Good Thoughts on Tech

I appreciated many things in this essay on digital minimalism by Talia Barnes (via the always excellent Alan Jacobs). Regular readers of mine know my own proclivity for digital abstention; like Barnes, I have opted for a dumb phone rather than a smart phone. But the angle Barnes takes in the essay, focusing on how single use devices build focus into their use, is one I’m going to be chewing over for a while. It fits well into my general, Ellul-driven thoughts about the downsides of efficiency. Is a smartphone akin to a Swiss Army Knife, containing many tools in miniature, but not any one at the scale necessary to be truly useful? (Have you ever tried cutting something with a SAK pair of scissors? Pathetic). Here’s Barnes on the upsides of focused tech:

“While doing less, I think more, engaging deeply in the task at hand. This experience recalls a time when devices were tools used to accomplish specific objectives, and accomplish them well; to expand our attention, not demand it.

For many of us, this time—not long ago—feels far away.”

The most depressing section of the essay ironically records a success story: a small private school banned smart phones, giving its students “light phones” instead. The results were positive, both academically and personally, yet the students - who fully recognized how beneficial being without a smart phone was - seemed nearly unanimous in their desire to get back to smartphone life immediately after graduation. And so the fight continues ever on.