Balancing Technology

BALANCING TECHNOLOGY is about when you should not use high-tech methods. It’s about when I shut down my computer and write in a notebook or stop using the fancy software I started using some time ago because it just wasn’t useful enough. In a world increasingly dominated by technology, I feel thinking about this is just as important as thinking about the ways to use more technology to improve our lives.

These don't fit into neat subcategories very well, so here's a list:

• The Smartphone Manifesto, written on the occasion of my acquisition of my first smartphone, mostly a description of what I don't want it to become but also a more general note about how technology can easily rule us if we're not careful.
• How to Prevent Compulsive Browsing, a common and annoying problem for many people in the modern world. This isn't a magic technological solution, but it can be part of one.
• Low-Tech: Use the Most Basic Effective Solution, a general rule I try to live by. (In many ways, more concisely expressed by "KISS.")
• A Week Without the Internet, a post-voluntary-experience note about how I felt and how you can try it.
• The Balance category, which includes some things that do fit into this section but are not listed here because they belong more to a different section.