Ask HN: What are some example of low tech improving your life? I saw the same questions asked on the Bogleheads forums and I'm curious to see what the HN crowd says. |
Ask HN: What are some example of low tech improving your life? I saw the same questions asked on the Bogleheads forums and I'm curious to see what the HN crowd says. |
I’m sure it was a great time and it sounds like loads of fun but let’s not pretend that tech wasn’t involved because you didn’t have your phone with you.
Gardening and the simple joy of starting seedlings and watching them grow into fruitful plants is another life-improver enhanced by the most minimal of tech (although choosing seeds online and their low cost delivery to my home is probably mediated by some considerable tech nowadays).
This person was a little naughty seven or so months ago, and the result of that has carried forward.
I love lawn tractors too. Done up right they can be just as much fun as a typical 4 wheeler but for a fraction of the price. There's just something about detonating dollar bills that put a smile on my face.
the only electronic thing on it is the dynamo hub, which frees me from recharging headlight batteries.
it is made of leather and steel and aluminum and rubber, and it’s freedom on two wheels.
This low-tech CASIO does all I needed from my smart watch: shows time and date and gives me a timer for cooking.
I never have to charge it or take it off and I can even shower with it.
Added advantage is that it doesn't constantly radiate on the WiFi / Bluetooth spectrum.
I was told it would improve my health, but I never felt the effect. It's been lying in a drawer for over a year now.
I do really like having it to track runs, but I'm considering purchasing a dumb watch for everything else.
I wear a watch. Sometimes solar, but usually automatic. It looks nice, and lets me avoid getting trapped into staring at my phone in public.
When I want to send a long communication, I use a fountain pen and write it on paper and mail it. Not for everything of course, but it elicits a different reaction from folks vs an email or text.
I shave with a Feather ASD2. I never liked shaving before, so I turned it from a chore to a pleasure, with the soaps, brushes, hot towels, smells, etc. Now I genuinely look forward to it! I also appreciate the lack of plastic waste vs disposables.
If my wife or I make coffee, we use an old school Elma coffee grinder, a kettle, and a metal aeropress. It's so much nicer than drip.
As an experiment in waste reduction and to see if it could end up less expensive as well, I started to use a fountain pen instead of my favorite Pilot Uni-Ball Deluxe pens.
I paid $45 for a pen, converter and 50mL of ink. At this point, I have definitely reduced waste but I'm not sure that it will end up being less expensive. The pen will need to last for ~4 years of daily writing to succeed and I don't know if it will.
(Shout out for Uni-Ball Deluxe!)
Just one example of many - https://solarcooking.fandom.com/wiki/Windshield_Shade_Solar_...
I detailed the setup on my blog if you're curious: https://ethanaa.com/blog/thats-a-lot-of-schiit/
These are all things I've purchased recently to replace the standard way of doing things that are outperforming the alternatives.
For example, I wanted some coffee one day. I had coffee and a coffee machine (a kcup machine) but no pods. I couldn't make coffee. I realized that while the kcup machine has it's use cases, as a home coffee machine it was way over engineered for the problem.
There’s some story where they ask 2 very old ladies (100+) what there favorite inventions were of their lifetime, and they both answer laundry and dishwasher, because it saves them so much time!
Writing "to do" lists on notecards and sticking them in my keyboard when I leave work or go to lunch. Also lets other people know I'll be away from my desk for a while.
Cast iron pans and dutch ovens -- cook big dishes low and slow, store for the week
Walking a lot -- health benefits plus getting out of my head
Getting a lot of jeans / pants / clothes (but mostly the 2 former) tailored or patched. Ditto for some good glue, a bandsaw, and resole-ing my boots.
Whiteboards and simple paper calendars
When things have a place it's easier to automate the process of cleaning.
Packing cells for travel.
Maybe cheating for low tech but throwing out dishes that are not dishwasher safe (Or just dishwash them until they maybe break) Similar for undergarments and dryers.
Pepper grinder, tastes way better.
Get lots of extra Dish washable utensils so you don’t run out and need to wash until end of each day. Dishwasher Required.
Less washing, space, cost, and I can take them camping.
For the record, this is my second ever account on HN. The first account was a few months ago. It was shadowbanned within 15 posts. Simply for expressing my opinion.
Part of what spurred me to try this experiment is the feeling that the quality of the Uni-Ball lineup has been dropping, including the Deluxe. I still have some 10+ year old Uni-Balls (matte black plastic, not sure the real model name) that are better writers than recently purchased Deluxe modules. A true shame :(
No, plastic cartridges, but you can get a refillable cartridge.
I was worried it would be crap, because who makes a good fountain pen for $5, right? But no, it's sturdy and serviceable. You wouldn't write wedding invitations with it, but for day to day handwriting it's fine. (Daiso is a Japanese "dollar store", and everything in there is about $1.50, so $5 is high-end there, eh?)
I know what you mean about Uni-Ball's quality. I had some of the old black ones from my dad (it was his favorite pen as well) and it does feel like the new silver ones aren't quite the same, eh?
https://uniballco.com/uni-products/deluxe/
It might be something as simple and subtle as weight of the plastic.
I totally agree. Not having any any tech with me, allowed me to live in the moment. I remember every part vividly, and have some of the best memories spending time with others on the trail, cooking breakfast, setting up and tearing down camp, and enduring crazy weather. Just simple things that we take for granted everyday, just felt rewarding and great to do. It was a crazy realization that you don't need all of this stuff we filled our lives with. You really can get by just fine with less.
I can't wait for the next opportunity I have to just get away from all the tech noise.
What you describe about making your day work, e.g. being forced to think about simple things like weather/food was also what took my mind off (and why I never got as bored as I thought I might).
There was some level of alertness in my head all the time (not really adrenaline because it was a much more peaceful feeling) ... something kept me focused even I had not much "to do". I remember every time I came across some cave in the rocks, or some hunters-lookout I took a mental note and checked my time so I would know how far back I'd have to walk back in case the weather turns. I have never done anything this useless that made me this happy. E.g. having a beer and a warm meal in a mountain lodge, or a hot shower after a week in the woods ... impossible to put into words!
Nature is the best really :)
There is a cheesy series on History channel called "Alone" where one season is about Patagonia. I think Patagonia is a lot more difficult than anywhere in the Alps or Western Europe. Check out that season of Alone, you might like it. :)
Also I too can't wait for spring to be here. Then I'll be off again.
> Did you have a lot of outdoorsman experience before?
I grew up on the Swiss/Austrian border so mountains aren't that much of a big deal for me. My grand-dad was a hunter (so was my mum). My childhood I spent most of my time in the woods because it was country side where I grew up and the closes neighbor was 3km away. I would often be really bored as a kid and my dad's response to this was "get of the house and play if you're bored" and so I usually went to the woods (look for mushrooms), built tree-houses and even named trees (yes I was a lonely kid :D). I did travel (backpack) since I am 17 yro and been doing similar things in Sri Lanka and Australia, but not alone, not for that distance and with much younger legs :D It's not something that requires a lot of effort or skill though. The Alps, compared to the Appalachian trail are densely populated, and if you want you're always just 1 days hike away from civilization.
edit: initially the idea was to reach the Julian Alps but I had to give up since my slow tissue (knees and joints) were totally not making it any more. I could recover my muscles easily with just an extra day of rest. But the slow tissue never recovered. I went for a slow run in December and was still in pain. I think most of the damage I did during the first 2 weeks when I still carried all the weight on my back.
I love hiking but I often rely on mountain huts here in the alps, limiting tent
There is plenty of water in the Alps, even the "Tote Gebirge" has water if you do enough research. Some stretches I had to carry more water than normally but I never had to carry more than 3L (2L Platypus type of container integrated into the backpack and 1L sport-bottle to easily grab on my belt) most of the time I only carried 1-2L and usually had 500ml or even 1L by the time I reached another water source. I drank from all rivers that looked OK and didn't bother to filter (and never had problems). I wouldn't do the same thing in Sweden or Finland but considering the population density it really was no issue. Also I made a habit of asking people who I would meet about any knowledge they had about water.
Hygiene was easy since I left at dawn (4-5 AM in summer) and was still above the tree-line when it got dark, I just used whatever I could find (streams, lakes, or just those things where livestock drinks out of - don't know the word in English). Also I couldn't wash myself every day I managed to clean myself pretty decently like this at least 2-3x/week at least. And a hot (or cold) shower every 7-10 days when I found one. (The huts sometimes have coin operated showers which was pure luxury for me). I also had a small bottle of anti-bacterial soap I used 2-3x/day on my hands.
Going to the loo was more of a challenge. I hated the idea of leaving anything behind, including my own stink, (and a lot of the frequently used trails are littered enough with toilet paper as it is). I usually dug a small hole so I wouldn't leave anything behind. My philosophy was that "if somebody knew I was there I had made a mistake". Also being a total coffee-addict served me well up there because I was able to control the timing of my bowel-movement with having a strong coffee in the morning (brought some instant coffee powder and just mixed it with cold water for this purpose ... sounds horrid but I wouldn't have been mentally able to survive without it :))
[1] this was overkill, but the idea was that there would be no way I was going to eat this unless I would be in real trouble. I was told that this is what people in Canada recommend to bring to survive long stretches. No idea if that is true but it made sense. In retrospect the pemmican had the same effect, but was slightly better in taste than the smell of cat food (and also why I opted to feed the dog with pemmican instead of giving him my cat food).
edit: my rucksack had initially 17kg when I left home. for this type of thing it is much too heavy. But the reason I packed so much was because I thought I will not be covering such a large distance and instead hang out at great spots that I'd discover, build a shelter, make a fire, build traps, catch some fish etc. Once I was on the road I changed my mind because the actual walking was so fulfilling. So my initial list of items weren't needed. Next time I do it I will either stay in one place and bring a lot, or keep my weight below 8kg. One thing I never regretted is to use a proper 1-man ultralight tent (700g) instead of a tarp. The one person who I met who used a tarp was harassed by ants and bugs every night :D
Apple Cider Vinegar instead of acid reducers (Tums, Zantac, Prilosec) for heartburn, acid reflux, and indigestion.
Water Fasting instead of caloric restriction, weight loss pills, and diet fads for curing metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance, mid-section fat buildup, inflammation, diabetes).
Kettlebell, mace, stretching, and sprinting instead of a gym membership with classes and steady state cardio (or a Peloton).
Barefoot foot strength and 0-drop shoes instead of surgery and lift-pads for fasciitis and tendonitis.
A whole food, conservative, omnivorous diet of your ancestors instead of becoming vegan or carnivore.
Journaling (#bujo), practicing meditation, and studying stoicism instead of counseling and medicating.
Reading books and leaving your devices “default off” instead of aimlessly scrolling all day.
Cast iron and glass for cooking/storing instead of Teflon and plastic.
The other big thing is taking time off from smartphones.
I haven't written more than maybe a page a month on paper in years, I never buy incandescent bulbs, I don't want a film camera or a record player. There's very few appliances I wouldn't chose the smart version of.
But nothing is going to replace planting things in the garden, lighting a campfire, or reading a book(Although e readers are just fine now).
In general, I'm not a fan of low tech. Man-made items done without silicon tend to be heavy, delicate, and hard to use compared to the digital ones, and things made of modern materials.
Things that actively involve living beings very closely, like clothes and food, are sometimes but not always better off low tech.
Things that are, or should be be, mostly hands off, like the insulation material in a house, the network stack in a computer, or a power plant, should usually be as high tech as possible.
I live a life where cycling everywhere is very feasible. My bike is cheap, I get exercise.
I made a sunscreen for my laptop out of illustration board, drafting tape, and some magnets. When the weather's nice (and I live somewhere where it's nice a lot) I can go out to a park and work in the middle of trees while debating if I should share my snacks with the raccoons and squirrels and birds.
I meditate. There is not much lower tech than "sitting quietly in one place for a while". It has done some very interesting things to my brain.
A lot of my reading has been physical books again after most of a decade of e-books. I'm supporting my local economy when I buy some from actual stores instead of Amazon, and being able to pick up a pen and take notes in the margin is really really pleasant.
If you need more detail on technique I have found The Mind Illuminated to be a super good book on the subject.
Otherwise, nice. I am still waiting for the eink screen laptop that works in daylight.
And I want a color e-ink laptop so bad. Someday.
This means that watching the next episode of a show has to be a conscious choice on my part as opposed to the inertia of just letting it happen. Just the small added friction of having to hunt down the remote control and hit "Play" gives me a few seconds to (albeit involuntarily) reflect on whether I really need to watch the next episode, or if I could really be doing other hobbies / chores around the flat.
The result has been a notable decrease in binge-watching, a cleaner and more organised home, more/better sleep, and the subsequent improved health that follows the aforesaid.
The J-Curl would seem to mimic the same range of motion as touching ones toes.
Yet, comes highly recommended > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AYwOuNBzqk
Upper body -- swimmer stretches (PDF): http://www.usmsswimmer.com/201001/swimmer_stretching.pdf
The stretches you get here are really mobility and warmup exercises. "Stretching" a muscle or tendon has pretty much no health benefits. If it feels better, it's because the muscle is weak and straining most of the time. The fix is not stretching but strengthening.
It's a wonderful moment that marks a healthy "disconnection" from the outside world, allowing me to have some quiet time with myself (or my partner).
Airplane mode ensures sure I'm not flooded with notifications first thing upon turning on my phone in the morning. Even if I need to use an app in the morning, I can take 15 minutes to an hour before I switch off airplane mode, which makes for calmer and more centered mornings.
The only thing you'll need if you want to adopt this change is an old school cheap alarm clock. I've been doing this for probably five years, and haven't looked back.
If you're anxious about missing emergency calls, you can optionally get a landline phone whose number only close friends & family have, and know only to use in case of emergency -- this step is optional, but can be achieved with Google Voice & some hardware for under $100.
I’ve been noticing this - it seems to just dump a bunch of anxiety into my brain even if nothing is technically “urgent”. I will try this, sounds like a much healthier way to start a morning.
Reading long form articles on an offline device with no incoming notifications, no games, no podcasts etc has been a great boon to my ability to focus and really dig into what I'm reading. Plus these days, getting any kind of screen-off time is valuable.
Currently using the 7" Libra H20. Had considered the 8" Forma, but the power button is very mushy, and it is bordering on too big.
> Reading long form articles on an offline device with no incoming notifications, no games, no podcasts etc has been a great boon
The biggest boon for me is the e-ink display. No light being emitted directly from my reading device into my eyes. I don't think I could ever read a full length book off an iPad or similar.
2. An oven with electric grill and a timer. It makes cooking healthy whole food so easy. Just throw it in, set the timer, pull it out, and eat. I use the oven to cook chicken, fish, beets, carrots, potatoes, sweet pepper, zucchinis, and eggplants. It's low-effort, requires little time, and tastes great. The timer is important for someone whose work requires a lot of focus concentration. The louder, the better :)
Who on earth thought that was a good plan? If I wanted a timer, I'd have used my phone.
- They cost about $15 USD, so I can travel with a spare, and have lost at least one.
- Feature wise, it's a watch with a timer, a dead simple interface I am very familiar with, and perfect for taking to the gym to time myself between sets without getting distracted by my phone.
The iPhone is slowly getting there. Latest updates make robo-calling less of a thing.
Wish list: allow perm do not disturb, enable whitelisting for allowed callers, allow total removal of phone app.
Apple still produces the iPod touch, and it runs iOS 13!
It turns out that making basic garments for oneself is really relaxing, and, if you have a hard time finding things that fit well in stores, practical.
It felt like a clear upgrade from DIY wearable electronics and suchlike as a hobby. It's not as bloggable, but the price- and effort- to payoff ratios are immeasurably better. It's nice to be rediscovering some leisure activities that don't involve screens, too.
Now in my later years, my garden is one of my most treasured pursuits.
It is pretty low-tech, although you'd be surprised at how valuable debugging skills can be when it comes to the seed-box and sprouts and things.
Mostly, you just do a couple basic things - care for the plants, encourage a system, use your resources - and things will grow.
A garden will always heal you.
Mark as checked if it's completed. Leave as it is if it's not and come back to it the next day. Kinda refreshing.
But being a perfectionist tech geek, I had to ruin it by investing in an expensive Barzata conical burr grinder, so I guess it's not low tech anymore.
Does it still count if I switch to a manual burr hand-grinder? :P
Also I've found a wall mounted white board with colored markers to be quite helpful for personal organization and brainstorming. It's also great for leaving messages and pictionary.
Does Aeropress still count?
I try hard to get away from my laptop by 11pm. Then it's just Kindle without backlight/paper books or small chores like folding laundry.
https://www.amazon.com/Astor-Non-Electric-Mechanical-Attachm...
How do the "mineral stone" [0] pans compare? Is it just a Teflon equivalent with a new name?
If you’re after non-stick, learn how to use a carbon steel. One will last forever, and they’ve been used in France to cook delicate food like eggs and crepe for ages.
e.g. most notable things I am very curious about: 0-drop shoes, apple cider vinegar, glass for cooking
Water fasting, by definition, is a type of caloric restriction.
Dieting through caloric restriction is closer to starving than water fasting. When you reduce calories, the body adapts by reducing your metabolism and producing hunger hormone. This explains why we stop losing weight, and then rebound hard with eventual binge eating. Our bodies are aware that food is around because we continue to eat. It signals through cravings and hunger to seek out highly glycemic calories (sugar).
Water fasting is different. After day 2, autophagy is induced through prolonged ketosis. At this point glycogen stores from the liver is depleted, and the body switches to ketone bodies (fat) as fuel instead of glucose (carbs). The metabolism is actually increased, which makes breaking through fat plateaus seem effortless.
This mechanism produces growth hormone which preserves muscle mass and increases the metabolism. The average person tends to consume about one pound of body fat off the body a day.
Water fasting produces stem cells. You can literally give yourself stem cell treatment.
Fat is fuel, and water fasting is not the same starving. I can go on, but instead I suggest consuming the available studies yourself and forming your own opinion.
Source: I’ve gone deep into the fasting rabbit hole and am convinced Americans need to know about it. I’ve fasted many times, including 20 days on water alone (no calories). A few years ago I felt like hell and even looking at a cheeseburger put the pounds on. Now I can eat a whole pizza in one sitting again like when I was a kid. Am ripped.
Not sure how that's low tech or ancestral. Veganism is quite sustainable and many peoples of the past have practiced it.
And that’s how I live: eat and respect animals that led natural lives, eat whole veg void of pesticides, drink mineral water. Fast by default (never snack) and don’t drink your calories. Think intermittent eating instead of intermittent fasting.
All this being said: I have lots of carnivore and vegan friends. Even if I do find those diets to be dogmatic and unnecessarily politicized, I say ‘you do you’ and embrace them all the same. Variety of viewpoints is what it is to be human.
Our bodies are incredibly adaptive, I’ve seen peeps geek out on veganism successfully and it’s quite impressive. Seen people go years on carnivorism with seemingly no problems.
Might be a good replacement for coffee -- that jolt would wake me up quickly in the mornings...
⋅ = task, ⊙ = in-progress, × = completed.
I replaced them with my own, which to me made more sense.
◯ = task, ◐ = in-progress, ● = completed.
[ ] - task
[/] - in progress
[x] - completed
[-] - canceled
[|] - moved to next day / another time
With the standard Bujo symbols, you can't really move from in-progress to completed without a making a completely new mark. Also, I need more visual differentiation than just tiny dots so I can scan a page of bullets quickly.
I’m a believer. I started BuJo’ing 6 months ago and feel totally liberated. I haven’t skipped a day and life is. Way. Better.
Just brought it as a last resort. So that if I'd run out of food, I don't eat the last supplies unless I absolutely have to. Imagine how good that cat food tastes after 7 days of nothing? If you were to bring nuts or similar those would be gone on day #2 :)
Well, not if you make your diagonals hit the corners and your verticals/horizontals hit the sides/top/bottom. In ASCII, they look like they're contained inside, but I actually make the lines cross the box border. For multiple contiguous items that I'm moving, I may even just make a single line to cross multiple boxes. I'm trying to reduce over-committing, though.