Gadgets

This dematerializing has been going on for me for about 9 months now and going well.

What I'm finding is I really do need alot less than I thought I did. It wasn't just an experiment, it was, and is, a true simplification.

I have one primary weakness: Hardware. in particular, gadgets. I love gadgets and there's always a new one. that means if I'm playing with new stuff all the time, the old stuff accumulates. And I'm loath to get rid of the old stuff because there's a sense of history there (sort of like books), but in a shorter timescale.

So, I'm going to start getting rid of the gadgets as well once I don't use them anymore. I think I'd like to see how few things I can get it down to and still feel like I'm not limiting myself. I just gave my OPLC (the One Laptop Per Child linux PC for kids in poor countries) to an old friend for her kids. I'll be giving (and in some cases selling) things to folks that need them as they flow through my life. Most gadgets are good for 6 months (for me... I've learned all I can in about that time) so, like books, I can pass them on to someone else who can use them for their pure functionality (recording audio, video, media. Creating art. Whatever is is they do with it).

When I was about 20 or so a friend came over to my apartment and checked out my computer room which was full of Apple II's running BBS software and (at the time) advanced graphics software. He said: "What that hell do you need all this gear for?" (he was a gear freak himself, so this was both damning and great praise, at the teim).

I didn't have a good answer then, and I still don't. I really don't need all this gear. Some of it, yes, but not so much all of it.

One of each of the things I regularly use is plenty. For now, I'll still buy the new as it comes out, but I'll recycle the old to places it'll do good.