I realize the purpose of the essay, and I agree with the author's sentiment that our possessions ask more of us than is necessary, and more than ever before. But I disagree that any object is finished. That Casio that the author mentions, yes it goes 7 years without a battery change, but the day the battery dies will be the day that you have to buy a new battery, figure out how to open it, and change it. Or (as many people will unfortunately do) throw it away and buy a new one because it's beat up now anyway.

Tools dull, and people neglect to sharpen them. Filters clog, and people neglect to clean them. Oil needs to be changed, guitar strings lose their brightness, lightbulbs flicker and die, rooftops gather moss. We live in a world where our possessions require maintenance, and the only solution to that is to have fewer possessions. Some people choose to rent instead of buying because they don't want to deal with property upkeep (which is undoubtedly a bad deal, but one that some choose to make regardless.)

The iPhone that the author mentions gives many tools to silence notifications from apps. The real problem is the social expectation that we are always paying attention, always ready to respond. I had a phone free week last year and now frequently will leave my phone in another room on silent for hours at a time unintentionally. It irritates my friends and my wife when I don't respond to their texts immediately. And it's frustrating that these features are being foisted on us more and more. But ultimately all things require maintenance, including relationships, and ultimately we set the standard of how much we have to give and are willing to put up with.

As far as the watch goes, personally I wear a Casio Tough Solar w/ Waveceptor because in theory they should go decades without needing a battery change or needing me to set the time, unless I travel. The WVA-M640 is reasonably stylish, and G-Shocks are virtually indestructible. As long as they keep changing the rules there's no escaping daylight saving time though.

Those Casio watches are just amazing. I got legendary gw-5000u and it has become part of my body. I'm wondering how much 30+ year are feeling like author of this post. I for sure do not want any device that I need to babysit.

This is an interesting and more apt way to frame smart features.

One way I've found to avoid objects that come alive is to buy the commercial version.

- TVs aimed at commercial hospitality businesses let you avoid a lot of the bloatware and smart features that come bundled with it

- Commercial washer/dryers let you avoid bluetooth and wifi and other junk not needed to wash your clothes. These are available without the coin operated features

Commercial versions of consumer products are usually simpler, more durable, and don't have advertising and smart features.

As a wise man once said, anything plus computer equals computer.

The article (with its doom-scrolling) suggests some stats phones should have:

    Dismissing a notification ...... 22%
    Intentional use ................ 20%
    Checking something that pinged . 18%
    Replying to a person ........... 15%
    Updating/configuring/fixing .... 12%
    Unlocking, forgetting why ...... 8%
    Managing a subscription ........ 5%

That would be kind of cool.

The real headache is that everything with a network connection needs system administration.

There's a great essay hiding in that page, but oh my goodness that is a frustrating format and layout.

The older I get, the less I like new technology. I don't really like gadgets anymore because each gadget is an invitation to complicate, not simplify, my life. As the article notes, everything must be charged, updated, upgraded, signed into, sync'ed, monitored. If something goes wrong, you have to figure out what went wrong if you want to keep using it. At this point, I'd rather not introduce the complexity at all.

I used to work in the games industry and this is a large split between older games and newer games. Traditional games like Super Mario don't "reach out" through notifications for you to play them more like Roblox. You are in control of the on/off switch

What a beautifully presented article. It rings true.

Growing up I’ve been feeling overwhelmed with the bureaucracy of life - maybe it wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t already have to manage an entire ecosystem of shit that I need to care about.

Sure, screen time. But I am also deeply tired of just keeping things charged. Some of my stuff insists on special usb cables - because those cables contain chips that mediate between the <thing> and its charger. Its exhausting.

> This watch costs twelve dollars. It weighs twenty-one grams.

> This watch costs four hundred dollars. It also tells time. > It also tracks my steps, monitors my blood oxygen, measures my sleep quality, logs my workouts, reminds me to breathe, reminds me to stand,

I had quite opposite experince with casio. If I want water proof (like swimming) watches, I would have to buy bulky and super expensive gshock with GPS and tons of useless festures.

$20 chinese smart watch are completely water sealed, tiny and simple to use. I can even remove wrist band, to make them even smaller. Only downside is battery life is only one week.

Funny story, but I didn't realise I much I didn't want an Apple Watch, until I got one. I exercise daily and most days I just want it to shut up.

> You have fifteen years of it.

For some of us it has been much longer than fifteen years.

I don't know what's the state in other markets, but where I live, Brazil, you always have the dumb consumer products. I think the only pathological example are TVs in which they require you to signin before being able to download streaming apps, but this is something that if you really must you can work around by buying a TV box.

Also, can't you just not give these products the password to your WiFi? Do they make fridges and wash machines that don't work without internet?

While I agree with the article, I can't help but feel like the superfluous animations undercut it somewhat. Would be nice to have a version with the images/diagrams but without the animations - maybe add support for prefers-reduced-motion?

This post says, “22% dismiss notifications”. Why do people allow this? I see people with phones that have 3 new notifications per 5 minutes and none of them are human being messages or human being event reminders.

Turn off every notification that isn’t actionable or joyful to you. The news isn’t actionable. Stop letting the news task you. Your social feeds aren’t actionable. Stop letting your feeds task you.

(And, yes, I’ll concede that Duo push is valid, because either I initiated that, or I have a problem to solve. Being employed brings some of us joy, after all!)

Notifications are not meant to fill the silences in your life. Your thoughts are. Not all the random drivel that phones opportunistically shovel into our faces.

I don’t really like this post because it rabble-rouses rather than owning up to the major failure of the author up top. Maybe it’ll help someone regardless, but it could have been a lot more direct with no less effectiveness. Missed opportunity, I suppose.

> Screen Time gives you a report card. And if the grade is bad, the design makes one thing clear:

> That's a you problem.

> It measures your usage. Tracks your behavior. Gives you a weekly report card. If the numbers are too high?

> You picked it up too much.

> You spent too long.

> You failed your limit.

> Try again next week.

> Try harder.

> Screen Time is a blame shift dressed in a soft font.

> ... What if the exhaustion everybody feels isn't a moral failure but the completely rational response to being made responsible for an ecosystem of objects that never stop asking?

> Everything you buy is the beginning of a relationship you'll be maintaining until one of you dies or gets discontinued.

For adults: nothing requires you to use a smartphone. Buy that Casio watch if you want. Use those wired headphones and never pair them again (I do).

EDIT: Some things require a smartphone, not nothing.

I love this. Maybe it's because I've always subconsciously realised this (I do prefer my flip phone and my iPhone stays in a drawer at home) but I've never seen something put words to my thoughts more accurately than this has

Ironically, casio, the company behind the prime example is now doing these kinds of things: https://www.casio.com/us/moflin/

The watch is interactive! Nice detail

I liked this, reminds me of some other discussion on recycling/global warming etc being pushed as the comsumers fault

Some of these fonts and transitions I like a lot, but sometimes it feels like there are a few too many fonts on screen.

I'm getting into woodwork. I just bought a vice made in the 1940s, the same one my grandfather used. It's finished. As are my chisels, and my cast iron cookware. It's definitely refreshing.

Oh my god this site is so cool. I just want to say — how much time did you pour into the typography and animations on the frontend? I absolutely love it.

You picked the right way to show each paragraph — what to expand, what to keep short, what to highlight. I couldn't stop scrolling. UR an artist! maybe AI can help style every line of text, but it can't make something feel this good to read.

oh my god this is so pretentious. At least use high-contrast color if you want me to read your deep philosophical treatise on Technology These Days

Loved this. A lot of what's kept me sane (and what my wife is now trying to learn from me) is how absolutely merciless I am on notifications. Every time an app buzzes me, it damn well better be information I want, and if it isn't, I change the settings or revoke notifications altogether. If I am not shopping, I do not care how good your deals are. If I am not bored, I don't care what the Anxiety Machine has found to show me.

My devices serve me, not the shareholders of their respective firms.

Ha. Ha. Ha. He expects to still find a battery fit for the Casio watch 7 years from now! Good luck with that buddy!

My smart watch has become an invaluable digital prosthetic to help me backfill cognitive challenges that I’ve learned are related to ADHD.

“It dings all the time!” Yes, exactly, having a buzzer attached to my person at all times ensures I don’t miss appointments and that I leave to things on time.

Your thermostat that bothers you? It would be great if we lived in a world where energy was free, and there were no consequences for using as much energy as you want. That’s not the world we live in. And you probably don’t want to live in a world where the power company decides when you can and can’t turn on your AC. This is the compromise. I’m sorry you’re bothered by it — the consequences of other solutions to this problem are likely much worse.

It’s easy to forget that these things exist, and people buy them, to solve real problems. But writing a whole essay and just eliding that fact strikes me as lazy.