Do What Works

A way to improve technology is to put back what was taken out. For example, you could go back to an internet where you have to log in with the modem and over time people would probably adapt, or they would just simply find ways around it. For younger people who never experienced a modem internet it might be useful in terms of having a "log-on" experience. Perhaps it might reset our views on technology by revisiting an internet that was off by default. It became an "always-on" connection once people starting getting ISDN and cable connections circa 2000. If you don't use the internet that much you could log in with a modem if you wanted to just do a little bit of communicating. You could go back to reading print materials as well: I always choose the paper book even when the the ebook or audiobook is available. Print allows me to do things that I can't do with electronic media and I'm still fine with using post-it notes on pages. I've also been using a lot of dictation, such as dictating parts from books into my computer. It works fine and I don't need to have the ebook.

I do the same thing in music by revisiting the old way. I get a certain cognitive lift from going back to writing things down manually. I prefer the old way of inputting the notes and then playing it. It's a really a great way of recycling things that were just fine the way they were. They didn't need innovation.

(Video Transcript 7/28/2021)