These days, a huge proportion of the tools we use, the services we subscribe to, and the entertainment options we indulge in, are high-tech – often based on digital devices, and frequently hosted by the Internet.
Of course, there are all sorts of benefits to various high-tech tools, systems, entertainment options, and so on. But, there are also downsides to doing everything in a high-tech manner.
Just as importantly, there are real benefits to taking up some low-tech pastimes, whether that means consulting https://scrapbookingcoach.com/ on the best ways to start up a scrapbooking habit, or whether it means trying your hand at some DIY.
Here are just a few benefits of low-tech pastimes.
They can really help you to get in touch with yourself, and to filter out external noise
Low-tech pastimes are typically far less riddled with distractions than high-tech ones – partly due to the fact that working with a piece of wood, a sheet of paper, or a canvas, doesn’t automatically involve interacting with a tool that also gives you access to the World Wide Web, your photo collection, and your digital music database.
Due to the fact that low-tech pastimes typically require you to focus quite deliberately on one thing at a time, they can really help you to get in touch with yourself, and to filter out external noise.
In this sense, they can work as a sort of meditative practice; allowing you to distract yourself from whatever everyday concerns you might be faced with, while nonetheless leaving your thoughts to wander in the background, in a relaxed manner.
They generally help you to be more proactive and creative
Unless you’re a coder or programmer, the high-tech and digital tools and services you engage with probably don’t leave you much scope for being a “creator.” More often than not, you will interact with these tools and services purely as a “consumer.”
On the other hand, many low-tech pastimes automatically put you in a more proactive and creative role. With less immediate complexity involved, and more personal hands-on engagement required, these low-tech pastimes can be a good way of getting in touch with your internal artist or handyman, among other things.
Generally speaking, it’s very satisfying to actually create things from time to time.
They are less dependent on external factors
In a variety of different contexts, low-tech tools and pastimes can actually be significantly more “robust” and “authentic” than high-tech alternatives.
eBooks, for example, are very popular these days – but if you get your eBooks from a major retailer, with DRM built in, you’re not really “buying” those books – it’s more like you are purchasing a temporary licence to read them, and if the company decides to withdraw your right to read those books, and you no longer “own” them.
What’s more, in order to read eBooks, you need a high-tech device, access to electricity, and maybe even an Internet connection.
A physical book, by contrast, is much less dependent on external factors. When you own it, you own it. You can read wherever you want. It won’t run out of batteries.
Similarly, a paper journal can be seen as being much more robust than a digital planner, in some key ways.