Yesterday I was watching this video. It was a trip through memory lane, and I loved every minute of it.
For those who don't want to watch the entire thing, here is a little summary: The person in the video lived as in the nineties for an entire week. He wore the clothes, drove a car from the time, listened to the music, and showcased what was different compared to today.
The simplicity of life back then blew me away. There was no social media, no fake news, no being glued to phones. All interactions with people happened IRL. As a '90s kid, you were forced to touch grass; there was nothing else to do. And I fucking loved it. To be completely blunt, I would trade a lot to live through this time period again. But as this isn't really possible, I thought it would be interesting to see if I couldn't bring a little of the time into my modern life. This is especially interesting as I'm a software developer, so just ditching tech and not thinking about it is out of the question. I also think that that would be the hardest to accomplish, as I still do love tech in general, although not as much as I used to. Giving up on music streaming is also kind of hard, and more importantly, expensive. And without video streaming services, I wouldn't easily be able to rewatch my favorite movies and tv shows from the nineties. But I think it's still possible to get back the feeling of a more simple life, one that feels more meaningful, less stressful. So here's a simple plan I came up with:

  1. As stated in my previous post, I have already deleted all my social media accounts. Gone are the days in which I would succumb to all the crap people said online.
  2. Instead of taking notes on my phone, I'm doing so physically. I have one notebook for journaling, one for lists of all kinds, and one for personal projects and ideas.
  3. Instead of gaming on my iPhone or iPad, I'm going to use physical games. For longer sessions, that means solo role-playing games, or card or board games that I can play with my wife. For shorter sessions, I have bought a couple of Paper Apps. You should check them out if you haven't already. They're a bunch of fun.
  4. I'll go play outside with my son. I want him to learn that there is a way to have fun that doesn't involve glowing displays.

What I'm not going to do: Sell my hardware. It crossed my mind to get rid of anything I don't really need, including my gaming PC, Kindle, Home Pods, iPhone, and iPad, and my personal Mac. I don't think it's necessary to do so; being more mindful with how and when I use those devices should suffice. Especially replacing the Kindle with physical books would be a costly endeavor, plus all the space I'd need for the 100+ books I bought on the Kindle store. But one thing I'm going to experiment with right away is keeping my phone in my pocket when we're out and about or meeting with other people. I'm mostly not too involved with the thing anyway, but I oftentimes catch myself looking things up while talking to people. I won't do that anymore unless it's really necessary. It's also more fun to just discuss topics without knowing all the details. My wife and I will definitely share a calendar; keeping a physical one in sync is possible, but I'd rather use the time for something more fun. And lastly, video and music streaming: As stated above, getting rid of those in our modern world just doesn't make a lot of sense to us. My wife has a bunch of shows she watches online; most of them aren't even available on DVD/Blu-Ray. And occasionally, I join her for a show or two. We currently have subscriptions for Apple TV, Disney+, and Netflix. Maybe we can cut one or two of those; our wallet would definitely thank us for that.

So, I will keep you posted about how this all turns out. It’s more of an experiment for now, but I think it’s an important one. There's so much time we spend on electronic devices that we could also use to interact with other people (and I mean in real life, not via the device), and I for once am kind of fed up with that. I want to live in the real world again, as I did as a kid when we didn't have fancy gadgets and computers in our pockets. I miss the day when we had to call friends to meet up, play outside, and enjoy being in each other's presence. Those times might never come back, but the feeling of joy definitely can.