See, I've been thinking about productivity a lot lately. Not because I want to - trust me. But because every report coming out in Australia these days seems obsessed with it.

AI will boost our productivity!

We need to close the productivity gap!

Our productivity has been stagnant for decades!

Which has me sitting here thinking... improving productivity for whom, exactly? Definitely not me.

And while everyone's fixated on productivity, these tech companies are not so quietly hoovering up all our data. They're getting rich, and ordinary Australians are getting what? More data breaches?

I’ve been hit by four data breaches in the past three years. Four.

I'm deeply sceptical of any company pushing to access more of my data when they can't even properly safeguard the data they already possess. Make it make sense.

And it's not like this is some underground operation. The Productivity Commission just launched an interim report with a recommendation to loosen our privacy laws to make this data extraction easier. And OpenAIxMandala popped up with their report stating that AI is the answer to Australia’s productivity problem.

I've had it up to here with being told that reducing privacy protections is somehow good for me. That it's okay for companies to mine my data for their economic growth. That I should hand over even more data to help these businesses become more productive.

As a consumer and citizen, why can't I dictate how much (or little) data I share to access goods and services? If you can’t even keep my personal information secure, why should I trust you to act in my best interests?

And these productivity conversations seem to ignore the very real and harmful impacts of lax privacy laws on vulnerable and marginalised groups. These communities will be left to fend for themselves, yet again. Trickle down productivity does not exist (see exhibit A: trickle down economics).

This whole thing is a byproduct of something I've been noticing over the last few years, but has really accelerated since January.

I'm coining it techacity.

Techacity (noun): The audacious, entitled behaviour exhibited by tech companies and industry leaders, characterised by presumptuous attitudes toward regulation, users, and society at large. Often marked by a belief that technological innovation alone justifies bypassing ethical norms, public accountability, and democratic oversight.

Etymology: A portmanteau of ‘tech’ and ‘audacity’, following the pattern of ‘caucasity’.

[Sidenote: please cite me if you’re using this term. See this piece on crediting Black women for their work. #citeblackwomen]

And I think we’re about to hit peak techacity. We’ve got tech bros telling us that if we just let them download our entire life history; why, our whole lives will be optimised to a T. Black Mirror was a TV show guys, not a how-to-life manual 🙄

I'm done pretending this productivity theatre is anything other than the most audacious information harvest in history - fuelled by techacity.

The solution starts with us questioning this relentless push for productivity and demanding more accountability from tech companies and regulators.

If you have spotted techacity in the wild, please share in the comments.

I was thirty minutes into a 45-minute session with my psychiatrist this time last year when he stopped me mid-sentence.

"I've heard enough."

All my life, I thought the way my brain worked was normal. Forgetting things the moment I walked through a doorway. Jumping chaotically from topic to topic. Bursting to interrupt conversations because if I didn't spit my thoughts out right then and there, poof… they’re gone!

The diagnosis came back: Inattentive ADHD.

Two simple words in an uber expensive, 5-page assessment report. Two words to describe a lifetime of confusion. Two words that finally gave me something to anchor myself to, even as they unleashed a tidal wave of anger and grief I wasn't prepared for.

Finding out there was a reason my brain does the things it does, that I'm not broken, just differently wired, should have been purely liberating.

But it wasn't.

The anger, grief, and shame about what my life could, would and should have been... it overwhelmed any happiness about finally knowing the truth. If only I'd been diagnosed as a teenager, I would be so much further in my career by now. I'd be earning more money. I wouldn't be stuck in a comparison trap with neurotypical peers who effortlessly accomplish what I struggle to even begin.

How do I move past these feelings? A year on, I still don't have the answers. But I’ve come to realise that my neurodivergence is tangled up with being first-gen, African Australian, a woman in white-collar spaces.

This is why I'm launching ‘A Brain Like Mine’ - a fortnightly(ish) newsletter to share my Afro-neurospicy perspectives on a world built for neither. A place where all my interests and passions coexist, just like they do in my brain. A space where I can discuss privacy, responsible AI, mental health, neurodiversity, board governance, space and whatever else catches my attention.

I hope you'll follow along on this journey. There will be rants. There will be deep dives. There will definitely be posts that start with one topic and end with another. If you're curious about what it's like to navigate the world with a brain like mine, this space is for you.

See you in a fortnight.

Hello there, I’m Farxiya, a Somali Aussie who’s trying to make sense of her brain, one post at a time. You can follow me here on Substack or Bluesky (where I made an account but barely post. Don’t hold it against me, the interest pendulum will swing back soon enough).