technology

1980s television

On Monday 10 February, several of us at Meld Studios took a day to explore our relationship with technology. For 24 hours, our plan was to use only the technology available in the 1980s.

The basic rules were:

• No internet, so no google or email or texts or slack.
• Phones are just for phone calls, and can’t be used in transit.
• Cash only.

So here’s our key takeaways.

1. It’s really hard to work effectively without the internet.

We had assumed our biggest problem would be communications.

It turns out our biggest problem was not really being able to do any work, or at least not in the way we were used to. Everything we wanted to do involved accessing files that were in the cloud, or people that were in different locations. We were stymied at every turn from accessing the things we needed not just to be effective, but to operate.

Part of this is because our systems are set up to work that way — if the internet didn’t exist we’d probably have hard copies of everything ready to hand, and be less reliant on the input of people in remote locations.

But I also have to reluctantly conclude, everything is just easier now. It’s easier to find and access the past, and to reuse it. And it’s easier to collaborate with others, which is part of our DNA at Meld.

2. You think differently when you don’t have devices telling you what to do all the time.

I found it liberating not having to constantly respond to emails and messages. I didn’t do any of the things I’d normally do on a Monday in the studio — and I guess you could say I was less productive, at least if you’re measuring it in purely output terms.

But not having technology freed me up to do a different kind of work. To focus less on the output and more on the thinking. Yes I felt disconnected — but I liked the feeling, and I think that one day has set me up to be more successful.

3. The day after sucks

The morning after eighties day, I got hit over the head with the baseball bat of technology that had been building up steam for 24 hours, and it knocked me flat. The barrage of unread messages, missed calls, notifications and emails was overwhelming. I was paralysed all day, unable to do anything but react to what was being thrown at me digitally.

It’s got better since then, probably because I’m used to it again. But I’m also more aware of the anxiety it created, and I’m wondering if that’s just simmering below the surface and will reappear sometime soon.

The sleep app on my apple watch tells me I’m sleeping okay, so it can’t be too bad.

For more, listen to our eighties day podcast: soundcloud.com/meldstudios