Buying and paying for services is not only an American virtue, it’s also a virtue of our fucked up system and the world we’re living in right now. We know that we deserve better. We’re known for our resilience, our personal and societal values and our thinking. Buy European and Be European!
Here’s suggestions on how you can minimise your dependence on apps and services. It’s not only a truly European value, but it not only helps your local businesses and also saves you in case of emergencies. Also: Make backups and store them in places other than your home.
My suggestions:
Print your photos, make photo books. Store your files on physical Hard Drives, print your most important documents and put them into folders. Make password protected backups on drives and give them to family members or close friends.
Get a real alarm clock, an egg timer, a DAB+ radio with a CD drive and Internet radio. Get a weather station. Store some music files on your devices with your favorite songs.
Download Wikipedia and store it on an external drive or on your phone. Have survival and emergency manuals and books at home. Keep your paper AND digital vaccination passes up-to-date!
Get paper timetables and maps from your public transportation provider. A foldable map of your area and learn how to navigate with it. Walk your streets, remember street names, shops and districts again.
Go to your local Library, get a free or really cheap membership there. Read physical and digital newspapers from the library. Use the computers and Internet access in the library. Play games on consoles at your library. Stream movies and music from your library. Rent tools for sewing or drilling Rent board and card games! READ BOOKS!
Get a paper notebook with a pen. Real Books, an eReader. A second-hand film- or digital camera. A calculator. A contact book and calendar.
A TAN generator for your online banking, if possible. Cash! For every day and emergencies.
Let’s add stuff to this list.
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Storing valuable information on paper is a good idea, I have always done that anyway. I’m not buying dvds and cds though, lowering consumption of media never hurt anyone. I don’t need to watch all those Netflix shows and I don’t need to listen to music.
This is a very important thing to be mentioned: not every single alternative has to be high tech. I recently started building collection of vinyl, and started listening to local radio station, which caused my streaming music intake to go to almost zero.
The same goes for pen and paper products: I’ve tried so much systems, apps for notes and diaries, that I ended up just buying a nice fountain pen (Lamy Safari), converter, a bottle of ink, a few mechanical pencils, and bunch of notepads for a fraction of money that some of digital tools cost long-term. Especially, if we are speaking about paper-simulating products, like remarkable: I had a chance to try the latest Pro for €649, and was underwhelmed by experience for the price, comparing to my notebooks (I can get a lifetime supply of notebooks I use with fountain pen for the same amount of price). Also, it makes my fingers happy, because I touch things and not just a keyboard.
The only downside I see, after some time of such approach: analogue tools take space and sometimes can cost a bit more upfront (though are cheaper long-term), so you need to be ready for that.
Or, just use apps from F-Droid. You don’t have to go totally Luddite to not use monitized software.
Using analog technology is fine. But it’s not the only alternative to paying for apps or becoming a product yourself. There’s a vast amount of OSS, free software for Android.
If you’re using Apple, you’re fucked, and, yeah, going analog is the only real option unless you can switch to Android - preferably a de-Googled phone. There are some nice options, at least one which isn’t available in the US.
How can I download a CD drive from F-Droid? :D No seriously, of course you should download from F-Droid instead of the Google Play Store. But why forget stuff from the past, when we’re still able to use it nowadays? As I said in another comment and you did too, no one needs to live under a rock. That’s not my point. The point is that a lot of things can be done in a much easier, cheaper and less intrusive way with analog tools.
most are good suggestions. some made me smile a bit. :)
That was my goal! Nobody need to live like the Amish. But we shouldn’t be too dependent on digital stuff too
true.
I would only differ with your backup strategy. An online backup service is always going to be much more resilient than anything a consumer is going to be able to cobble together at home.
I would add to this list - learn how to build a fire (ferro rod, flint and steel, fire bow for bonus points), tie knots, basic bushcrafty stuff.
I would add to this list - learn how to build a fire (ferro rod, flint and steel, fire bow for bonus points), tie knots, basic bushcrafty stuff.
Learn first aid and how to cook - you may need to be able to light a fire in the future but making food and fixing basic injuries will always be useful.
