Technonymous
Writing about the life around technology.
Thirty-five essays about attention, health, work, parenting, privacy, mortality, and the choices that remain human.
Start with a question
A few ways in.
Start with the question that has stayed with you, then follow it into the whole archive.
Stop Preparing Your Kids for Jobs
The economy is changing faster than parenting.
The End of Commercial Software
Why I’ll never pay for a CRM again
He Has Risen: The Return of Piracy
How Streaming's Enshittification Revived What It Killed
Happy New Year—Technonymous Isn’t Dead!
Tell me about your experience with piracy 🏴☠️
Yonderosa and the Art of Having Less
The question isn't “Where will I put my stuff?” it’s “Why do I have so much of it?”
Quiet Takes Work
On the gap between the life we want and the easy path
You Haven’t Had to Wonder About Anything Since Bill Clinton Was in Office
And your brain is worse for it
I Can’t Picture My Kids
On the strange mercy of forgetting — and why our machines need to learn it too.
The Year the Phone Started Talking Back
How 2009 quietly rewired the human nervous system
Better Output, Less Input
Why problem-solving requires you to consume less.
Three Stones
How to Achieve More by Focusing on What Truly Matters
Jenny, Can I Have My Privacy Back?
A small act of rebellion with the help of Tommy Tutone
The Arithmetic of Dying
How I'm Learning to Measure My Life in Hours, Not Years
The Next Thing Will Be Better
Dopamine, destiny, and the myth that built America
Mister Rogers and the Forgotten Art of Paying Attention
Why the quietest man on television may have been the wisest voice of the digital century
Be an Optimist
Why Choosing Optimism Is a Discipline, Not a Personality
For Kids Only: Why there are so many rules around screens
(It’s because your parents love you a lot!)
Practice: One Screen at a Time
Why Splitting Your Attention Costs More Than You Think
Red Light, Green Light
From PBS to Roblox: A parent's research-informed guide to technology use for Elementary-aged kids
Practice: Think Twice About the Cost of Free
A four-week experiment in living without “free” services
Discomfort Is Growth
Lessons From My Five-Year-Old on Bravery and Becoming
Practice: Don’t Own Things You Have to Worry About
The real luxury isn’t the thing—it’s the freedom to use it without fear.
If I Were Them, I Would Be Them
How teaching kids nuance might be the only way to break America’s cycle of outrage
Practice: Step Away from the DoorDash
A month-long experiment in actually feeding ourselves
Why Privacy Matters, Part 2: What to do about it.
The slow trade of privacy for convenience—and the steps to reverse it.
How to Cook a Steak (and Why It Matters)
Building Real Skills, One Ribeye at a Time
Why does privacy matter?
How Big Tech slowly convinced us privacy doesn’t matter—and why it’s time to jump out of the pot.
Practice: Into the Wild Water
Why choosing rivers, lakes and oceans over pools makes us calmer, braver, and more alive—and what our kids learn when…
Every Convenience is a Small Step Towards Self Destruction
The hidden cost of every shortcut: our attention, our imagination, our connection
Practice: Listen to Albums
Spotify trained me to skip. Now I'm training myself to stay.
Parenting in the Age of Performance
What our kids mirror back about authenticity, distraction, and the digital pacifier
Practice: Eliminating Streaming Video From Our Lives
What canceling streaming taught me about my real screen addiction
Why You Can’t Think Anymore—and How to Fix It
Scientists discovered our brain’s most powerful mode. Then we designed our world to destroy it.
Practice: Leaving My iPhone at Home
Turns out the Apple Watch might be the dumb phone I’ve been looking for
Hello, World.
My quest to help my family become technonymous in a world designed to hold their attention hostage