Eric Athas's Book Explores Saying No to New Things

Eric Athas’s Book Explores Saying No to New Things

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“It’s like we have ten to twenty new roommates in our lives and they’re constantly bothering us. They even prevent us from going to sleep because they demand our attention.”

From social media feeds and TV commercials to a new phone, new clothes, or even a viral croissant at a new bakery, consumers are constantly bombarded with new things to buy. Author Eric Athas wants to help people be more mindful of their purchases so they align with personal values. He has written “Saying No to New: Why New Things are Stealing Your Time, Money, and Happiness – and How to Take Back Your Life,” published by Balance, an imprint of Grand Central Publishing Group. Athas is an editor at The New York Times and has previously worked for NPR and the Washington Post, and he spoke with Claudia Grisales on Here & Now about consumer culture and how the push for consumption affects everyday life.

That is how Amber Case describes the modern smart home—a place where a Wi-Fi-connected refrigerator, an Amazon Echo asking users to vote on a poll about whether they prefer running or walking, a smartwatch announcing a reached fitness goal, and a chorus of evening beeps and pings demand constant attention from consumers. Her critique forms part of a broader examination of consumer culture featured in author Eric Athas’s book, Saying No to New: Why New Things are Stealing Your Time, Money, and Happiness – and How to Take Back Your Life, which explores how the push for consumption affects everyday life.

The Exhausting Reality of Connected Gadgets

While some view connected gadgets as a futuristic dream, Case considers the modern smart home an exhausting distraction. She runs the consultancy Calm Tech Institute and compares these devices to having dozens of uninvited roommates.

Her consultancy works with businesses to design products that “enhance human life without causing stress or distraction.” Regarding modern technology, Case told her interviewer, “These technologies, by saying that they’re easy up front, actually hide the iceberg of time waste that we have to experience when we either relearn them again, their interface changes on us, or they don’t perform as behaved as promised.”

Sale sign displays at a retail store in Chicago, Monday, June 10, 2024. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
Photo: radio.kttz.org

Case is no stranger to automated living. She grew up experiencing smart technology firsthand in the 1990s, long before it became mainstream. Her father, a broadcast engineer, rigged their childhood house with automated sprinkler systems and voice-activated lights. Those early experiences taught her to spot the difference between genuinely useful tools and disruptive novelties. The voice-activated lights, for instance, frequently failed because overly sensitive sensors would trigger the bulbs at three in the morning simply due to a truck rumbling down the street. Case cited this as a prime example of overthinking technology, noting that a plain old light switch works fine.

Ignored Instincts in Product Design

Her pet peeves include unnecessarily bright lights, disembodied robotic voices, and the overuse of touch screen interfaces.

As Case noted, no one should have to be smart just to operate a smart TV.

Returning to Intuitive Mechanics

To fix these design flaws, creators should look to older, familiar tools that sync up with human senses.

However, cars also present areas of frustration for Case; at one major auto company, she was alarmed to discover that the team responsible for designing dashboards did not even own cars.

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