Is anyone currently being forced to use any technology?
In any case, stone tools are technology. Making fire requires technology.
I'll set aside people who need technology to live (clothes are technology, but so is a CPAP machine).
I'll set aside how places are increasingly going cash free (cash is technology, and credit cards are more advanced technology, and phone payment requires even more technology).
Take my gym. Last year they switched to QR phone entry. The QR code changes every few seconds, so you can't print out the code and take it in. The handful of people without a smartphone, like me, got an exception to use an RFID card.
However, those who have a smartphone were not allowed to use an RFID card, even those complaining at the front desk, angry because they did not want to bring their phone with them to the gym.
It's true they are not forced to go to the gym, though note that most other gyms around here have also switched to smartphone entry, and I chose this gym specifically because they are the only one offering a specific style of group training that I want.
Or, take some of the examples at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43137488 where people can't pay for parking because they need a smartphone app which requires not just iPhone/Android, but is only available from the local country's app store - rather difficult for foreign visitors.
It's true they are not forced to park there. They can find somewhere else and walk or take the bus.
Or, take the local college. They are a Microsoft shop. You need 2FA via smartphone app to log into their machines, access email, and the like. Signs and other info about upcoming events require a QR-code for info like time and place. People are not forced to use a smartphone, since they have a choice to not go to college, or find one of the decreasing number of schools which don't expect everyone to have a smartphone.
Or, a friend of mine lives in a city with no good mass transit options or bike options. Those who don't have a car use app-based taxi services. She knows a couple of people who choose to not have a smartphone, so they are limited to places they can walk.
In all cases there is still a choice, but it becomes increasingly Hobson's choice - and we've decided that living as a hermit, even metaphorically, is not what you mean by an alternative to not being forced, right?
To your points specifically, I mostly see that you are complaining about technology you were previously used to (RFID cards, parking payment systems, public transit, school management systems, etc.) being replaced by more advanced technology (QR codes, 2FA, etc.). So, I don't see the problem as decoupling technology from lives but as enabling a smoother transition to more reliable and advanced technology.
The article makes other points about addiction, etc., and this is a problem that is not innate to technology but to human behavior that is exploited (knowingly or unknowingly) by profit-driven companies. Targeting the technology itself in this situation, again, is being lazy in my opinion.
