I've noticed that I'm trending away from tech and AI
For years I've been okay with technology working its way into every aspect of my life.
- Keep a smartphone handy in case I need it.
- Have unlimited data on the smartphone because you never know if you'll need a bunch of data.
- Use apps like Spotify and YouTube to ensure there's never a time that can be interpreted as quiet or (heaven forbid!) boring.
- Use social media and a small number of aggregator sites to bring me the latest news. That way I don't have to put any effort into it, and I'll never have to worry about missing something everyone else knows about.
- Expand my work schedule to use technology late into the evening and on weekends. Always have to be at max productivity! It's not even really work if you're using technology, so the productivity is mostly free.
- Chat with AI all day. Use AI in the terminal. Gotta be productive.
- Spend my free time looking for new ways to use AI to make myself more productive.
I was driving my car yesterday and I realized something unusual. I was listening to FM radio. It was actually something I've been doing for a while, to the point that it was now my default option. Spotify and YouTube can give me exactly what I want, but they require me to decide what I want.
I also have some other strange habits. When I have a question about something, I reach for DuckDuckGo rather than AI chat. And I skip over the AI output at the top to see the sites it's returning to me.
There's a notepad beside my computer where I write things down on paper. There are books (the kind made with paper) on my desk, and I have a notebook beside them to use to take notes on paper.
I check the recent posts on Bear and Bubbles. Not even the popular posts, but the feeds of raw posts with no filtering. I have a personal web directory where I click links to see what's new rather than waiting for social media to tell me what's cool and hot. Speaking of social media, I don't really use it any longer (occasionally, but Mastodon mostly, where there's no algorithm).
One day recently I was outside working. When I came into the house, there was a text on my phone (which I hadn't taken with me) that was 45 minutes old. Can you imagine that? I'd gotten a text and not known about it for 45 minutes! Surprisingly, there were no harmful consequences.
Last night I was thinking "I could be a little more productive if I worked on [...] for an hour." Then I decided I didn't want to work on [...] at all, so I played with the dog instead, leaving my phone in a different room.