mxb's opinionated guide to life
- Block web ads and tracking when online. uBlock Origin saves your privacy, time, bandwidth and battery.
- Avoid the endless data harvesting. Don't install that app when the website works. Each additional app steals your privacy, battery life and focus.
- Unless specifically visual, three paragraphs of text is usually better than a 10 minute video for the same content. Use services such as Stepify to convert and summarise videos. For people who are visual learners, this point will not apply.
- Physical media (books, DVDs) will outlast the digital media you
purchased rented.
- Learn the *nix shell. Once you appreciate the composability and write your own additional tools you can do so much in so little (time and resources).
- Learn a scripting language as this allows you to quickly create handy scripts and utilities which helps with recommendation #5. I prefer Perl, but pretty much any scripting language will suffice. The best language is the one you know the best.
- Get outside, enjoy nature, enjoy walks, especially if you have an indoor office job.
- Pick up an offline mentally taxing hobby. I chose chess, with a real board and books.
- Take part in the creative arts. Painting, drawing, dancing, playing a musical instrument are the usual suggestions here.
- Family comes first.
Last updated: April 2024
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