Who gets to design, develop or deploy edtech, for whom, and why, asks this year’s conference. This talk addresses one aspect of the people designing, developing, deploying, adapting, subverting and learning with edtech: the precarious, fragile, uncertain dimensions of living in our shared world. This is not about the ‘anxious generation’ of young people today; it is a description of a more fundamental human condition. Drawing on cultural theory and critical infrastructure studies, the talk outlines several ways in which the design of technologies used in education addresses people’s deepest fears and insecurities. This technopolitics of design is at odds with an education oriented to democracy, solidarity, liberation, risk or emancipation. Studies on how edtech is deployed, however, demonstrate ways in which these technologies are embedded into quotidian practices of care, enabling a joyful, risky, liberating education. The talk ends by reflecting on what this means for everyday practice, future research and a justice-oriented technopolitics.