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Simple Approach to Technology

Posted in Balanced Lifestyle | October 23, 2009 | 17 Comments

  

This post was written by Anastasiya. Follow me on Twitter or StumbleUpon and keep your life balanced!

simplicity in lifeImage by Stephen Poff

Progress is man’s ability to complicate simplicity.

Thor Heyerdahl

My family is temporarily living with my in-laws while we are waiting on an answer about a house that we’ve put a bid on (it’s a short sale, so it takes a looooooong time to hear an answer). Last year my in-laws decided to update their kitchen and bought brand new high tech appliances. I am the one cooking most of the time now that is why I am always on the war path with the “progressive” kitchen. My ultimate goal is to have simple appliances that can easily perform simple tasks:

Stove –heat pots and pans

Microwave – reheat food

Dishwasher – wash and dry dishes

Instead of having something simple and easy to use I have these monsters that can do everything that I do not need. A microwave that takes 5 minutes to sense how much food you have in the plate and calculate the necessary time to reheat it (it’s much simpler to set it on 1 minute and check whether the food is warm enough or not). By the way, the super microwave broke about a week ago and the repair guy said that it will be very difficult to fix it. A stove that has so many buttons that I can never remember which ones I should press to heat the oven (my babies press all of those buttons at the same time and the stupid thing does not have an option to lock the touch screen). A dishwasher that can chew up a whole cake but cannot clean plates and glasses. Simple living is not possible in this kitchen. Oh, and I forgot to mention, these are stainless steel appliances and the range has a flat ceramic cook top, so you have to clean these things every time you touch them or even breathe on them. What a waste of time!

So many things in our life get too complicated nowadays and simple living gets further and further out of our reach. We are forced to think that the more functionality the device has the better it is for us and the more efficient it is. We spend money on high tech gadgets and appliances that are supposed to simplify our life but in fact they do quite the opposite. I know some gadget-lovers who would starve themselves in order to get the money to buy the most up-to-date and feature-filled technology and say that they are marching in step with progress. Before you buy your next “progressive” gadget slow down and consider these few ideas:

  • We waste our time browsing through options and discovering new features that we will use maybe just once in our lifetime
  • We pay more for something that we do not need
  • We get overwhelmed with the choices we have
  • Complicated things break more often than simple ones
  • If something breaks you will spend more money fixing it
  • It takes more time to use a complex gadget than a simple one
  • Ask yourself the question “What is the most important function of this product?” Look for appliances or technology that are great and reliable and that do not offer you any extra features that you do not need
  • Simple does not mean old-fashioned (that’s a common misconception that I notice in gadget-lovers)
  • Proprietary rights – if a device has some new innovative technology then manufacturers often place proprietary rights on parts in case you need to replace something and it makes any repair a financial burden for you
  • Complicated devices won’t make you more productive

I think that life with simple technology is so much more balanced and easy. Simple functions make life … simple. What are your preferences?

Keep it balanced!

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Smart Thoughts (17)

  1. Sarah says:
    October 23, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    Woah boy is this the truth…. I would also like to add the complicated cell phones to this mess. I like a phone that calls people, ended up with a Blackberry for work, even turning the darn thing off was a hassle at first. Same with the appliances though, my parents also have one of those crazy modern kitchens. I think when I visit I also spend more time pushing buttons on the machines and getting frustrated than actually cooking (give me an awesome set of copper cookware and an ok range over those other nutty appliances anytime). I think people are so set on modern conveniences that you really do end up with a bunch of extras you’ll never need that just throw a wrench in the mix. It kind of takes they joy out of relaxing and cooking when you need to go to war with modern technology just to add soap to the dishwasher :) Couldn’t imagine small kids with a ton of stainless appliances, it is annoying enough getting smudge marks off of our stainless fridge when my dogs sniff it.

    Good luck with the house bid, ours was a pain too. I bought our home from the kids of a mother who had died, they had so much emotion invested in the home that it was difficult to negotiate and they initially wanted WAY more than it is worth. Totally worth it to have your own place though :) so hopefully everything goes through.

    • Anastasiya says:
      October 23, 2009 at 3:42 pm

      I am glad that we agree on this one Sarah :-)
      This whole situation with my in-laws kitchen helped me realize what exactly I DO NOT need in my house. I am still surprised that a lot of real estate agents try to add stainless steel appliances as one of the best selling features to the house. I bet most of them do not have kids or dogs :-)
      I am counting days until we can finally move into our house and make that house simple!
      I agree with you on cell phones. I have the bottom of the line cell phone with no extra features and no internet access (I realize that a lot of people have to use those complicated devices because of their jobs) and I am happy with it :-) I just wish it was easy to find those simple devices nowadays :-)

  2. Belinda Munoz says:
    October 23, 2009 at 7:54 pm

    I agree 100%. I’m not a big fan of tech upgrades myself. I resisted the cell phone for a very long time until I absolutely needed one when I had to travel a lot for work. Then, I resisted the BlackBerry until I absolutely needed to simplify keeping track of my work contacts and communicating with them.

    For the most part, I’ve been pretty good about keeping things simple. This is why I don’t have cable TV, keep the technology that I have until they absolutely fall apart or break beyond repair, keep my old car, and why I let my husband handle all the music (mp3 players) and movie systems we have at home. He’s much better at it and doesn’t mind doing the maintenance.

    I prefer to keep my priorities in order and not have to spend precious time (oh, and money!) figuring out how to use a new cool feature that I doubt will enhance my life.

    Great post, Anastasiya!

    • Anastasiya says:
      October 23, 2009 at 10:05 pm

      I agree about TV 100%. I haven’t been watching it for the past 3 years and I feel great because of it (my husband and I only watch football occasionally but we go to the real game as often as we can). I also agree with you about using technology until it dies on you and this is the reason why I am thinking about getting an Apple (so tired of PCs, but that’s a different topic :-) )

  3. Justin- AlittleBetter.net says:
    October 24, 2009 at 8:21 am

    Speaking as one who likes to cook I can definitely relate. Often times I am still much more impressed by kitchen tools from the 50’s than I am by what comes out now.

    • Anastasiya says:
      October 24, 2009 at 9:35 am

      I wish we could just go back in time and drag a few appliances into our world :-)

      • Justin- AlittleBetter.net says:
        October 25, 2009 at 7:57 am

        While time travel does get a little expensive, not to mention the risk of changing the time space continuum, or never being able to return to your exact dimension of time there is still something we can do. A lot of these old kitchen tools are still made for people like the aamish. You just got to know what you’re looking for. For some very cool kitchen tools that work like the classics I reccomend lookiing up lehman’s brothers magazines and pampered chef.

  4. carol says:
    October 24, 2009 at 8:51 am

    I have to agree with you. Boy, are they a mess! last week, the hubby had brought home a techie TV which scares the hell out of me. I don’t even go near it for the fear of decoding it or something. even the way they operate differs tremendously from a regular TV which i have grown to love.

    this week, i encountered a freakish fridge over a friend’s house. let me tell you, there’s no way I’m trading my ol’ one for that microchip-run fellow.

    • Anastasiya says:
      October 24, 2009 at 9:40 am

      My hubby bought the last of the tube TVs about 5 years ago and we still watch it (as I’ve mentioned we do not watch regular TV, just football a d DVDs). It’s simple, reliable and still works. What else do you need? :-)

      • Sarah says:
        October 24, 2009 at 1:34 pm

        Lucky you with the TV. As someone who also thinks TV is a HUGE waste of my time – but who enjoys Netflix as well as Nintendo Wii occasionally, my darn boyfriend just HAD to have one of those complex flat screen TVs that take 4 or so remotes to operate. I end up scrambling the connection pretty regularly or just go into our study and watch movies on our tube TV which is much more user friendly. On top of the plethora of remotes is the darn converter box, dealing with the HD stuff(and the COST – omg), and also…. ughhhhh……. the surround sound system that looks like studio equipment to me. I vote as well to bring back functional, well built appliances from another time.

        Someone above also mentioned vehicles I think. I didn’t shed a tear when someone broke into my car and stole my GPS. The female voice on it was condescending anyways. Gotta love modern technology (sigh), the thing kept taking me up one way streets the wrong way in the middle of the city. I’ll also stick to my 22 year old car over my new one any day… it performs better, is built better, and it doesn’t attract so many renegade shopping carts in the grocery store lot :) they really just don’t build things like they used to. Now it just seems to be “buy buy buy” with mediocre, painfully complex products that last half as long as the “old fashioned” ones.

        • Anastasiya says:
          October 26, 2009 at 9:32 am

          I do not like GPS either. The only time I use it is when I am in a new city that I know nothing about. Other than that this thing is absolutely useless.

  5. Madeleine says:
    October 24, 2009 at 8:34 pm

    Anastasiya, There’s certainly a lot of agreement on this topic. Sometimes I wonder how people ever managed to go to the supermarket and buy food without having cell phones to confer with folks at home about which brand of crackers to buy.

    ◦Complicated things break more often than simple ones
    ◦If something breaks you will spend more money fixing it
    Both excellent points and so true. There is a point beyond which more so-called features just add to the cost, the learning involved, and the maintenace of an appliance without increasing its usefulness.

    I generally agree with the you and the commenters about kitchen appliances, cell phones, and TVs, but I must conffess that I love my GPS and wonder how I managed as well as I did before I got one. It has its quirks, but for a direction-challenged person like me, it’s absolutely essential.

  6. Ronnie says:
    October 30, 2009 at 7:31 am

    I would say that if you are living with your in laws you should not be critical of their choice of appliances, you sound selfish. Grow up and appreciate what you do have.

    • Anastasiya says:
      October 30, 2009 at 9:46 am

      I am very appreciative of what my in-laws are doing for me (my husband is too). I would never be able to thank them enough for this. However, the article was not about them but about technology (I think that you’ve put the wrong emphasis in this article.)
      I think that they are a little bit critical of their choice too. After a couple of months of everyday stove cleaning my mother-in-law said that she would have never bought it if she had known what a nightmare it would be (she hates those buttons more than I do now :-) ) And just yesterday the repair guy told us that our microwave is officially dead. He also mentioned that all appliances with bells and whistles are mostly junk and they are not worth the money that are paid for them.

  7. Krishna says:
    November 3, 2009 at 9:39 am

    This article rings so true. Best to go for less number of simple tools rather than the latest geeky gadgets. Out in the kitchen I have a single chef’s knife (global), several pots and pans (best in terms of quality) and gas for cooking. Gets the job done quite well.

    And while we are talking about multi purpose gadgets, I vote for a phone that does calls and data VERY well. I will go for a separate music player and a top of the line camera rather than have everything integrated into a single device, thank you very much :-) .

    Is is such a surprise that the best of breed manufacturers are fanatically focussed? Its very difficult to achieve a good level of quality when your product does everything under the sun…

    Good post and hope you have a fun time at your in-laws place and get to move into your house soon!

    Cheers,
    Krishna