Have fun - and invite your friends and relatives and colleagues 😎

That was my first thought - but maybe this does a better job? Plus it can apparently be used for any device, so it might prolong the life of, say, noise-canceling headphones, book lights, and portable speakers.

These guys give me the creeps. I've canceled my Spotify account - I'd rather not support a platform that promotes this kind of garbage (de-googling and de-FBing, too). Don't worry, I'm not telling you what to do - just sharing what I've done. 😉

Wow, smukke billeder - det giver ro i sindet bare at se på det. Jeg gik i skole med Ryder og synes det er så fedt at han har udviklet noget som har hjulpet så mange. Jeg er lige rykket over til en fysisk notesbog igen efter mange år, men jeg arbejder stadig på at skabe rutine omkring det, så jeg ikke ender på bærbar eller smartphone hver gang…WIP! 😊

I hear a lot of pain in what you say, friend - I wish you every kind of goodness and hope you find ways to ease your suffering. 💜

It sounds like you've done a lot to minimize your digital dependence. I'll throw some ideas at you - take 'em or leave 'em.

For music, you may want to consider an MP3 player (e.g. https://store.hiby.com/products/hiby-r1?variant=49507556720856) so you're not streaming music. I find e.g. Spotify invasive and overstimulating in how it constantly pushes "content" at me. I'm transitioning back to MP3, and have dusted off my old MP3 backups and CDs from ye olden days.

For books, maybe even consider getting off a device - or at least increase your use of paper books, if you can. Use your local library, if possible. Libraries can also be good spaces to enter. Humane non-digital spaces. If you want an e-reader, make sure it's one that doesn't lock you into proprietary formats. Use Calibre to manage your ebooks. I would suggest avoiding Amazon's Kindle. I have a Kobo. I bet there may be even better options out there. But again, prioritizing physical books might be healthy. I use my library a lot, and got myself a really nice book light so the reading experience feels nice at night.

If you still need to use a PC - eg for work - can you install apps that limit your access to certain sites or apps? For example, the Freedom app: https://freedom.to/

I'll keep thinking of ideas. If I have any, I'll come back to add them. Best of luck!

Altså vegetar chili? Elsker chili 😋

Facebook. It’s easy to drop all the other platforms, but even my homeowner association insists on using FB for communication, which locks everyone into Meta’s data harvest. 🤢

Interesting - and yet I read about many folks installing Linux on thinkpads, and those laptops even being recommended for Linux. Is it just cause so many have worked on making Lenovo be able to handle Linux?

Well, I don't want to have a bad time, that's for sure...thanks for the warning. I'll be cautious about Lenovo.

Libreboot looks very, very interesting - thanks for the tip!

You’re so right: perfection isn’t the goal. It sounds like you have a good sense of what aspects of digital life can be helpful and which can be harmful to you. And how to use hardware and apps to lead you to the moments that bring you joy - such as time with your friends and playing the guitar.

It is encouraging that we’re seeing more e-ink and other technology to counterbalance the potentially toxic rabbit-holes of modern tech. I hope for a future in which we rely on tech as true tools, not attention eaters. I love having a blender in my kitchen, but I don’t want to spend time with my blender beyond blending. Somehow computers have become more than computers.

Anyway, I’m happy to hear that you’re finding ways to address the parts of tech that make you feel bad. And I hope you continue to find ways to prioritize non-tech moments with friends and strangers and music and nature — all the things that humans loved before we invented computers and smartphones.

Thanks for the link - and good tip about the timing!

An interesting McKinsey article on cost of AI. Basically it’s hard to predict, but the numbers here are staggering. And then there’s the “hidden cost” of environmental impact. All these data centers etc will add to CO2 emissions, which may worsen climate change and result in more climate disasters (drought, flooding, etc) that carry huge costs. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-cost-of-compute-a-7-trillion-dollar-race-to-scale-data-centers

I don’t see them as mutually exclusive - can’t Linux be user friendly for the non-techie while also offering a techie lots of flexibility and command-line joy? 🤷‍♂️

Aspire 15

Looks nice - and nice price too!

Reading on my e-reader (e-ink) or print books. Short periods - eg waiting for a kid to do something - are good for poetry. Meditating. Listening to music. Listening to podcasts. Sometimes I’ve taken out some paper and doodled while listening to something - which is really gratifying (even though I’m no Picasso). I also cook, which is wonderful. Or I go for a long walk. I’m also actively trying to fill my time with offline human engagement - volunteering twice a week and participating in a men’s group (a safe space for men to share their experiences).

Can't seem to find refurbs on their website - and judging from the original announcement, they may only be available in the US and Canada (I'm in the EU).

Thanks! :)

Good points all round, thanks - and I did think the Linux installation cost seemed high. I might be willing to pay a premium for good support. I've heard good things about System76's customer service (but they're US-based). Installing a distro on an old laptop doesn't scare me - I've done it before. It's more the hardware/driver issues that might arise. And then I'd love to discover an "out of the box" solution that I could recommend to my friends and family, who have little appetite for tech tinkering. Maybe that's where Tuxedo comes into the picture...

That's helpful, thanks. I'm guessing they charge a premium because they provide a service. I'm not afraid to tinker a bit, but my interest in Linux is not tinkering - it's to switch to a freer, more sustainable OS. So I'm curious about services that offer support.

For that reason I've also looked at Tuxedo computers, but I'm worried that I'm locking myself into another company's OS again (from Microsoft/Apple to Tuxedo) rather than having the freedom to choose my own distro. But I guess with support comes a price: less freedom.

Right now I'm deeply locked into the Apple ecosystem. Apple makes wonderful hardware and apps, but it's still a straitjacket, even if it's a designer straitjacket. 😀