Readers of this blog will know I started a project a couple of years ago to write a book called ‘Analogue Skills‘, a re-examination of the pre-screen skills that relied on to get through the day. I’ve always intended it to be part philosophical, part self-help. When I’ve stalled in my writing, one of the barriers has been not knowing how much of an authoritative voice to take. There is a well-troden self-help author path in which the writer spends a period of time – usually at least six months, sometimes a decade of a career – living the chosen lifestyle, and then writing about it. But that doesn’t sit well with me. I feel the Analogue Skills project to be much more of an experiment.

Today I had a flash of inspiration reading an article on mimimalism called ‘Less is More’, by Kyle Chayka in the Guardian. She does a review of the minimalist literature, describing it as

‘…saccharine and pre-digsested, presented as self-help as much as a practical how-to guide. Each book contains an easy structure of epiphany and aftermarth, recounting the crisis that leads its authroto minimalism, the minimalist metamorphsois and then the postive ways the author’s life as changed.’

Chakya, K. (2020).

That’s just it, I haven’t had an epiphany, and I don’t know the answer in seven easy-to-digest steps. What I do have is a strong sense that something is wrong the way technology is influencing the way I experience the world. I have some ideas on how to fix that, but they are far from clear and not necessarily easy to apply. I am by no means an authority who can help others – what I need to ask for us others’ help. And maybe I can write about that.

And there’s the idea – maybe I need to write a ‘help me’ book.

References

Chakya, K. (2020). The Empty Promise of Marie Kondo and the Craze for Minimalism. The Guardian Weekly. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2020/jan/03/empty-promises-marie-kondo-craze-for-minimalism