Social and Personal Technology

I use the term 'technology' to often describe Social and Personal Technology: mental devices and machinery we use to get outcomes we desire. Lots of people would like to live life tech-free and just rely on things like willpower or memory to get the outcomes they desire. My memory is pretty good, and in many ways my willpower is decent, but both do fall short of getting me what I want, so I use technology to get what I want.

A few examples are:

1. My friend Armaan is my gym buddy: going to the gym with someone else seems to have a higher rate of my going to the gym.
2. I leave my weighing scale in my bathroom: this means I weigh myself every time I'm in there and record it
3. I make an apple + protein shake every morning: this means that I use this shake over the day as my breakfast and lunch - which constrains the number of calories I consume.

People online will often say "why don't you just go to the gym" or "why don't you just weigh yourself in the morning every time". Well, the truth is that I don't. And these tools are simple technologies that get me to where I want. In general, I'm a techno-optimist and I rely heavily on technology of all sorts, and it's served me well so far.

Home

1. Dishwasher: I put a pod in as soon as I clear the dishwasher. This means I can tell if it's dirty or clean by just looking at the pod door. Closed => Dirty!