Cow Tools (We Used to Look for Things)

Cow tools. (Gary Larson always knew.)

12:01PM

We used to look for things.

There was satisfaction in patient digging for information in the pages of books, attics and microfilm.

Today, anything I need to know can be found in my pocket. For better or worse (usually worse).

There's a part of the satisfaction of smoking in tapping the bottom of the pack and flicking the lighter. Nearly as much as the headswim from that first long drag.

Again, I don't smoke but this is what I'm told. The brain knows a hit of dopamine is coming so even just going through the motions squirts it out preemptively.

The brain trained. So it goes with the phone.

We used to look for things. And now a quick dip into the infinity pool of the internet is a wash of unread notifications, ads, and the thrill of arguing strangers in virtual schoolyard fights impossible not to watch.

So I'm trying to get off the crack. Trying to break the process of whipping out the phone every time something flies across my mind that I need to understand right the fuck now. A Rotten Tomatoes score, the identity of a bit character, a stock price, an ingredient substitute, whether we have a new tariff to worry about this week or not.

So I'm getting off the crack and exploring surrogate tools.

Cow tools.

I saw a reel (because, of course) that pitched the idea of substituting a certain notebook discipline in place of these now baked-in Pavlovian actions.

One notebook in the morning (write three paragraphs of anything that comes to mind), one notebook in the evening (reflect on one thing that happened during the day and make it into a short story), and one notebook to carry throughout the day (they gave it an Italian name for some reason) to capture any ideas that percolate while I'm awake.

I'd take it one step further. I'd buy a classic alarm clock with the angry red LED numbers, the kind that screeches in the morning like the one that woke me up in middle school. I'd buy a basic calculator to keep track of my spending at the grocery store.

Anything to get off the crack. Because they have our cookies, they have our data, they have our biometrics, and they have our attention. And I want it back.

We'll see how it works out.

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What I’m reading: Aja (Don Breithaupt, for 33 1/3)

What I'm listening to: Deepest (Orbital)

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