It’s finally beginning to dawn on us, that we’ve given up so much of our individual will, that we may as well accept that we’re living lives out of our control. We’ve become zombies.

For most of us, this has been a relatively painless and voluntary process. We were happy to sign on to social platforms and app stores, for the obvious value we got for ‘free’. We might have had some niggling fears, but reading all those T’s and C’s is just not practical, and privacy is relative, isn’t it? Many people just can’t afford real privacy.

And it’s so convenient, not having to remember passwords or people’s phone numbers and addresses – if the device won’t do it for you, the apps will. And who needs backups, when everything you’ve said, texted, and photographed is all in the cloud? The advantages of becoming part of the system far outweigh sharing your data, surely? Besides, everybody does it!

Now it’s so easy, to accept Siri’s suggestion for a meal, or Alexa’s recommendation for a book or a movie. Need to get somewhere in a hurry? Google will show you the way to go. The right way. Not your way. Crowd-sourced information is superior, and in mobs we trust! Our smart assistants even rate apps and things like delivery services for us, so we don’t have the hassle of too much choice.

And what about brands? We still have our favourites, don’t we? Facebook knows that. And investments – we get the best advice from Robo-advisor, for sure. And that’s not an AI service from one of the tech giants, is it? Or is it?

OK, I know I found my spouse online, but that was self-directed searching, surely? The dating apps just gave me much more opportunity to meet the right person. A fantastic result! But when Cortana reminds me to follow up on that email promise I made yesterday – which is helpful – I can’t help thinking how ‘other-directed’ our lives have become.

It’s true; we’re all zombies now!