Deliberately choosing a slow technology

Often the promise of new technologies hinges on the faster speeds that they offer to the user. But should we be so quick to always adopt those technological implements that get the job done faster?

Certainly, there is the questionable assumption that time is money. If time is money then the argument goes that we maximize our economic profit by decreasing the amount of time that it takes us to perform any given task.

While I do not doubt that we can benefit from performing many tasks faster, I sometimes wonder if there is something also to be gained by slowing down.

In particular, I think about when I was much younger and we still used a dial up internet connection. All those familiar with that process will remember the characteristic dial tone over the computer speakers, the warble and static of a connection being made, a dramatic pause, and then, hopefully, success with the accompanied feeling of "I am now on the internet."

What was significant about that process was that in the space between clicking "Connect" and waiting for the dial up connection to work its magic, I had some time to think. I had time to think about what precisely I wanted to see or do on the internet, I had time to think about homework that still needed to be done, or if the dial up connection was being particularly slow to begin, I had time to think about whether I even wanted to go on the internet.

Today, with my always on internet connection, I do not have the space for such thoughts. Sure, I can think about these things before I sit down to my computer. But my point is that the nature of the technology no longer creates (even accidentally) a space in which to think deliberately about the task ahead.

This makes me wonder, in an effort to think more intentionally about my use of the internet and what I see or do on the internet, would I benefit from deliberately choosing a slower internet connection? Or more generally, do I stand to gain from technologies that actually move at a slower pace, and thereby create a space in which I can think about my use of that technology?