I hate it when people say things like “just use X”(I’m looking at you google), it implies that you should only use tool X and that is a very toxic mentality.

But before I get too deep into the rant, let’s explain what a walled garden is. A “walled garden”, just like Wikipedia says, is a closed platform, ecosystem wherein the service provider has control over applications, content and other media and restricts convenient access to non-approved applicants or content.

So just by looking at the definition we already see some things that we normally wouldn’t like; we don’t like when someone is restricting our usage of something, but we eat it up when there’s a very big prize on the other side (the prize being interacting with our friends or sharing information without too much work and effort).

Now getting back to the first paragraph: I think it’s even worse to say this to children; once a child is given the “perfect”(in the eyes of the person that’s saying this) tool, he will never try to find another tool that could better suit his needs, it teaches the child that there is only one way to do something and that is very harmful for the development of the child. And people that we’re raised like that (they we’re always taught to go with the standard, default way) are like a plague, because they will spread that mentality to their children.

> But mom, why do we need to keep this dongle always plugged in?

> Don't ask such a stupid question. This dongle was passed from father
to son from generation to generation. We only have the privilege to have
this always-connected-USB-port-eating dongle because your grand grand
grandfather paid for a lifetime license for this piece of software that
doesn't even receive updates anymore.

> Wow mom! How is he still alive after all this time?

> He isn't. But back when he bought the license, you didn't need
to provide your social security number and biometric information
to purchase a piece of software.

This kind of mentality locks you and the people that need to interact/work with you, in a walled garden; surrounded by the perfect tools that only do the perfect work the correct way, the perfect way.

The human nature striving to build it’s own walled garden of Eden

And as you sit there, on your perfect video calling app, that only works in your perfect browser that is only available on your perfect operating system, chatting with your friends, friends that use the same apps that you use, work the same way that you do, think the same way that you do, you start and think about how you got into this situation.

Maybe it’s our primordial instinct, that part of us that still wants us to return to the Garden of Eden, where we would be surrounded by peace and love, but the truth is: this ain’t no Eden. In Eden, we would be surrounded by good things, not mediocre (or downright bad) things that would be forced upon us until they became the normal, the perfect things that they’re obviously not.

Maybe all these closed ecosystems we see everywhere around us are just the flawed attempts of imperfect men to create their own Eden. But the thing that is driving the creation of a virtual man-made “Eden” is greed. Now, I’m no theologist (even though I rant about things I didn’t even study), but if these we’re the people that created the Eden that I would live in, I would rather take a bite out of the fruit.

End

Enough ranting and philosophizing for today. I reached outside the scope of this post by talking about Eden and all that theological stuff. The moral of this boring rant is that, it all depends on you to make the change, to escape the walled garden; it may require some sacrifices. But what wouldn’t you give for your freedom?(apparently $12)