Simpler Times

 It has been a sort of rambling nothing month. Lots happened and nothing happened as the year of 2025 rolled clumsily into 2026, perhaps it would be good to burn off some of this post year changing angst with a little rambling of our own. I have felt this great urge as of late to simplify. Not just tidying the house, clearing out old unwanted pieces of materials that once had been money and which once had been time spent. But more so taking away the attention seeking elements of my day-to-day that are becoming more and more pervasive. 

I read an article this week about how those wonderfully uncaring Gen-Z kids are turning away from social media, it gave me hope. This seems to be driven by a hatred, which I share, of being turned into a product for a select handful of disgusting corroding companies that are hell-bent on ruining our planet and our freedoms. It got me thinking about the hypocrisies that I cling onto still in my daily life. 

I have Amazon, yet they are the sole platform that publishes and distributes my books. Now I have sold, as of this exact moment - flickers over to the KDP tab, 300 odd books if we count digital eBooks. Without Amazon I would likely have sold a quarter of those, but is it worth sticking around and feeding this monster of a monopoly just for some pocket money and the happy feeling of being shown higher digits every week. Probably not. 

I take great inspiration from the stoics of old. Cato, the man who defiantly stood against the unbeatable influence of Caesar. Marcus Aurelius, who refused to let power corrupt him and instead crafted some of the best materials for inner-reflection and guidance we have in the modern age. Would these men have sacrificed their moral code for the uptick of some books flying off the shelves. Definitely not. So why do I not hold myself to this standard?

 Would a stronger man have already cut this chord? But what would I plunge into if the rope tethering me to Amazon is severed. Do I move aside and hand my business to Ingram Spark, another US based company. Do I simply seek the audience I wish, transfer these books from the physical and solely distribute them out as digital. eBooks for the fans of my work to download in exchange for whatever they can tip instead of a set fee, most of which Amazon currently gobbles up. 

I was having a conversation with my wife about this very dilemma recently. I supposed that if it wasn't
for my current job, I would likely have sold off my smart phone in exchange for a dumb phone. Simpler tech to relieve myself of the daily monotony of waking up and going straight for the screen. Remove this ability for people to be able to reach me at a moments notice, this wasn't normal 20 years ago, why should it be normal today. Naturally a regression in tech means that I lose the convenience. Not having access to my banking app for example would be a hindrance, not having the SATNAV would mean I need to find routes myself.

But how much of this is really that disastrous. Could my smart phone become more of a survival tool. Kept charged and in the car or backpack with rudimental tools such as maps, emergency contacts and banking purely for moments of absolute necessity. 

Wouldn't it be beautiful to wake up, step out the front door and have nothing but a canteen of water, your dumb flip phone, your wallet and a notebook. The day is entirely yours. No possibility of a company, app or notification finding its way into your eye line while you experience the actual outside world again. No surveillance right in your pocket. No app tracking your movement or listening into your conversations to sell to ad companies. No immediate access to your life from work or intrusive friends/family. 

What a life we could have had. Perhaps 2026 is the year we go backwards in search of the simplicity the future was meant to deliver.