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Fri Feb 12 11:15:19 PST 2021
For the past few months I have been thinking about how much I can do with less stuff. I've paired down on a lot of things that I own may it be books, clothes and even computer parts. But most importantly so, I've been pairing down the amount of software that I use on a daily basis to an amount that some might think ``near spartan''.
This blog is no stranger to my rambles about software minimalism and it has been a constant theme in my ``hobbyist'' adventure in computerland. But lately I have been catching myself thinking about this idea more and trying to rationalize the decisions that I have taken towards this ideal minimal environment. While this is certainly a ramble, I will try to make sense, first to myself, why I'm doing what I'm doing and I hope that by the end of it that I would be able to communicate my thoughts across properly.
While I'm not certainly a minimalist freak from the get-go, this mentality of software minimalism really has had its roots on two things that I have encountered in my digital life. These are (1) the realization of a blatant addiction to social media and (2) reduced computing power.
The first point is really at the heart of this circus, or some might say it's the raison d'etre. The realization that I have been spending ungodly amounts of time on social media is the genesis of all this attempt to reduce everything to its bare minimum. This attempt invites a form of questioning to my habits and why I do things the way I do things. Ultimately, it informs me on what ends do I aim for when I ``consume'' social media.
For example, adopting gemini really brings into question for me to whom am I writing for? The desire in using a bleeding-edge, minimal and certainly niche and obscure protocol makes it that anything that I write would not be something that would reach an audience. Therefore, it begs the question: ``Why?'' ``Am I writing to be read, or am I writing to express?'' Perhaps this shows a bit of how I think about things and how years of continuous exposure to social media warps my idea of the online realm. In such that, writing is something that you do to be read rather than to write for yourself.
The second point really only supports the first one. Ever since I have gotten my hands on an old Thinkpad I have been in-love with their utilitarian and robust design. I know that any computing that I do on such a machine would be reliable and that should it break that I am able to fix it and keep the engine running for as long as possible. But this comes at a cost, new Thinkpads don't come in cheap. Thus, the only way that I would be able to access them is by purchasing old, outdated models that have relatively weaker computing power compared to their newer cousins.
While it might seem to be a digital impediment to use old Thinkpads, it really brings into question: ``Why are we using increasingly fast hardware for?'' That might seem to be a stupid question at first, but if you think about it: Do you really need that fast machine for what you're doing on a daily basis? I have always pondered about this because I used to believe that using a faster computer to do the same tasks is, in the end, an improvement but upon thinking about it, does it really?
If you use your machine to constantly render 1080p videos or if you use it to constantly compile massive programs I could understand. But for daily use? Do you really need it? Perhaps it's a highly subjective question and some might feel that even if the sole purpose of the machine that they're using is to write documents, spreadsheets and watch internet video that having a very fast computer is justified.
Personally, working with an old Thinkpad sets a good constraint on the software that I use. If it's sluggish on it then might there be an alternative to it that I can use in lieu or even better, that I question myself whether I really do need to use that program. It sets a benchmark where I can filter the software that use on a daily basis.
In my pursuit of reducing everything to its bare minimum I have come across the idea of ``using with purpose''. While this is certainly not a novel idea, it's something that I believe to be disregarded nowadays. With the advent of social media and really fast computers we often don't question our own use of software. We blindly use it expecting that it would, somehow, make some abstract, unknowable something better.
I do believe that there's value in questioning software use. I believe that by knowing what we want out of the things that we use that we can better understand those tools and, furthermore, understand ourselves. Ultimately, I argue, software use should be about us rather than the other way around.