My changing relationship with technology
Musings about the virtues of the new and old; some photographs; and how I'm looking to reshape my relationship with social media and the Internet
Top line:
The shine of new technology and particularly social media is wearing off. I’ve grown concerned with how addictive platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts have become.
Part of me wants to forego all modern technology and live in the pre-Internet world I grew up in: Use a dumb phone, listen to records, write letters, etc.
But the reality is, it’s impractical to live that way in today’s society, and there are aspects of modern technology I don’t want to surrender.
So what do I do? I’ve taken some steps to reduce the temptation of social media on my devices. But I’m also shrinking my social media universe and that’s why I’m here on Substack, which I hope to make my Internet homepage.
For many years now, I have loved having the latest technology. I would upgrade my phone at most every two years, I have multiple desktop computers, an iPad Pro, and I switch out laptops well before it’s needed.
Yet, at the same time, my wife calls me “old man Mark” because of my hipsterish tendencies to enjoy, purchase, and collect vintage things. I currently own three typewriters (down from five or six at my peak), I have hundreds of vinyl records, I recently gave away my reel-to-reel tape machine, and most significantly — I use a 35mm film camera every day.
But while I’ve always enjoyed retro technology, my interest in it has taken on new importance of late.
Modern technology’s cons often outweigh its pros
In recent months, the shine of modern technology has really worn off.
I’ve become mindful of how many hours I waste scrolling Reels or YouTube shorts — often at times when I can least afford to be wasting time. I’ve found myself substituting my own creative and intelligent thoughts in favor of what ChatGPT spits out. I’ve found myself putting on movies or YouTube videos in the background during almost every waking minute of the day, regardless of what I’m doing. No joke — I had a YouTube video playing in the background while I wrote the first two paragraphs of this post before I turned it off.
The pervasive and sometime insidious impact that algorithms, A.I., and other technologies have on my life — and society at large — has had me rethinking my relationship with technology in recent months.
There’s a part of me that wants to sell my 36” flat-screen T.V. and buy an old CRT T.V. again. Who cares if the quality is worse? At least it won’t track my viewing history and serve me targeted ads every time I turn it on.
I want to cancel my streaming subscriptions and buy VHS tapes. Sure, the quality isn’t as good, but there’s no subscription fee, I own it forever, and there’s no chance of my favorite shows disappearing at the whims of some licensing agreement.
I want to sell my iPhone for a dumb phone — or even a landline — that doesn’t bother me during all waking hours with notifications, the majority of which are meant to suck me in and waste my time.
I want to cancel my digital news subscriptions that hysterically push “breaking news” at me as if every story is a 5-alarm fire, and instead read a print newspaper that, by its physical limitations, has to leave less important stories on the cutting room floor. I’d read it in the morning and then go about my day.
I want to buy things from my local retail stores (the ones that still exist). Sure, it’s less convenient and often more expensive than Amazon, but my money stays local and doesn’t end up in an oligarch’s pocket.
Stop complaining and do it then
So why don’t I put my money where my mouth is? you ask. What’s stopping you?
Well, as I’ve been thinking about how and whether it’s really possible to reject modern technologies in favor of those from yesteryear, I realized a few hard truths.
First, there are times that living with past technologies is simply impractical in today’s world. I’m currently in law school and will be working at a firm this summer. Something tells me that my new job won’t love it if I tell them I only have a landline and can’t be reached when I’m not at home. In modern professional jobs, I think there’s an expectation that you can, at minimum, be reached easily by phone or email.
This is, of course, a bit crushing as I reflect on what I want my relationship with technology to be. That’s because it’s a sign that bygone eras are just that: bygone. Society and its expectation of those who live within it have simply changed and there’s nothing you can really do about that.
Second, some technologies of yesteryear just don’t work anymore.
There’s a plethora of wonderful, vintage mechanical things that do still work — and they can work brilliantly. My primary camera is a Konica IIIA from 1958. It’s beautifully engineered and entirely manual — no battery required. It still works just as good as it did nearly 70 years ago and it’s one of my most favorite possessions. My Penncrest Caravelle 10 typewriter is the same. There’s not much that can go wrong (or that cannot be fixed) when something is literally made of metal switches and levers.
But not all things are like this. Just last week I came across a video on YouTube of a tech reviewer looking the state of portable cassette players. The reality is bleak.
If you wanted to get back into the portable cassette game there are really only two options: 1) buy a newly manufactured cassette player, or 2) go vintage.
In the new market, there are the cheap, plastic Chinese-made products available on Amazon, or players made by niche companies that have designed beautiful cassette players with modern touches, such as Bluetooth connection. However, despite vast price differences, the mechanics of the players are virtually the same in all of them. Why? Because in the years since the big boys like Sony stopped making cassette players, the machines and the literal capabilities to design and fabricate new cassette mechanisms just doesn’t exist anymore. You’d basically have to start from the ground up. The technology is so old, we’ve essentially lost it.
Third and most sobering to me however, is that there are times when modern technology is simply amazing and I don’t want to avoid it.
A.I. is so powerful and useful in so many ways. Blockchain technology has the power to liberate monetary systems and reshape industries. Communication has never been easier: I can literally speak with someone across the globe via high-resolution video at any time with virtually no delay.
These are incredible and unthinkable blessings just a few decades ago.
And it’s these blessing that deep down, I have a hard time wanting to give up.
There are times when I think about going old school but the thought of not having AirPods for my subway commute makes me want to barf. What am I going to do? Sit there and have to reflect about something? That sounds tiresome and boring.
Could I do it? Could I make those sacrifices? Sure. It’s not impossible to reject modern living for a more humble and nostalgic life. But, I think in mine and most people’s cases, it would require radical changes we’re not willing to make.
But it’s not just the changes that stop us. It’s also that I really like YouTube; I like sharing Instagram Reels with my wife; I like watching streaming shows on any device at any time.
I want the good parts of technology without the bad.
What can be done?
So, instead of a complete teleportation into some earlier decade and living only with the humble and simple pleasures of the past, here’s what I’ve done instead:
Turned off almost all notifications on my phone. This was priority number one because it was the primary way my phone had become a burden rather than an asset. The amount of push notifications for “breaking” news, Instagram interactions, Uber Eats deals, and a million other random apps that constantly hijack my attention was simply unacceptable. Turning off notifications for every social media app that I decided to keep on my phone was empowering. I now chose when Instagram or YouTube will get my attention, not the other way around.
Cleaned up phone’s homepage. I have a single page of apps with a weather widget and that’s it. The apps I’ve chosen to keep are essentials like email, messages, and phone, as well as a few others that I don’t mind keeping top of mind, like music and photos. All the other apps, I can swipe down and search for when I need them.
Deleted unused and unwanted apps. I deleted every app I don’t use regularly and even some that I do. Why do I still need that random alternative clock app I downloaded 10 years ago? Some apps are harmless and just sit there, but others sometimes still send push notifications even if I haven’t used them in years. No more!
And for that matter — why do I need apps like Amazon? I use Amazon all the time, but you know what? It works just as well as in a browser while delivering no notifications. I also spend less time mindlessly browsing stuff I don’t need, and there’s likely less data tracking since I (assume) there is greater privacy through Safari and iCloud Private Relay than through Amazon’s app.
Reddit? Also gone. Too much time wasted. Instead, I access it through the browser and you know what? It sucks. It’s a pretty terrible experience for the most part, which prevents me from mindlessly scrolling. It’s just usable enough for me to see what I want and then move on.
The ones I struggle with the most are YouTube and Instagram.
I get so much value out of YouTube. I primarily watch educational things. I learn about technology, film photography, fashion, engineering, cooking, history, and so much more. The best parts of YouTube are truly the best parts of all social media, in my opinion. But YouTube Shorts is cancer. There are some creators whom I enjoy (mostly short cooking videos), but Shorts as a whole are simply too addicting. Before I know it, hours can go by mindlessly scrolling and once again my evening was entirely controlled by an algorithm.
This is the same problem I have with Instagram but it’s even worse. Reels can be so great yet at the same time simply awful. There’s so much funny content on Reels it’s hard to stay away. In fact, one of my favorite activities at the end of the day with my wife is to sit down and watch all the Reels we’ve sent each other that day.
But when I log into the app now, there’s a 4x4 grid of Reels in a 1-second loop designed to suck you in. These are often A.I. generated videos that are extremely click-baity and meant to get you wondering: what happens next? Few things anger me on social media more than this. It’s manipulative and predatory.
I think about deleting Instagram, but for some reason I have yet to do it. Maybe it’s just FOMO?
What’s my point in all this?
Part of this has been to express the helpless feeling I have toward technology at times. There’s a bit of a can’t live with it; can’t live without it feeling.
The other part has been to arrive at the broader purpose for writing this post, which if you’re still here reading — thank you!
I think Substack might be a better place for most or all of my social media consumption and expression.
This is generally a more thoughtful and less click-baity platform. I’m also more in control of the content I see and there isn’t a Reels-like function yet (hopefully never).
As for creation and sharing content, it’s all-in-one unlike other platforms that largely specialize in one medium. I can write, upload video, share my photography, drop short-form blog posts, etc. There’s not many features missing from this place.
Unfortunately, most of my family and friends are not on here so I won’t be deleting my other social media accounts anytime soon, but I do think I’ll delete the apps from my phone.
If I want to view Instagram, it’ll be through a browser where I chose the time and place, and I’m far less likely to be sucked into a Reels-rabbit hole.
For the time being, I’ll plan on using this place as my primarily platform for sharing my photography, thoughts, and other content.
If you’ve read this far: what captivated you? How do you feel about modern technology’s impact on your life? Let me know.
Thanks for reading!