Big tech: fix your customer support, we're done doing unpaid labor

After 25+ years of free work no one has ever thanked me for, I quit. You should too...

In a life dominated by technology, it's become almost a given that those of us with a bit more tech-savvy will be roped into providing support to friends and family. This informal role, often taken up with reluctance, is draining and thankless. We all have our own lives and our own dreams. We’re all busy with increasing demands of work, supporting family and friends emotionally, dealing with health issues, staying in shape and just trying to survive. Finances have gotten nightmare-level difficult and the American dream is dead for many. On top of this, playing IT support feels like almost punitive punishment.

For decades, I’ve been this person – the ‘go-to tech support’ for my social circle and family, even online friends. But I’m done. I quit. It’s time we talk about why this burden should not fall on our shoulders any longer and how big tech companies are using an exploit in human nature to their advantage (to not provide at least working customer service, like every other industry). I’ve never had to help a friend with a security issue on their credit card, the financial institution does that. They have numbers you can call and get great service. I’ve never had to help a friend with a coffee maker that didn’t work in a hotel room over the phone. They have a staff who can replace it. Tech has elected to skirt this issue of service to keep their margins juicy.

A great comment left on one of my Tweets this weekend…

My frustration of being an unpaid tech support agent is sharp and constant. First, there’s the unpredictable interruptions. Just as you’re settling in for a relaxing evening or deep into a work/personal project, a text or call comes through with a desperate plea for help. “my wi-fi isn’t working,” “I’m locked out of my account,” or “how do I do X or Y?” – the questions are endless and often repetitive. What’s worse is the expectation that you’ll drop everything to assist, simply because you a proficient navigating the digital world.

This expectation isn’t just a burden: it’s a manifestation of a much larger issue. Big tech companies, despite immense profitability, have consistently failed to provide adequate end-user customer support. Instead of investing in comprehensive, accessible support systems, they’ve offloaded the responsibility to users. The customer support that does exist is outsourced to overseas call centers, where representatives are bound by rigid scripts that rarely address the nuanced problems users face. AI tools are promising but frequently don’t have the permissions or access to take an action the user needs.

I just went through a situation helping my mother, in her 70s, which finally got resolved (but required help from a relatively senior person at the company). It makes no sense this required the effort of someone who is paid at the level they are to help, clearly a sign something is broken (this person has had to take similar action for others over the years, too). She couldn’t access an account with all her contacts, tied to financial accounts and other sensitive areas. It was not her fault. This is serious stuff and real responsibility, treated with a cavalier nature by monolithic, user hostile organizations.

Separately, no one is prepared for the coming wave of dementia — which compounds lack of technical skills with decaying memory. With no support it’s going to be so incredibly bleak, all while investors shout into the wind to continue laying people off, as my friend Dare notes below. What they should be doing is hiring more (and better) support teams.

And it’s not that big tech’s existing support representatives are incapable or unwilling to help, it’s they’re constrained by a system designed to minimize costs rather than maximize user satisfaction. This leaves a significant support gap, one that friends and family members instinctively fill because we care about those close to us and want to help. Big tech companies are well aware of this dynamic. They know most people won’t say no when asked for assistance by someone they care about, and they exploit this human tendency to shirk their own responsibilities. If other companies could do this, rest assured they would (corporate America loves shirking responsibility at any turn, it’s actually quite nihilistic).

There are real consequences of this that no one really talks about. On a personal level, it leads to burnout and resentment. Constantly being asked to provide tech support, often for basic issues that could be resolved by proper customer service erodes patience and goodwill. It also means that many users never truly learn to navigate technology independently, perpetuating a cycle of dependence.

This also illustrates the ethical failures of big tech companies: with profits soaring into the billions and market caps the trillions, there is no financial justification for the poor state of customer support. Large tech firms have more than sufficient resources to provide robust, white glove end-user support. They could invest in better AI-driven help systems that could actually take an action for the user not just read web pages, more knowledgeable and empowered human support teams, and more comprehensive user education programs. Yet, they choose not to, or simply fail to do well here. In most cases you cannot escalate problems further to someone who can actually resolve an issue, and unless you know someone at a company, you’re just stuck, in ways that can be very serious.

Why? Again, it’s cheaper to rely on the unpaid labor of tech-savvy individuals within user networks. It’s a calculated move, one that prioritizes profit margins over the mental health and sanity of a community, ultimately leading their own users to simply hate them. Seems dumb, and it’s a glaring example of how even the most successful companies can fail their customers in fundamental ways.

Honestly, what we really need are baby boomers calling local news stations about how they couldn't log in to something or their account was hacked, and the company wouldn't help, causing their life to be disrupted or even ruined. These stories need to make consistent headlines because the current system allows tech firms to evade their responsibilities. It's only when the true impact of these failings is publicly acknowledged and cannot be ignored that we will see a shift in how big tech approaches end-user support, and if you believe this will go away because new generations grew up on tech, you’re wrong. Zoomers grew up with lobotomized and simplified apps and mobile operating systems and honestly aren’t more savvy.

So, I’m done. I refuse to be complicit in a system that exploits goodwill and perpetuates dependency. It’s time for big tech to step up and take real responsibility for their products and users: if they can innovate groundbreaking technologies, they can certainly invest in basic things like offering customer support that actually resolves problems and brings joy. Until they do, it’s up to all of us to set boundaries and demand better. Because in the end, true innovation isn’t just about creating cutting-edge products — it’s about supporting the people who use them.