Ask HN: What are some example of low tech improving your life? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What are some example of low tech improving your life?

125 points_ylmx163 comments

I saw the same questions asked on the Bogleheads forums and I'm curious to see what the HN crowd says.

I hiked across the Alps, alone, on foot and camping in the wild for 3 months. I had no phone with me (no GPS) and just paper maps, and a pen to keep notes on paper. It was the best time I ever had my whole life. I thought I might get lonely but being in the flow of walking every day actually created some kind of an internal dialogue in my head which never made me feel lonely. I met others who were on a similar trail but they all looked and talked like they needed to achieve some kind of a "goal" by posting shit on Insta and none of them would do it without GPS. Since I didn't grow up with all that nonsense and have been using Tech since I turned 20 - I really appreciated being "bored" again after so many years of being distracted. Paper and pen (and your ability to walk) are all you really need. Tech is what makes things complex and as soon as you remove all of it is an empowering experience unlike nothing else.

I'm curious, did you bring a book?

yes I wanted to bring a few because I was sure I'd get really bored. But getting up at 4 or 5 am and hiking till 5 or 6 every evening I was in no condition to read anything. I had a hiking guide with me initially which weighted 400g ... and after 3 days I left it at an "Alm" so other people could pick it up. Also had a sharpening stone for my knife, a gas camping-cooker, gas, ferro-rod, fishing telescope rod, and a whole lot of other stuff with me. Weight was everything so I sent it all home very quickly after realizing my new reality.

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

What part of the Alps and what time of year? Did you have a lot of outdoorsman experience before?

The route was based on this: https://www.alpenverein.at/weitwanderer/weitwanderwege/norda... but I entered in Styria/Austria and headed West to Bregenz, from there I went South and taking a route back towards East towards the "Ortler Group". Time was August until end of October. I was quite lucky with the weather apart from 2 nights where I got quite a scare from the weather. Strong thunderstorms with wind and lightening ... so I had nowhere to escape - if I stay inside the forest I might get squashed by a falling tree branch. if I stay in the open field lightening might finish me off. Apart from these 2 nights it was mostly crystal clear skies (no need for a rain cover just a moskito net so I could watch the skies before falling asleep). Once a sangliere (wild pig) visited me because I had a sandwich in my tent. Lesson learned hang it up into the trees.

> 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 did a 10 day trek in Patagonia last year. Best experience of my life.

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.

Patagonia is one of my biggest dreams, I envy you!! :)

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.

How did you managed food, water and hygene?

I love hiking but I often rely on mountain huts here in the alps, limiting tent

I brought 2 servings of cat-food[1] for absolute emergency, never had to use it. Also made some pemmican before I left but fed it to a stray dog since it tasted like lips+assholes :D also had a gas-cooker initially but got rid of it due to weight, ... instead I carried oats|bran|cuscus, dark chocolate, nuts, figs, dates. Anything that is nutritionally dense and light in weight. I cold-soaked the oats or cuscus with some water which was another reason I was able to ditch the cooker. Not exactly a Michelin star meal, but gave me enough energy during the hike. Whenever I arrived in a village I'd "stock up" on fresh veg+fruit (whatever fit in my belly) to minimize weight. I ate probably several kg of mushrooms, blue-berries and raspberries (whatever I found really), but it was also good to know that if I wanted a real meal just go to one of the huts and order a Schnitzl or Kaiserschmarrn.

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).

Re: cat food, I hope you don’t mind my asking- why not protein bars, army rations, or even another bag of nuts + dried fruit (in my experience easily 1,200 cal+)? I know cat food is technically edible, but it doesn’t seem lime the best idea. ‪

I did _NOT_ eat it :)

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 :)

I suppose that’s one way of making sure your last resort really is your last resort.

Agreed nuts would disappear much sooner, and yes I agree anything would taste amazing after a week. Last resort really is last resort.

Low-tech wellness.

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.

This list makes me think that I'd love if you could elaborate with a few sentences for each item. I somehow perceive a lot of quality and study behind these things, and it makes me curious to hear more.

e.g. most notable things I am very curious about: 0-drop shoes, apple cider vinegar, glass for cooking

first page of duck duck go for "0-drop shoes": https://www.runnersworld.com/advanced/a20824813/whats-the-de...

My wife used to have to throw up every day, sometimes multiple times, for years. It was miserable. Doctors, including a gastroenterologist, prescribed antacids which made it worse. We read an article online that said her acid might be low, and it recommended apple cider vinegar. It literally cured her daily vomiting overnight.

> Cast iron and glass for cooking/storing instead of Teflon and plastic.

How do the "mineral stone" [0] pans compare? Is it just a Teflon equivalent with a new name?

[0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FXPXSC6/

I wouldn’t bother.

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.

> Water Fasting instead of caloric restriction...

Water fasting, by definition, is a type of caloric restriction.

I thought that at first too, until I went deep into the literature.

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.

Semantically yes but the way it affects your biological functions, no.

>A whole food, conservative, omnivorous diet of your ancestors instead of becoming vegan or carnivore.

Not sure how that's low tech or ancestral. Veganism is quite sustainable and many peoples of the past have practiced it.

It’s true that I find the data to be compelling that our species is, when you consider the entire known history of homo sapiens eating habits, omnivores. That makes sense to me: eating what was generally available is pragmatic, and our bodies have opportunistically evolved to leverage proteins, fats, and amino acids available in animals, as well as nutrients from plants.

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.

I'd say reading books and spending time with friends and family are the main low tech that shouldn't be replaced by the digital version.

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.

It's odd that we've reached the point where this comment is the odd one out, despite being (I imagine) the way the that the vast majority of people live.

I recently got my first multitool and it has sort of changed something fundamental about how I view the world to have a small, basic toolkit in the bottom of my bag at all times.

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.

Is sticking magnets close to your laptop screen a good idea?

Otherwise, nice. I am still waiting for the eink screen laptop that works in daylight.

They’re built in by Apple, that’s how it can tell when the lid closes.

And I want a color e-ink laptop so bad. Someday.

"sitting quietly in one place for a while". One of the hard thing to do in today's times. I am also planning to do same every morning :)

It’s well worth the effort IMHO.

If you need more detail on technique I have found The Mind Illuminated to be a super good book on the subject.

I would answer: my bike, and within my bike the dynamo hub and my lights that lit as soon as I start and remain on when I stop :) ... peace of mind at its purest.

Where do you live? I want to live somewhere nice. I'm at a breaking point with Canadian winters.

A large city in hurricane country. There are trade offs I have chosen to make in the name of “no more goddamn winter”. :)

I don't know if this counts as low enough tech, but I disabled the equivalent of "auto advance to next episode" on my Netflix and Prime Video subscriptions.

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.

I did this too! Huge quality of life increase, especially with Amazon where they barely give you a second to process what you just saw before starting the next episode. Plus, sometimes the music in credits is really good - I'll just sit there and think for a while.

I did the same thing and I enjoy Netflix much more. My maim gripe was that it always treated the ending music and credits as disposable. However, sitting and listening to the music and reading the credits helps me reflect on what I just watched and get the full experience the artist intended.

I do this on YouTube of course. But I went a step further and used ublock to hide recommendations on the right, at the end of the video, and when you hit pause.

Stretch ~15 minutes a day. You don't need a special routine or a bunch of research. Stretch whatever is sore/stiff. If you can't think of anything start by touching your toes. Think of it as general maintenance on your joints. The effort compounds and starts to feel really good after a few months.

Overall good advice! But trying to touch your toes, while not inherently a bad thing to do, is one of the last things a typical person should be doing in terms of hips, shoulders, etc.* Similar kind of thing going on with planks, reverse planks are going to help a lot more for most people.

*https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i69PC4PJdAQ

Great share. Cavaliere's content always solid. Thanks!

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

I like this. Do you recommend any good stretching plans I could memorize and follow?

Lower body: https://strengthrunning.com/2011/07/the-standard-warm-up-vid...

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.

At night, I plug my phone in across the room from my bed, turn it on airplane mode, then power it down.

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 do the same, but I just turn WiFi and mobile data off. Nobody calls me anyway, especially not in the middle of the night, so it's still available for emergencies. Also I still use the phones alarm clock, that ensures that I really have to get out of bed to turn it off.

> Airplane mode ensures sure I'm not flooded with notifications first thing upon turning on my phone in the morning.

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.

It's not as low-tech as some of the examples here, but I'll say that an e-reader with Pocket sync functionality has dramatically improved my life.

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.

Oh my! I've wanted this for a while now. Which reader do you use?

Not op, but I have this on my Kobo ereader.

Kobo Mini e-reader from 2013. It had been sitting in a drawer unused for years until one day I turned it on, and an updated installed over wifi with the Pocket sync option.

does this work with kindle?

Not OP, but also interested in this. Looks like the main option is to use 3rd-party tools: https://help.getpocket.com/article/1127-using-pocket-on-kind...

Instapaper can email a digest of articles to your kindle's email address.

I've been using Kobo ereaders for years, and a big attraction is the Pocket sync functionality. (Mind you, I think overall Instapaper does a better job than Pocket, if and ereader integrated with them I would jump.)

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.

1. A powered height-adjustable table. Now when I work I stand more often, and sit less. It has a 4 position memory, which makes changing the height as simple as a button push, so I switch between standing and sitting as frequently as I wish.

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 :)

So many ovens come with timers that just beep - yet they keep on cooking.

Who on earth thought that was a good plan? If I wanted a timer, I'd have used my phone.

Turning the oven off isn’t going to help much anyways because most of the heat will remain and continue cooking the food

Slightly burnt pizza still beats 'literaly on fire' pizza any day.

Cooking timers have been around for centuries - hourglasses, then wind-up clockwork devices, then electric timers since the mid-20th century. Smartphones only showed up yesterday by comparison, not enough time for design trends to adapt.

Casio F-91W watch, as "low-tech" of a digital watch as you can get.

- 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.

Oh, I use the A158, which looks like a metal version of the F-91W. Really basic, but functional tech.

More like less-tech but my phone is on permanent-silent mode. I miss calls, but see exactly who called and can return the call or text as needed.

I've done this for years, and it's great! The way I see it is that a phone is a tool that you should use to your benefit. The tool should therefore not call attention upon itself. A weird analogous example would be having a hammer that constantly told you to hammer some nails for no good reason.

Same.

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.

> allow total removal of phone app

Apple still produces the iPod touch, and it runs iOS 13!

iPod touch or like Android product that doesnt have a phone but still has access to mobile data would be killer. I know you could carry a hotspot with you but thats another device...

It’s a little big for pockets but the iPad mini would work well if you carry a bag.

I have the dnd "moon" activated all the time, is this not what you are looking for? What is missing for you? :)

I got back into working out about a year ago. The amount of workout apps and online resources was SO overwhelming, I didn't know where to start. I decided to just ask my brother (who is big into working out) to show me a few basic exercises with dumbbells and body weight that I could do at home. Then I just used a notebook and pen to keep track of my progress. I love not having the phone around while working out. I feel like it can be such a distraction. And there's something about writing out a log with pen and paper that is just really satisfying. I love looking back and seeing pages and pages of workouts that I wrote out. It really helped me to get back into working out on a regular basis and make it a habit.

Sewing machine.

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.

For most of my very high tech life, I ignored gardens.

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.

Going back from ToDo-Lists in Apps to simple paper and tick mark them.

I've gone hybrid for todo lists. Handwritten in GoodNotes on iPad. Seems to give me the best of both worlds - better memory retention that comes from physically writing stuff down, but with search and copy/paste functionality.

I have tried and failed to follow the GTD philosophy many times. After a while, I too went with a simple checklist. I can indent that list with sub-tasks, but that's it.

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.

Check out Bullet journaling. It's a simple checklist plus one or two other "tick types" that's quite helpful.

GTD => BuJo convert here.

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.

I tried adopting the standard Bujo symbols, but they weren't intuitive to me. i.e.

⋅ = task, ⊙ = in-progress, × = completed.

I replaced them with my own, which to me made more sense.

◯ = task, ◐ = in-progress, ● = completed.

The ones I use are:

  [ ] - task
  [/] - in progress
  [x] - completed
  [-] - canceled
  [|] - moved to next day / another time

This is all with pen and paper, of course, with the [ ] being boxes. Once something is marked in-progress, I can still mark it completed, canceled, or moved by just adding another line.

This makes much more sense. How do you move from in-progress to canceled or moved though? If you do a horizontal/vertical strikethrough, doesn't that create a new symbol which look like completed upon glancing?

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.

> doesn't that create a new symbol which look like completed upon glancing?

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.

Hear hear. I do bullet journaling with a pocket-sized softcover moleskin. The notebook lives in my back pocket and it's definitely way better than any app I've ever used.

+100 for https://bulletjournal.com/

Likewise. If you want the "advanced" version, put each item on a tiny sticky and arrange the stickies in a file folder.

I guess a French Press would be an example of "low tech" I've embraced to make an awesome cup of coffee every morning.

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

It's funny I just posted about the same thing. If you're interested, check out vintage Elma grinders on ebay. I have one we restored and it looks nice. If something smaller, Kalita makes nice ones too. Somehow I now have 3 total. It's not as fast or simple as electric, of course, but there is some satisfaction to its simplicity.

I have them grind it for me at the store. It's definitely improved my quality of life. I prefer drip to press, but my wife is the other way around, so I deal with it.

The problem with grinding them at the store is you vastly decrease the lifespan of the beans in terms of quality. Whole bean coffee, properly stored, can keep in the pantry for months. Once the coffee is ground, it starts losing its aromatic qualities within hours (even if you are storing it in an airtight, opaque container). It won't go stale or rancid that quickly, but there will be a noticeable drop in quality. So I really wouldn't recommend pre-grinding unless you go through the bag within a week.

This mirrors my own experience. I was grinding a lot at home and storing it, but the next day it just felt flat. I'm one of those people that likes heavy aromatic Konas. Grinding for what you're making now is the way to go for sure.

I use a hand grinder, and a moka pot. My favorite type of coffee. Super simple and reliable.

Exercise. Standing desk. Focusing on productivity. Dieting (not that goal-oriented, just trying different diets (keto, vegan, carnivore, paleo, IF) and seeing the effect they have on my body). Meditation (not as much as I'd want though). Talking to people (come in positive, usually making a funny comment on something or just introducing myself). Buying stuff (carefully chosen... like new socks, new gym shorts, kitchen aid like a stick blender... with high total lifetime expected value).

I got a mechanical automatic watch with a day and date window (Seiko 5, affordable and well featured). It was a direct result of a few days with a soft bricked phone due to Lineage OS issues, I realized the thing I missed the most was knowing the time and everything else was replaceable (texting too due to Google voice).

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.

I started journaling daily back in 2016. No apps, no computer. just paper and pen. Some days pages pour forth of writing. Other days I simply set a task of finding and writing down a good quote to save for later. This investment of time for me has yielded better discernment as I can look back at interactions I've documented and how I felt when events unfolded. Bonus, there are no notifications to interrupt you and in a world full of interruptions, the pen and paper have none.

I recently started using scissors more in the kitchen. It made my life easier. / I hope it's what you mean by low tech.

To cut food? I've been learning this trick too.

Invest in a pair of proper kitchen shears, particularly curved ones. Those are very helpful in dealing with animal bones (both de-boning, as in removing the bone from a chicken thigh, or cutting through bone, like cutting out the back bone from a chicken so that it can be spatchcocked).

Do you cut meat? Vegetables?

Yes vegetables and paxkagings. A solid steel scissors can do anything

Common with Korean food!

Great for cutting pizza too!

I use candles in the evening to get more pleasant, soothing light in my apartment. Much better for the mood than LEDs.

Does Aeropress still count?

I've considered more candles in the evening. How long before bedtime do you switch to candles? do you use them in multiple rooms? Obviously it wouldn't make sense to use a computer by candle light, but what activities are you able to do productively?

Usually not more than 2h, just in the living room. No light at all in the bedroom, no devices/food either.

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.

Also maybe consider flameless candles, powered by 2xAA (rechargeable, even). They can turn on/off automatically! Just add candle holders. I suspect they use LEDs, 2xAA lasts maybe 2 months running 5hrs/day (on internal timer).

Candles are a no go in our house after a fire that almost claimed a life, started by a candle.

The referenced Bogleheads thread: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=302399...

Not sure it qualifies as low enough tech but: a power socket with a timer. I would put my laundry in the washing machine and set the socket to turn on at 7:30. It would finish at about 9:00, I'd hang the laundry to dry then leave for work.

Using a bidet instead of toilet paper. I live in Canada, and this is an uncommon practice.

I bought this inexpensive one from amazon and my life has never been the same. Once you go bidet there's no going back.

https://www.amazon.com/Astor-Non-Electric-Mechanical-Attachm...

Similarly, we own two of these and love them: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JG2DETM

I've always wondered, do you connect it to the cold water supply? How would this work in the winter where cold water can be really cold?

Also in Canada and yeah that would be a concern.

Might be a good replacement for coffee -- that jolt would wake me up quickly in the mornings...

A trip to Japan will change a man. Suddenly you realize how barbaric toilet paper is.

I had one and then one weekend while we were away it broke, flooding my apartment, causing damage to the lobby below, and eventually getting us kicked out.

Switching back to dumbphone. It turns out whole economy didn't crash when I read and replied to emails next day and I didn't die of boredom during 30 min commute.

Which one did you go with?

Nokia 225. Three weeks on one charge.

I hired a housekeeper that comes every other week. This raised the base line of how tidy my home is that I can focus household chore time on organizing and refining my living space. This has created a virtuous cycle of constant improvement and much more enjoyment at home.

I bought a 2 stroke gasoline engine kit for a bicycle last year for about $80 and it was the best money I spent in a long time. The thing is a POS, it hurts to ride long distances, it drops parts all over the road, breaks down all the time, and the original engine wore out after 2,500 miles or so. I have a larger motorcycle but still, for $80, three moving parts, and a couple hours work there is nothing more fun than this thing. I've got some motor parts coming in the mail to get it ready for spring.

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.

I have a bicycle I built myself from components and frame.

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.

Sounds awesome, do you have a build log or anything?

When my Apple Watch battery broke I bought, with the little money I received from selling it for spare parts, a cheap CASIO G-Shock.

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 own a not so low-tech Casio Wave Ceptor for more than a decade. It has a solar cell and adjusts itself via radio so I never had to do any maintenance since I own it. I actually fear the day when it breaks down.

I still don't understand what drove me to buying an Apple Watch years ago, I had to force myself to wear it, and it only brought more distractions. I ended up muting all notifications, so eventually it was just a dumb piece of tech on my wrist, especially since it only showed me the time when I twisted my arm (which didn't work like 25% of the time).

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've been noticing the same thing. I mute all notifications since it was too distracting.

I do really like having it to track runs, but I'm considering purchasing a dumb watch for everything else.

I have a few, which have happened one at a time over the years. Mostly between tired of cheap junk breaking, tired of plastic, or tired of staring into a screen, so I'll share a few.

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.

> I use a fountain pen

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.

FWIW, I got a decent fountain pen at Daiso for $5.

(Shout out for Uni-Ball Deluxe!)

Does it have a refillable reservoir? If so, that's a great bargain if you like the way it writes!

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 :(

> Does it have a refillable reservoir?

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.

In fairness, I've only dipped my toes in with a few Jinhaos. They are pretty cheap. They aren't as nice writing as the really nice ones, but serviceable. They come with refillable reservoirs, and take international standard cartridges if you want.

Solar cooking, most people don't believe how easy and effective it can be until they try it.

Just one example of many - https://solarcooking.fandom.com/wiki/Windshield_Shade_Solar_...

I got one of those old-school double edge razors. Blades are essentially free (bought a 100 pack 5 years ago for 15$, and half of them are still there), and it doesn't terribly clog like a cartridge would even if you have a longer beard.

I use a typewriter and write letters. It's distraction free and produces a hard copy. I use a cast iron pan daily and use a French Press/Aeropress to make my coffee. I use candles for soothing light.

Might not be super low-tech, but I just got a bunch of Schiit Audio gear for my desk. I wanted analog controls for things like volume, EQ, input / output selection, etc. In an era where everything has a remote and tactility is an afterthought, I still enjoy a good analog potentiometer / switch.

I detailed the setup on my blog if you're curious: https://ethanaa.com/blog/thats-a-lot-of-schiit/

French press coffee maker, silicone dish sponge, manual food processor machine, sliding glass shower doors, and an old radio/tape player.

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.

Ever since graduating and getting my own place, I love my dishwasher and laundry machine. I love setting the delay for the dishes to wash at night, and I wake up to clean dishes! It really is robots doing something useful for us

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!

I didn't appreciate how big of a deal washing machines were until mine broke down and I had to do all my laundry in the bathtub for a couple of weeks waiting for a replacement. Hand-washing is a lot more of a workout than you'd expect, and getting things dry without a spin-cycle afterwards is a pain too.

Blankets within reach of anywhere we sit at home. Our new house has a programmable (i.e. difficult and sometimes disobedient) thermostat, so this was our lazy solution. Turns out, it's a much better solution.

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.

Knife sharpening course. I do a lot of cooking at home and it's definitely sped things up

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

A good, reasonably large, covered in laundry basket.

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.

Coffee grinder to make great coffee for cheap. Saves ton of time than going out to buy. Unless you walk which then you’d lose exercise.

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.

Going for a hike in nature. Both the exercise and the nature are great for your health.

I keep most of my notes of things I need to do in a given day on paper. Also, if I'm walking around for meetings I often draw a paper map rather than relying on my phone. Easier to mentally visualize.

An hot-glue gun. Glue is very cheap, non stain, serves in many situations.

A Danish dough whisk for mixing bread dough. It might not be an actual improvement but at least I feel better, baking bread every week, not having to rely on an electrical mixer.

box cutter. I get so many boxes and having a tool actually designed for this is just so awesome. It's cheap, the blades are cheap, and it just does the job.

Manual kitchen tools - fork instead of mixer, string pull food processor instead of electric.

Less washing, space, cost, and I can take them camping.

The cognitive dissonance with describing hiking in Pategonia as low tech is amazing. How exactly did you get there? Probably in a jet powered aircraft. What were you wearing? I’m guessing it wasn’t wool and cotton but some of the most sophisticated synthetic materials produced.

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.

Tubeless bike tires. Lower tire pressures improve comfort, reliability, and traction even on the roads.

I use the "screen time" feature on my iphone, and aim to have <1h average for the week.

I ditched webpack for a day and built a site using JS in script tags.

How low is low? Wheel good, fire good. Knife, mixed results.

I suppose anything where there's a higher tech option. Clothes and bread are still the highest tech option for the same solution. Pencil vs smartphone counts. Or recently, maybe TV vs online streaming.

buy albums on cd/lp/cassette/mp3.

I use a pencil to type on the keyboard.

Dead tree books.

Underrated comment.

I enjoy carrying a paper diary and using it along with a fountain pen to take notes and remembrances. Looking back through them is much more valuable than looking back through any sort of digital calendar or journal, while being much less expensive and prone to disintegration.

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).

I vouched for your comment since it seems to have been downvoted into oblivion. I don't understand why people took offense with what you had to say. paper diaries are a lot more valuable and require totally different parts of the brain than idiotic cloud enabled note-taking apps.

I don't believe this person was downvoted; look at their history: https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=dx7tnt Most of their posts are dead going back to, roughly: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20280125

This person was a little naughty seven or so months ago, and the result of that has carried forward.

thanks that explains it. fwiw I don't think it's OK to punish them because they've been naughty in the past. there are a lot of depressed and ill people here too. Remember the templeOS guy who was constantly ousted from HN for his remarks? After he killed himself the HN crowd was all "what a sad story". you don't know what people go through on the other end of the wire. people do deserve a chance I think and downvoting stuff that is OK is like saying "f you there is no way in hell we're going to put up with you even if you try".

In point of fact, there was nothing at all "naughty" about their comment in the first place. It was just a comment. A comment that the Nazi mods of this place, in their Naziism, didn't like.

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.

A 17th century farm with all that comes with such: cooking on a wood-burning stove, heating the house with wood, building out the place with wood taken from the forest (I have a log saw for this purpose, driven by a 5KW electric motor but still fairly low-tech). Farm life combined with more intellectual pursuits make for a good mixture of the manual, the menial and the more mentally challenging activities.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com