How to work (almost) completely online
Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits blog has a thought provoking post on being a Cyber Minimalist. He’s a big fan of the Google suite of online apps, and he’s pared down his computing requirements so that he basically works with online apps and that’s it.
From my tech-heavy geek perspective, the guy’s pretty hardcore. No mobile device – he has a mobile phone for calls only (no SMS) and he uses a paper diary as his offline diary (which presumably he enters into his online calendar when he’s back in front of the computer).
He makes it quite clear that his computing needs are fairly simple, so he doesn’t miss a lot of the fancy features you’ll get in various specialist applications.
I do use desktop apps for certain things, like photo editing… But then I upload the file online, delete the copy on my hard drive, and don’t worry about it after that. Again, this might not work for everyone, but it works for me.
After reading this post I have to admit I’m tempted to follow his lead for a number of reasons. He doesn’t need to worry about backing up data, he can work from multiple computers without transferring data between them, etc etc.
So are you a cyber minimalist? How have you simplified your computing life? Post suggestions in comments please!
Cyber Minimalist: How to Work (Almost) Completely Online
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Comments
Nope, too many EULA’s and Privacy Policies to deal with, especially if the services are US based (especially considering the ‘anti-terror’, ‘grease-up-and-grab-ankles’ type laws that are being introduced over there). I like having my data on MY hard drive where I can control it.