Meet Amber Case, International speaker & founder of The Calm Tech Institute, a foundation that exists to establish new standards for designing harmonious human-tech interactions that improve our lives.

This first conversation was wide-ranging from origin stories to personal tech philosophies.

Hosted by Adam Yasmin

Sign up at adamyasmin.substack.com for more conversations and community tea experiences.

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Where to technology leaders get schooled in embodied ethics?

How do they learn that THEY ARE NATURE and not just a part of it?

Meet Julia & Andrew of The School of Wise Innovation

SoWI works to re-imagine innovation education for technology leaders.

They are hosting their first in-person retreat by Mt. Shasta from September 6-11 2024.

More info at Embodied Ethics Retreat

Slow Tech pod is a creation of Adam Yasmin

Intro music by Christopher Bear

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Let’s face it, we are an anxious generation of parents.

We’ve been living in relationship with smartphones for 17+ years.

We’re actively raising digitally native kids

and

we often forget…

We are models of healthy tech use.

We have our fair share of habits to always improve upon.

We need to be deliberately slow with the important decisions we make regarding tech.

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Hi friends —

Does your podcast have a tea sponsor?

Slow Tech is now proudly sponsored by White2Tea!

What does this mean?

Simply put, it means that future in-person interviews will be brewing & imbibing W2T.

Also!

Future subscriber-only IRL tea meetups will be made possible thanks to the teas donated by W2T.

This does not mean that we will have referral or affiliate codes for you to purchase teas with.

Why?

Because the pricing structure at W2T is already outstanding and why not just share the love?!

(btw I brewed some 2022 Snoozefest raw puer before recording this episode)

Please enjoy this short and fun interview I had with founder Paul Murray where I got to read his responses since W2T has a strict no audio/video policy… as he put it, “we love a little mystery”.

Intro music by Christopher Bear

Interview music by Ben Nobuto

Get full access to wabi-sabi | tech + tea at adamyasmin.substack.com/subscribe

slow tech podcast is listener-supported. Consider becoming a paid subscriber.

Jose Briones discusses his journey into minimal tech, experiences with the Light Phone 2 and his book 'Low Tech Life'. He emphasizes the importance of aligning technology with one's desired lifestyle and finding devices that complement that lifestyle. Jose also talks about his work in building community and creating content around the concept of moving offline. He shares his philosophy of embracing impermanence and living life as it comes. Join his substack, Moving Offline.

Chapters

00:00 Intro

03:24 Building a Low Tech Lifestyle

07:58 Aligning Devices with Desired Lifestyle

12:37 Meaningful Relationships and Communication

16:32 Creating Content and Building Community

25:16 Considering the Light Phone 3

27:09 Closing and Where to Find More

Intro music by Christopher Bear

Slow Tech is created by Adam Yasmin

Get full access to wabi-sabi | tech + tea at adamyasmin.substack.com/subscribe

Ok friends… deep breath…

My guest this week is Joe Hollier, co-founder of Light.

Light just announced the upcoming Lightphone 3 (available for pre-order and shipping January 2025).

We touch on the ethos behind their phones, growing their community over the past 10 years, school case studies like Buckston and more.

Summary

In this conversation, Adam interviews Joe, co-founder of Light Phone, about the journey of creating the Light Phone 3 and the impact of the Light Phone community. They discuss the evolution of the Light Phone from version one to version three, the importance of user feedback, and the diverse community of Light Phone users. They also touch on the sustainability aspect of the Light Phone, the marketing campaign of the Alliance of Big Tech, and the use of Light Phones in schools. The conversation highlights the need for a larger conversation about our relationship with technology.

Time stamps

00:00 Introduction and Background

03:15 The Evolution of the Light Phone

07:35 The Engaged Light Phone Community

13:55 Sustainability and User Feedback

35:50 The Adoption of Light Phone by Schools

43:41 The Growing Movement to Ban Smartphones in Schools

Intro music by Christopher Bear

Slow Tech is created by Adam Yasmin

Get full access to wabi-sabi | tech + tea at adamyasmin.substack.com/subscribe

Slow Tech is a creation of Adam Yasmin

Music by Christopher Bear

Red Oolong by Standstill Tea

Get full access to wabi-sabi | tech + tea at adamyasmin.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Slow Tech, a podcast exploring the growing community of digital minimalists, dumbphone folk, humane technologists, tea people and proactive parents raising their kids in a multi-verse of screens. I'm your host Adam Yasmin. Subscribe today to get weekly thoughtful episodes featuring meaningful interviews and thought-provoking audio essays. Together we'll redefine what it means to be a modern human living in relationship to the devices we use every day.

Get full access to wabi-sabi | tech + tea at adamyasmin.substack.com/subscribe

Listen to the audio version of this post above.

I have a mild, not-so-surprising confession to make.

This weekend I deleted all social media apps off of my iPhone. I think of it as a somewhat rigid form of spring cleaning. Mind you, I didn’t delete these social media accounts (namely Instagram and Twitter) but I went ahead and decided to change the terms of my relationship with them.

I did this for several reasons:

As a freelancer and/or coach-of-one, I know that these platforms are a slippery slope at best. In all humility I was spending upwards of 4 hours on average per day between the platforms. Yes, in order to market my services, I do so on these platforms with a mixture of unofficial ads as well as platform-specific content creation.

I really really REALLY seek authentic connection with the people, friends, and mentors I’ve made through these platforms. A surprising amount of in-app messages showed me that I do intend to keep connecting with these individuals, however I wish to do so on different terms.

After the last 5 and a half years of doom scrolling (or what I lovingly refer to as disasterbation) I found that with this now 40-day old war that Russia has waged against Ukraine, I could no longer avoid very violent content that I did not consent to (thanks, Twitter). Nor could I avoid war propaganda just about everywhere (yes, even on LinkedIn). I’m not suggesting I don’t take sides (Putin is a dangerous autocrat invoking perverse Stalin-esque revisionist history), but I don’t want my social media experience to be steeped in politics.

So what does this relationship change look like? It’s quite simple, actually…

It started by deleting social media apps off of my phone, and choosing to access my accounts through Safari only. Which accounts do I access through Safari? Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I don’t have a Facebook account (I deleted that one in July 2019).

This re-routing through Safari creates an elegant obstacle for me. Let me explain…

By not seeing the actual apps on my screen, I start to crave them less. So when I want to access them, I go through Safari and it’s just adding steps, or friction, to my experience. It slows me down. Creates more opportunity to act with intent. If I’m going to go all the way to Instagram to check messages, it’s going to take more time and thus I spend less time on it. Same goes for the other platforms, adding the hurdle of an internet browser means I just spend less time f*****g around and more time engaging in the possibility of connecting.

That’s the backstory to my announcement — Slow Down with Adam: A virtual workshop space for a tech / life balance

I’m setting up a small group (6 people feels balanced, 10 humans maximum) to meet monthly, open to bi-weekly or weekly if there’s interest, and connect about tech / life balance, learning / sharing, drinking tea or whatever non-intoxicating beverage you want to drink, and some self-reflection coaching prompts.

Is this a coaching group? Not explicitly, but if we decide together that’s what is wanted, then yes.

Is this experimental? Yes.

In all transparency I’m setting this group up as an alternative to sifting through social media platforms. I want to connect with humans in a curated, small, intentional space, and am happy to host that for others.

Slow Down with Adam will be available to join on a drop-in basis to all paid subscribers. This is a bit conflicting for me. I don’t wield paywalls as you may have already noticed, but I want an intentional space. So if you subscribe monthly or annually, you will have access to this meeting space.

Where will it be held? I’m leaning towards Jitsi Meet, an encrypted open-source alternative to the monolith of Zoom. Though am open to Google Meet, Zoom, Discord, or another if you have a prefere

Get full access to wabi-sabi | tech + tea at adamyasmin.substack.com/subscribe

Bill Loundy is the CEO and co-founder of Read Up, a minimalist platform sanctifying online reading that promotes / pays writers, is 100% ad-free, and kills distraction. Bill and I first met through the All Tech is Human community and this is the first of many discussions we will be sharing on this program.

Make a $3 monthly contribution to the show through Buy Me a Tea

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Get full access to wabi-sabi | tech + tea at adamyasmin.substack.com/subscribe