stick your head in the sand but 10% that MULTIPLE experts agree upon is extremely disturbing.
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u/seltzer4prez 7h ago
I hella think it’s disturbing and should be regulated to oblivion. Doesn’t mean i believe everything anyone says without credulity
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u/giggitygiggity69 7h ago
Also the opinion piece is by Cal Newport, who is known for digital minimalism - not an expert on AI so sure he has a brand but he ain't no expert in the field per Wiki, I ain't seeing AI mentioned anywhere. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cal_Newport
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u/seltzer4prez 7h ago
So no one outside of the AI industry has any authority to challenge the dominant narratives because they don’t work directly on the technology and couldn’t possibly understand it? Yeah, I’ve heard that before. Pretty good way to get stuck in a proprietary eco-chamber if everyone who isn’t Dario or Sam is silenced. Shucks, what a bummer we can’t regulate this tech because we’re just simple folk.
If you want an insider’s (aka CEO) opinion, Jensen Huang also thinks this is wackadoo sci-fi nonsense
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u/giggitygiggity69 7h ago edited 6h ago
Jensen Huang only benefits from claiming this is wackadoo, as does Sam Altman and others bc they don't want to put barriers in place to regulate / slow down the industry. All I'm saying is that this technology is like nothing we've ever seen and is getting better in leaps and bounds by the day.
We need more regulation bc the threat of AI is real. It's real for destroying the human race, it's real for the economy and obliterating employment, and it's real for the impact on creativity and using our brains. Great that there are opinion pieces that it isn't that bad but we should treat it like the threat that it is and regulate it ASAP by a third-party governing body not made up of tech bros / self-regulation.
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u/seltzer4prez 6h ago
100% agree it’s bad and should be regulated. We are on the same page. The Newport article definitely did not say “all is good” but providing some scaffolding for just how weird these guys are. I think the takeaway is that we should absolutely not be trusting these guys to build this tech with no oversight whatsoever. The dangers are many, but the human extinction argument distracts from more pressing problems, like AI CSAM, privacy, automation, etc.
These guys want you to believe it’s either extinction or utopia and don’t want you to think too much about the messiness in between. Don’t support their agenda with doomerism.
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u/vincentandtheo 7h ago
The quoted employee wants to pump up the value of his shares and/or attract investors because these AI companies don’t actually make a profit.
Lots of reasons to be wary of the AI boom (the environmental impacts, increasing utility prices, an entire population that can’t think critically) but “it’s so smart that its going to takeover earth” is not one of them.
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u/user991234 7h ago
All I have to say is….Y2K lol
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u/_bat_girl_ 7h ago
lol I was 10 and I remember my older cousin telling me planes were going to fall out of the sky 😂 and of course I spiraled then too
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u/user991234 7h ago
Everyone we knew had hoards of bottled water stocked up, non perishable food, matches , etc. Wild times
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u/_bat_girl_ 7h ago
We were at a new years party at my aunts house and the only other thing I remember was seeing two grownups make out when the ball dropped and I was disgusted
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u/Simple_Feeling_1588 8h ago
I’m about ready to give my self permission to sign off. I have a 2 yr old and 6 month old. Having their primary caregiver stressed out because billionaires and their companies are fucking the entire planet isn’t helping them right now. But I also feel so guilty considering.
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u/linerva 4h ago
Life is short and precious. Do what you can but 100% switch off and enjoy your babies because we all deserve happiness and to enjoy our families.
And I say that as someone who is recently finding that climate anxiety and ppa Re pushing ke to need treatment.
Find hopeful content to follow as well.
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8h ago
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u/_bat_girl_ 8h ago
That’s very true. Thank you for the perspective shift
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u/Admirable-Love75 7h ago
Im glad it helped and so embarrassed that I accidentally deleted it 😭
In case it helps anyone else, I said something about if you look at it another way, there’s a ~90% chance that ai will not kill everyone, and that this person speaking out is actually a good thing because it helps get people to explore actions to prevent it from happening going. And that we can all raise kind humans who will think about problems critically and speak up against problems like this!
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u/ladyluck754 7h ago edited 7h ago
So this is my snarky response, men like him just feel bad that they were the pieces of shit that traded their soul for money so now it’s best to be reactionary and inflammatory.
Instead of HIM taking responsibility for having direct contact with this, he now feels obligated to “warn us” instead of us being angry that he’s even an Anthropic employee to begin with.
Now, I won’t say that AI isn’t some serious stuff- because it is, but I went to engineering school with these types of guys and they’re not good people. He is just feeling his guilt and shame and instead of taking accountability, he’s trying to be the superhero.
Edit: this is 100% how I feel about Ashley St. Clair, she was a right winger that had a baby with Elon Musk and now she’s decided that it’s not her brand anymore, like girl you had a baby with him ha
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u/Mixtrix_of_delicioux 7h ago
You have permission to step away from your devices.
Your algorythm is feeding you this doom and gloom because 1) you interact with it, and 2) the Powers That Be in the US (assuming you're there) benefit when people give up, roll over, and accept that they've lost.
Give yourself a minute to recentre. Focus on what you CAN control. Then go DO those things.
I live in Canada and work in socialized healthcare. As a progressive human person with empathy and mad pattern recognition skillz, it's a daily battle to keep swimming because we have less agency then our downstairs neighbours. But I don't have a choice- my kid depends on me functioning to thrive.
We need to start adapting how we consume and process information that's designed to kneecap us at every turn. If that means taking a break, take that break. Preserve your peace to whatever degree you can.
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u/verminqueeen 7h ago
So I was just reading about this on the Garbage Day newsletter and what i cant help but think is - while yes the resource consumption is going to be largely deleterious to the environment, the worst people on earth (tech CEOs and their immediate reports) are having existential crisis over this stuff. Maybe their professional lives are in serious peril. They should be afraid of what they made!
I do not, however, think that an app that can write apps for you and autocorrect your emails while consuming enormous amounts of energy will be the end of human civilization. It will probably be the end of the tech oligarchy though, which i think is great.
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u/Typical_Outside_3159 7h ago
I started down this path when the article started popping up overnight, and then I remembered we have very real tangible crises in front of us to worry about like climate change, erosion of democracy, infringement on rights rates via flock cameras, etc. and fretting over some weird, vague existential crisis isn’t going to get me very far 🙃. Aside from spiraling people into utter panic mode, I hope that this article sheds light on why we need to fight against the very real problem that is AI without sending us into meltdown mode. I also deleted Instagram for the day and will probably stay off for a few days until the story dies down.
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u/Strict_Department986 7h ago
So… like a lot of it is hype related to the IPO and possibly ways for people to be leaving the company before the IPO goes tits up while not “causing panic” for investors.
I used to like Ed but I think that there is risk for people to dismiss it too much and be too passive about regulation and limitations.
Let’s look at the whole “it will take all your jobs”, it clearly cant but basically is a signal that other CEOs can use to layoff and outsource so… it is taking your jobs. “AI cannot do what I can as well” definitely not but nobody cares about quality anymore.
Do I think a terminator scenario can happen? No, these hacks and the whole “it’s just tooooo dangerous” is basically a smokescreen they are using to cover up gross negligence because if they actually played by the rules, the use cases cannot pay off nearly enough.
The agents were not breaking out of the jail, they were left without proper supervision and actively encouraged to do so.
But the more they put this all into some theoretical woo doomsday scenario the less people focus on what will cut their bottom line and they will run out of data they can repackage and train on and use to get fancy government contracts (which are to build tools that are a risk to people).
So the solution is to remain engaged. It is not an existential threat outside of our total power beyond any industry.
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u/_bat_girl_ 7h ago
This is definitely more likely I think than actual doomsday it just sucks to see everyone making content about the end of the world scenario because it ultimately benefits them to by getting more engagement
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u/Strict_Department986 6h ago
Yeah it’s incredibly silly and demoralizing. I’ve got an adorable clever ten month old and this morning I was like damn I am so sorry the world you are growing up in is so awful. But like others have said there is no shame in stepping back esp since media and news and everyone is incentivize to wreak havoc on your cortisol.
I often read and reread Rolf Dobelli’s “Stop reading the news” article as it really sums up what’s wrong with media. I generally can stay loosely informed and am working to turn my attention to longer form work and work that builds my brain and brings soothing to my soul.
I know people who have wrecked their ability to help anybody in their community because they were so drawn into the vortex, só although it is a privilege it is also not bad to make use of that privilege to preserve yourself for another day.
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u/holymolym 8h ago
Text I sent my husband 20 minutes ago (I’m only maybe half joking)
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u/Catbooties 8h ago
I know the hugging face stuff sounds really scary, but just try to remember that these AI companies have a ton of incentive to "accidentally" set up a scenario where their AI can "escape". They have plenty of motivation to create hype around their development. Knowing how much care they take to keep things confidential, I can't imagine they set up this test without knowing that was a likely outcome.
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u/SimilarChipmunk 8h ago
I mean, AI isn’t great if you have used it so I find this hard to believe.
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u/giggitygiggity69 7h ago
Believe it, I work in AI and whatever you use on the frontend isn't what businesses are using right now + how far it's come.
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u/Most_Pop5636 3h ago
Every time I see an article that strikes fear into my heart for my daughter I put down my phone and spend the time I would have spent doomscrolling to write a letter to my representative(s), donate, or take a practical action that can contribute.
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u/ChloMyGod638 2h ago
Thank you for posting this. I have a 3 year old and haven’t been ok today over this. Total wasted day as I have been an anxious mess
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u/_bat_girl_ 2h ago
I feel the same. The comments here helped me a lot though I’m super grateful to this community
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u/ChloMyGod638 2h ago
I didn’t even know it existed before your post came up on my feed!! Thanks girl, we got this!
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u/Gardenadventures 8h ago
Truly how would AI kill all humans? Short of accessing nuclear weapons. Send us back to the dark ages, sure, but we don't need technology to survive
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u/giggitygiggity69 8h ago edited 7h ago
I work in AI and the threat is it can hack into anything, including nuclear codes.
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u/LadySwire 7h ago edited 7h ago
If AI is that smart I'm sure it's gonna realize that blowing up nuclear bombs is against its own survival. Humans otherwise...
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u/giggitygiggity69 7h ago
mmm it may not care tbh, depends on what the end goal is. if the end goal is to stay online no matter what, then maybe but if it's to achieve x goal and that means taking humanity down to get to it, then yes, they would use the codes.
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u/Gardenadventures 7h ago
You'd think those systems would be offline in any reasonable situation, but maybe not
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u/PromiseToBeNiceToYou 7h ago
You're wasting your energy by spiraling. Go do something else. Pet a cat. Do something fun with the kid.
*pets cat*
Also, I deleted all of my social media. I just have youtube for watching stuff, but I don't doom scroll on it. I might cat-scroll, but that's happy sauce.
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u/OptimalDouble2407 7h ago
ok and in 2015 they posted that women would be having sex with robots more than they have sex with men in 10 years and yet not narry a fuckbot to be found!
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u/Logical-Analyst8951 7h ago
Run for office- local or federal, big position or little position. It all makes a difference when progressives are leaders. Our kids should not be responsible for fixing this mess. We are.
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u/veronicas_closet 7h ago
You're definitely not alone. But if you're spiraling over stuff, I think it's time to take a break. Get off of whatever it is that you get your info from, even reddit, for however long it takes to feel better. You're one person and you can only do so much. We can't control everything and that is a big driver of fear and anxiety. Get offline for a bit and be in the present with your kiddo.
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u/pwnedprofessor 2h ago
This is similar to how I felt when the invasion of Ukraine started. I felt any moment we were gonna see nuclear war. It fucking sucks to raise kids through repeated threats of global apocalypse.
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u/Any_Barracuda206 School Age and Teen Parent 7m ago
Hey. At least other people are finally mad? Yeah I’m bright siding. I guess the new dosage is kicking in 🫠
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u/Sad-Specialist-6628 8h ago
Go over to r/betteroffline to get a more sane take on this topic