rejecting the modern technological era

I think that we really could go back to a better time. Often, that is the prerogative of conservative movements, right wing movements, including fascism. The misled glorification of a bygone era, one in which things were better, one that was somehow lost or betrayed and yet could be reclaimed. Eras of glory and comfort and leisure and health and happiness. Those times have never really existed. Those things have existed in history, but they’re always balanced with fear, anger, hatred, misery, failure, loss. Good and bad are always in balance.

Often times, that past is misremembered and falsehoods replace truth and then people pursue extreme measures to put into place a world that never actually existed.

But we have a tremendous amount of documentation about the recent past and I think returning to aspects of the recent past could improve things.

A less dramatic version of a tale as old as time. But, usually, good ideas are boring. Bad ideas are spectacular and overwhelming and tantalizing. So people love to pursue them.

But think about the idea of taking a few really meaningful photographs and printing them and placing them in a book that every few years you can return to, to think about your life and the wonderful experiences you’ve had. Think about rummaging through records to find some music that you really like, going home, placing it on a turntable, and listening to it. Imagine speaking to your friend on the phone to hear about their day rather than getting a text response. Imagine reading a paper book? Imagine driving cars that weren’t incredibly mechanically complex? Imagine taking a train to work? Imagine a reliable social safety net? Imagine not spending every free moment of your time on an endless loop of content on a small screen that you absolutely cannot live without?

Consider the prevalence on anxiety and depression in our society. I don’t really feel the need to cite anything here. Everyone either 1) struggles with anxiety and depression or 2) knows someone very well who deals with anxiety and depression. It’s just part of being a person in the early 21st century. We’re not doing great mentally.

I have made some personal changes to how I have approached my life. I spend as little time on my phone as I can. I didn’t get rid of my phone. I just use it to text and call my partner and my family. Occasionally, a few friends. I won’t check my email on it. I won’t get on social media. I like Pinterest. So, I do get on Pinterest on an iPad every once in a while. I take my photos with an old 35 mm camera and print them. I still take some pictures on my cell phone. I’m working to print them in books too and I, daily, work on taking less on there. I read paper books and a printed newspaper. I watch less tv. When I do, I have a show and I try to watch an episode a week. Sometimes I watch two or three, but certainly not daily. Right now, I’m watching VEEP.

I am far, far, far less anxious than I ever have been. I would say it’s probably a few years since I have truly experienced a bout of depression. I have ups and downs but I have not been depressed for quite a while. Stressful events still cause my anxiety, but it’s not perpetual and chronic. I find my way back out of it.

It all used to just be present all the time, without relent or abatement (did I use either of those words right?). I actually am better.

OH AND MAIL. We can send letters for birthdays and anniversaries and holidays and celebrations. That’s a system that still operates flawlessly in the modern world. It does. The USPS kicks ass. Paper mail rocks. A paper newspaper rocks. And writing on paper rocks. Paper books rock. None of them beam light directly into your eyes in near perpetuity.

Anyway, the point is this.

There was better clothing (materials, stitching, longevity, design) in the recent past - think the 1950s to 1990s. Honestly, about that long. Pre-internet, really. Because all of post war technological advancements and consumer products - although not distributed equitably - were disrupted and replaced in the internet era. And I think their derivations made all of us quite a bit less happy. I think cell phones made us too connected. There is a limit to how much you should know about people and how frequently you should be updated about the details of their lives. I think the idea of a mobile phone is brilliant, especially for emergency. But that can be accomplished with much less than an iPhone. And I would argue streaming music was a step too far beyond the CD, which replaced the 8 track, which replaced records. There is a point when which music had to be chosen strategically and listening to it was the activity, not just all music as a background activity. I think steaming ended that and I don’t think we’re the better for it. A modern cell phone can take millions of photos. But we don’t go back to look at them, we just store them away, at increasing distances. When’s the last time you looked at photos of your life? Probably a long time. Some people might have never known to do that. Is that better than a cheap 35 mm camera to capture special moments? Is it so hard to go to a local camera shop to have your photos developed? I bet it’s also more expensive than the price of the device that replaced it. Would it really be? Someone do the math.

I think there really was a consumer era that brought us a tremendous amount of good that was quickly replaced by highly extractive derivates that bring us nearly no good, no true happiness, or true value.

I don’t think we have to accept that.

Let’s not resurrect the social, racial, and political relationships - some things should be left in the past. But, we can resurrect the material world. It’s still here. Talk to your parents and your grandparents. It’s all still here. Go look at a Goodwill, Salvation Army, vintage, thrift, or resale shop in your town. You don’t need to buy a new book, unless it literally just got published. You can find a copy of The Great Gatsby in a store, or better, at a library, or just as great, borrow it from a friend. You don’t need new phones. Old one’s exist. Landlines still exist. Film cameras still exist. And video cameras. And old trousers, and suit coats, and coats and jackets. Old jewlery, furniture, records, the material world of the past - a better material world - is there for the taking, and at shocking prices.

I think we would all slow down and spend a bit more time in a consensus reality. We’d all be back in the same world, rather than a very personally and algorithmically fabricated reality designed to keep us engaged for the maximal amount of time.

And thats not out of our reach. We’re not powerless to accomplish that. In fact, it’s well within our grasp.

You don’t have to go purchase the newest iPhone. In fact, no iPhone in, I would say, 10 years has introduced any new technology that actually improves our lives in any meaningful, identifiable way. We can live without 2-day shipping. We can live without Live Photos. We can live without curated playlists. We can live without AI google searches. We still have all of our knowledge written in books in libraries and it’s pretty easy to discover and access. We can live without 1,000 photos of every single minor event in our lives. We can do without all constantly displaying that to one another relentlessly. We can all stop constantly looking around to see what everyone else is doing. We can stop acting like it’s absolutely critical for us to remain substantially updated on the life of an acquaintance we had in high school. We can just focus on what is happening in the lives of those we have close, valuable, supportive relationships with. We can have communities that get together in person. We can create space for everyone to be in a room together. We’re always in our homes. No one is EVER outside. It’s baffling.

We can do without so much of the modern world. And we can do so much without the modern world. And it’s not an impossible dream. We could all go to a thrift shop tomorrow and be halfway there.

I guess that’s what I’m thinking about: the absolute joy of rejecting the modern technological era.

Modern technology has increasingly felt, since my earliest memories, the era of the popularization of the internet, that innovation and iteration has been defined by an increase in volume, number, speed, complexity, detail, storage, responsiveness, specialization, personalization…

It has not felt like the value-add has kept pace. Increasingly, it feels detractive of value, devoid of value, or extractive of our value.

So, why keep supporting it? Why not go back to something that adds value?

Anyway, leave a comment. Let’s chat friend.