TECHNOLOGY, ATTENTION AND RESPONSIBILITY

What kind of life should
technology serve?

Why a calendar rather than an app?

HomeBeing experiments with using the simplest possible technology, asking as little as possible of our time and attention. Technology that opens a window onto life, then leaves us in peace.

That is why we chose calendars. Download all the reminders into your calendar at once and receive one ping a day, responding whenever it suits you. You need neither a new app nor an account. There is no feed to follow and nothing to hand in.

You decide what to read, what to skip and what to take with you. A reminder might spark a thought, a conversation or something enjoyable to try in everyday life. Reducing our use of technology should not become yet another daily obligation.

People are not products

Our time, attention and curiosity are precious. HomeBeing does not want to collect information about people and their interests to keep them on a screen for longer or sell them something.

You do not need to create an account to download a calendar. You do not send your responses to HomeBeing, record your participation or demonstrate progress. Whatever emerges for you can simply be yours.

The idea is for HomeBeing to earn income from content that people choose to buy. The aim is to keep adding material and sustain the project.

Although HomeBeing does not collect information for marketing purposes, using the site can still generate data. The hosting service may log visits, for example, and Spotify and calendar applications process information according to their own privacy policies. HomeBeing therefore cannot promise that no information about use will be recorded.

Technology is also an ethical question

When we choose technology, it matters to ask what kind of life it helps create. What does it make easier? What does it take away? Who benefits, and who bears the cost?

These questions concern our attention and privacy, but also people's work, creativity, power and the use of natural resources. They become just as pressing when artificial intelligence is involved. Even when technology is convenient and opens up new possibilities, we need to consider the consequences of using it.

That reflection belongs within HomeBeing. Part of this project is about recognising the connections between our everyday actions and the world they help shape.

HomeBeing uses artificial intelligence

Parts of HomeBeing are created with the help of artificial intelligence. Anna Lára Steindal is the project's author and uses this technology to develop ideas, create content and communicate. She is responsible for the material published by HomeBeing.

There can be a paradox in using artificial intelligence to encourage people to nurture their relationship with nature, think about sustainability and turn their attention away from technology. HomeBeing acknowledges this and takes the discussion of AI's effects on nature and communities seriously. These include energy and resource use, working conditions, copyright and the concentration of power.

Good intentions do not automatically justify every means of pursuing them. Such reflection must also be able to lead us to change our minds. Technology can help us put questions into words and recognise new possibilities. Ultimately, though, it is our responsibility to decide what to do with those possibilities and whether we can put them in service of the community of life.