Decidedly Low Tech

According to an article in the USA Today that came out last week, Joan Brady is one of the last people in San Francisco without email. A personal chef by day and party clown by night, Joan says, "I just don't need it." Perhaps a bit extreme, but she fits within a category of the population that the Pew Internet & American Life Project calls a "tech-no" - not exactly doomsday-sayers on technology but conscientious objectors to the encroachment of technology. PDAs, tablet PCs, media servers, portable media devices - the others can have them. Because the tech-nos have uncluttered lives, a lot of disconnected time, and peace of mind.

A good reflection for someone who works in high technology to think about the tech-nos and their choices in the modern lifestyle. What causes people to choose different options to live their life in their daily customs and communication patterns? How do people interact with each other? What is the daily routine that defines the rhythm of life? And how do people change and evolve their living patterns with the passing of time and the advance of modernity? There are an almost-infinite number of choices that a person can make - and decidedly low tech is one of those options.

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