Why do tech companies collect so much of my personal data and what should I actually do about it?

They collect because attention and behavior are now currency—more valuable, often, than what you pay with money. You're not the customer; you're the product being refined and sold. This isn't malice exactly, it's the logic of the system: extract, optimize, repeat. But here's what Laozi understood about flow: sometimes the smartest move is not resistance but redirection. You won't opt out entirely—the cost is too high, the networks too essential. Instead, audit what you're actually giving away. Use privacy settings not as solutions but as friction you consciously choose. Read one terms-of-service carefully, not all of them. Pay for one service with money instead of data, just to feel the difference. The real practice is awareness without paralysis. Notice the asymmetry. Notice where you're complicit because convenience is real too. Then make three small, specific choices that feel honest to you. Not to win—you can't—but to stay conscious. That's not naive. That's how you maintain dignity in an unequal system.