I recently read a blog post arguing that we should have frozen computer development in 1993 - the year before the internet became a public commodity. And sure, that would have solved some of our problems but not all of them. Not enough of them anyways.
Instead, I think what we need is to get people to care about how computers are made, designed and used. And while it is taking a while, I think something is shifting, especially regarding the computer we all carry in our pockets. From analog bags, the retro-tech revival and the indie web, we seem to be going somewhere new.
We are, luckily, beginning to realize that a small group of people mediating so much of our lives is not a good thing. That the tech-giants don't care about us at all unless we stop providing value to their bottom lines.
The alternative is obvious. It's free (as in speech) software. Unfortunately, most people building free software aren't designers and it turns out to be really difficult to involve designers in open source projects.
Instead I think what is needed is a new type of digital design school. A true project that isn't just tied to a specific tool or piece of software but something that can deliver a philosophy of design for free software. A digital Bauhaus-school. A place that is preoccupied not only with building software but with the form of software. Somewhere that can develop a language of form for software that isn't made to such us dry and that can support open source developers.
Maybe we already had this once in Xerox PARC, but we desperately need it back.