Where I'm at, well meaning authority figures, who tend to be greater than 10 years older than me, like to talk about the benefits of withdrawing from technology for a period of time. A technology "cleanse" if you will.

I'm not just interested in electronics and programming languages. I'm also interested in mathematics and the history of science and technology. Science and technology not just in this century but in the previous ones. The evolution of writing systems is fascinating. Check out the Hebrew or Phoenician alphabets. You can almost see them being scratched into clay by some sort of knife. Or look at the cursive writing of the founding fathers of the United States and then look at the writing instruments of the day.

They ask me to stop using technology. Just take a break. And I immediately wonder if they want me to stop reading. Stop writing.

Mathematics also has a fascinating development. And it also has quite the impact in how I think and analyze problems. Am I supposed to stop thinking all together when I go on my technology cleanse? Isn't the objection to technology that it stops you from thinking.

Similarly, people fear automation because it's a new form of technology, but they also ignore all of the exotic technology that they regard as baseline. The absolute primitive limit was once cutting edge. And no doubt was feared in its own day.

Yes, new technologies can be used to cause you personal pain. But that's also the case for old technologies. You shouldn't seek to stop progress, but rather stop those who are making progress from externalizing their failures such that they are paid for by those who will not share in the successes.