Q&A: Eric Brende
By Wilda Williams -- Library Journal, 6/1/2004
Are we really better off with all this technology? To find out, MIT grad student Brende decided to live without it, an effort he recounts in his first book, Better Off (see review below).
Why did you decide to write better off?
Although this book is partly based on my master's thesis, the idea [that technology might actually make our lives more challenging] had always been in the back of my mind. There is so much constant upheaval as our physical environment and our social and living habits are rapidly changed by new technologies. This is a message society needs to hear.
You recently moved to St. Louis. How do you live with less technology in an urban environment?
You learn to live in two worlds at the same time. It is not as contradictory as you might expect. We did concede to having an older car for those times when it is too impractical to get around any other way, but we live in a neighborhood where we can walk to the grocery store, the post office, the bank, and the library. We have electricity, but we don't use it much. We don't have electrical appliances, and it helps that our house has gas. Our bill this winter was $12.
You now homeschool your three children. Aren't you afraid that they will be at a technological disadvantage when they go to college?
When you live in a modern city as we do, constant exposure to technology is unavoidable. My son Hans, who is now 11, is a science fiction aficionado; he loves reading about robots, and he's constantly dreaming up schemes of how to automate. But I believe it's harder to wean yourself from technology because that requires more skill and resourcefulness. Learning to use a computer is like watching TV: it doesn't really take much skill.
Since you don't have a computer at home, how did you handle your editor's request that you use email?
One of the unstated principles I adhere to is that I don't want to inconvenience other people because of my own technological choices. I had already established an email account at my public library to sell my old rickshaw over the Internet. [Brende makes a living as rickshaw driver.] Fortunately, email can't take over my life. My library limits the amount of time patrons can use the computers.
