Ask HN: How do you maintain a good balance between a high and low-tech life?
I feel like I spend too much time online, because there are so many things around the house, etc. that I don't get done, and I cannot afford to pay someone to do (nor would I necessarily want to). At the same time, I feel like my lifestyle is very low tech compared to other developers (I'm just not as interested in technology or development in the same way), and I feel guilty about not doing my best to be better in my (current) profession. I feel like there is no such thing as a good balance for me between the two, as I would always feel guilty about one or the other.
Have you found a balance between your tech life and your life "outside of tech" (or offline, or whatever) that you are content with? If so, what is your balance? How did you come to it?
18 comments
[ 3.4 ms ] story [ 61.7 ms ] threadAs far as housework goes, I don't normally have difficulty getting my job done or doing some cleanup after housemates who don't get theirs done. Mostly, it helps to not let things build up too much. If there's a week's worth of dishes sitting by the sink, there's not much chance I'll get through them all at once (I'll usually stop once the drainer is full), but if I take an extra couple of minutes after each meal I won't produce such a buildup.
With regard to keeping up with professional development, I put too much time into school to feel guilty about not putting enough time into it. There is a lot of stuff out there that I think would be interesting to learn, but I am under some time pressure to get my thesis done, so most of it's going to have to wait. On the other hand, I (theoretically) have many years left to spend on learning it.
Maybe it helps that I don't typically feel like I'm doing these things purely because of obligations to others (except perhaps some components of my housework, but they're typically not much of a time sink).
If you're neglecting real life because you're consumed by creating something, then I say embrace it! It's called the zone, where all of your focus is purely focused on a task. It's a great thing.
You might find that the book Getting Things Done has some helpful advice on effectively managing your time/efforts. Good luck!
tl;dr Embrace both high and low tech at the same time. Set yourself the goal of accomplishing at least one task of either type every day.
Doing the dishes is a good one. It doesn't take all that long, it gives you time to reflect as it rarely requires great attention, and, even in a dwelling that is habitually cluttered, a moderately clean kitchen will make it seem like you have accomplished something.
Doing the dishes/cleaning the kitchen is my number one low-tech way to feel better about myself and my surroundings. (With the added benefit that my wife greatly appreciates it, since she can relax and watch video clips on her iPhone.)
From personal experience, I would say, get rid of that guilt. That was a consistent and big mental block earlier in my life and still is occasionally till I get rid of it. The moment I get rid of it, I feel free to move forward.
It could be hindering you also.
In your current situation, get a Romba and stop feeling guilty. That does nobody any good.
As a wise person once said: Discipline is doing what you don't want to do, when you don't want to do it. You should either gain more discipline, make yourself want to do things that need to be done, or set aside a time to do things you don't want to do.
I have thus far resisted smart phones and the like as I find ubiquitous connectivity distracting.
Use technology as a tool without allowing it to interfere with your focus.
Give it a shot, go camping!
Now I don't want to project my own issues onto anybody else--the point is to think about why you feel guilty--but in my case I think I have guilt issues relating to geeking out going back to early childhood when my parents were really not very supportive of long computer hours doing who-knows-what. I realized that the need to be outwardly productive at all times is a form of extrinsic validation that I sometimes lean on too heavily.
Okay, so this is quite a bit different from your story, but I think some general advice is applicable here: just follow your passion and don't let guilt feed some sort of psychological negative feedback loop. If you feel guilty about something, make a conscious decision to either do something about it or decide not to, but don't let it eat away at you.
As for the low-tech thing, well just remember that a lot of developers waste a lot of time farting around with whatever new toys they can get their hands on. It doesn't necessarily make them better. You could live in a cabin, grow a garden and chop wood every day, and if you sat down and focused on the craft of programming for 8 hours a day you could still be a great programmer. In silicon valley in particular I feel that the value of downtime and cross-disciplanary idea pollination is underrated.
Over the years I've found that if I just do online stuff I find it hard to keep a sense of accomplishment, moving bits around on a harddisk somewhere does not seem to be enough all by itself (for me).