For government services, we may have to start political pressure groups.  I know it’s much more easily said than done.  In my state, it’s very difficult to apply for unemployment if you don’t own the right kind of computer or smart phone, because there are only a few offices (100+ miles apart) and no one ever answers the phone.  You are supposed to do it through a complicated online system that doesn’t work on every type of device.

Starting a group and/or meeting with legislators are probably the best steps, though an easier, smaller step would be writing a letter to the editor, especially if you see an article (even if it’s just about that government service, generally) you can use as a springboard.

One way I’ve shifted my behavior a little is just be prioritizing supporting small (or at least not huge) businesses with no self checkouts.  Even if a grocery store is a little bit “woke,” for example (with enbies they/them-ing the cash registers), I will sacrifice some of my anti-wokeness in order to shop there instead of at a bigger store with self checkouts.  If I need something that is best gotten at a big store, I just don’t use the self-checkouts.  (If they don’t have human cashiers at all, I just won’t shop there.)  Finally, I minimize the shopping I do online, though it’s hard to avoid it completely due to fact that I sometimes need something very specific and brick and mortar stores seem to have reduced their selection in the past few years. 

 There's a welfare rights movment to fight for public access to coputers in public libraries for low income people. Just the cost of maintaining a smart phone throws some people into poverty needing to work 2 or 3 jobs for all the electronic tracking devices they expect us to own. SMART doesn't mean smart. It means Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology. There wouldn't be so many people applying for unemployment if they weren't trying to automate everything, have everyone work from home and use AI to replace workers.  It seems like it woudl be possible to start creating small off grid communities using mutual aid philosophy, but it's hard to get indoctrinated individualistic people to live and work collectively. 

 The libraries in my area, despite their trans activism and politically skewed collections, provide good access to high-quality computers, but I don’t know if they work for everything.  The key to the unemployment system seems to be uploading a specific type of photo that needs to be taken with a webcam or smart phone cam, on a device that also works with the site in other ways.  My friend had the idea that he could do it if only he had an Apple product, and he was only able to apply a couple of months after he began the process, when someone finally answered a phone after hours and hours of his trying.

Part of me thinks that if some sort of intentional community were going to work on a large scale, it would have happened by now, but maybe people just haven’t been desperate enough to give it full effort.  You know that M. Night Shyamalan movie, “The Village”?  All my friends laughed at it when it first came out, but now, I can really relate to it. 

 In Michigan they have scanners you can use to upload photos of drivers licenses and social security cards. Goodwill has an employment center that provides free use of scanners with an appointment and there are some publicly funded employment help organizations people can go to. You can also request an appointment to come in and present ID in person, but they make the public believe that option isn't available. 

 Some of ours have scanners, too.  Quality varies;  some have poor results and others require you to bring your own thumb drive.  However, whatever my friend needed for unemployment was somehow more complicated than this and had to be done with a webcam directly through the website.  It was bizarre – way worse than applying for welfare, which can be done comparatively easily where I live.  You can just use a regular website (with no crazy requirements) or go into one of the many locations.  I’m told that there are better and more numerous welfare advocates than unemployment advocates, which is why the service is better.