Act by not acting. Do by not doing.
Sit. Slow your breath.
Now Fitbit cannot collect
and sell your heart rate information for Google.


Release the need for meaningless trivia
and you will never Google again.
If you still thirst for knowledge,
there’s always DuckDuckGo.


Reduce selfishness; make few your desires. Follow the Tao,
and targeted ads for mint KitchenAid mixers won’t effect you.
(Though the Tao agrees: that color is really cute.)


Detach from your ego. Let go of need for recognition.
The true master of the Tao purposely loses at Pokémon GO,
for the true master won’t let augmented reality report their movements to
who-knows-what-third-party-data-miner. (It’s probably Facebook.)


The master observes the world, but trusts his inner compass.
He allows things to come and go. That ad for $80 off HelloFresh isn’t really a limited time offer.
It’ll follow you everywhere.


The Master keeps her mind always at one with the Tao; that is what gives her radiance.
The master of the Tao posts no Instagrams,
for that only brings targeted ads for the Body Boss Method.
No one tells the Master to work out.


The sage does not speak.
The sage does not reveal.
The sage has never taken a drunken glance in the bathroom mirror
that ended in Alexa mistakenly ordering bikini wax.


The simple-minded are happiest.
For they care not that their smart TV is recording
their conversations with their sister-in-law
about how much she hates Reilly’s new couch.


To lose thyself is to know thyself. The Tao is within you.
Its true nature is elusive to third-party data harvesters lurking behind web distractions.
The true sage would not answer Buzzfeed quiz, “Which 90s kid are you?”
The true sage knows: she is a ska kid.


The Tao is without wants and desires; it is humble.
It feels no envy for those on its newsfeed.
Facebook cannot send it down a rabbit hole
that ends in becoming the moderator of a QAnon subreddit.


Look, and it cannot be seen. Listen, and it can’t be heard.
It surrounds you, but you cannot touch it.
It is everywhere, but you cannot know it.
It has every photo you’ve ever taken,
even the nudes you sent stupid Giovanni in 2014.
For it is the iCloud. And you would ditch it,
but you want to keep those 1080p pics of Icelandic volcano, Hekla, “just in case” you apply for that photography MFA.
Fiiiiiiiiiiiiine. You can keep this one.
But the Tao still thinks it unwise.


Embrace simplicity.
You don’t need that free Google Home mini.
Desire little.
Turn on your own damn lights;
therein lies the path to data privacy.

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