Be The Change: Simplifying My Personal Computing (Again)

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

It's a quote that's often misattributed to Gandhi. There doesn't seem to be a consensus on who said it, but that doesn't make it any less of a good quote. And it's something I've been thinking about a lot lately and trying to make some changes with it in mind.

“I wish more people would __________.”

“If more people would __________, I would, too.”

There a lot of things that I'm not doing that I wish I was doing, because they just make sense to me and I feel that they're good and right. But I don't do them, or I give up when I try to do them, because they're hard. Or nobody else is doing them. Or any number of other excuses I come up with.

But my conscience nags me. It's relentless. And maybe some of the discontent I feel is because I'm not doing as much as I could be doing to better align my actions and behaviors with my values. Maybe it's time for me to start trying to live the kind of life I wish I could live.

Lent has already been a time of spiritual change for me. I intend to keep working on that area of my life, but I've started making some temporal changes, too, and I will be sharing my experiences in all areas over the coming blog posts.

In this post I'll share some changes I'm making with regards to the technology I personally own and use, starting with my personal computers.

Aside from the company-issued laptop I use for work, I currently own three desktop computers and two laptops:

I feel I need to reduce this list down to one machine instead of five, and I have chosen to keep the HP Laptop for a number of reasons. It's lightweight and versatile. I can use it in my home office or on the go. It takes up much less desk space than a desktop. It's much newer than the MacBook Air (which is long past its official support from Apple) and has much better specs.

I've also installed Pop!_OS on the HP laptop and have committed to using Linux as my primary personal computing OS going forward to reduce my dependence on proprietary non-free software (more on this in an upcoming post).

The HP Z240 workstation was my streaming PC for over a year and did the job admirably. But I recently acquired the Acer mini tower as its upgrade/replacement. I feel I can let both of these go because I've decided to stop streaming on Twitch and stream exclusively on PeerTube (more on this in an upcoming post) with a greatly simplified and less resource-intensive approach compared to what I was doing on Twitch.

I also am fine getting rid of the desktops because they tempt me too much to play video games, which I enjoy playing, but they tend to suck me in, make me lose track of time, and neglect more important things in my life.

The 2019 iMac is a fairly recent acquisition (it was given to me for free) and while it is still a very nice machine – especially with its beautiful 5k Retina display – I find that I prefer the more versatile wall-mounted dual monitor setup I have in my home office, which frees up more desk space. And I can use them for work and personal use, connecting them to either my work laptop or personal laptop as needed.

Another reason I want to let go of the Macs is because I would like to reduce my use of and dependence upon Apple products as much as possible. As with other Big Tech companies like Google, Meta, Amazon, Microsoft, etc., I don't trust Apple to do what's in the best interest of their customers – or humanity, in general.

This week I shifted to using the HP Laptop exclusively and will be looking for ways to sell or re-home the other computers, preferably to people who truly need them. Doing so will help me to simplify and streamline how I use computers and reduce the amount of proprietary “Big Tech” products I use. The reduced clutter and cables in my office are going to be most welcome, too.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 160) #tech #DigitalMinimalism #HomeOffice #laptop #intentionism