Tech Mitigation

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In yet another step toward terminal neo-luddism I have greatly simplified my website. I've removed a lot of images, simplified some structures, and removed all CSS and styling. This is to several ends. I like the simplicity of it; I want the site to look good in text-mode browsers; I don't think the web should be titillating to any significant degree. Because I am a neo-luddite tech hipster, I've decided switch to XHTML for most of my pages. Supposedly there are performance benefits, but I mainly like it because it requires strict and clean code.

I've also removed all of my Stray Thoughts blogs. The Stray Thoughts project served its purpose to help me leave Twitter, but I don't really need my immature, scatterbrained, unfiltered thoughts to be out on the web. I'd like to give more attention to this blog and develop some writing skills.

I've made a couple of changes to my computing practices, as well. In order to improve my sleep schedule and my attention, I've switched to a dumbphone. I was spending way too much time listening to podcasts in bed, and I was often distracted during the day by Twitter, messaging, and games. I picked the Sunbeam F1 Orchid. Sunbeam is a small company, and they seem to have a decent enough mind for privacy (cell phones are inherent tracking devices, but every little bit helps). The Orchid model has navigation and weather. I'm not sure if I'll use these, but it's the same price as the less featureful models, and I like having the option.

Finally, I've moved my computer out of my bed room. I'm hoping this will help me use the computer less. At the very least, It will make my bed room a more focused space to be used for sleep, dressing, and prayer.

I'm hoping to take some more steps into minimizing my computer use. I may even go back to living in the framebuffer on my laptop (I did this for a time a few years ago with reasonable success, though web browsing is difficult). I'd really like to use a web browser only when necessary. RSS reader, email client, youtube-viewer, etc. Basically, the modern web is evil and should be used as little as possible.

By Michael

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