I've come to the conclusion that a lot of tech (and other general parts of how we do things, how we live life) has lost a fairly ineffable quality that was present throughout basically all of history, which is probably a big part of why people have this strong nostalgia for the past.

It's hard to put into words, but like how almost ALL lighting has historically come from things getting hot enough to glow, then in the past few decades we've been using completely alien ways to produce light and it just doesn't work with our brains (people famously detest fluorescent lights) and it just ends up as a background detail that overall makes you feel worse.

I think.. "intentionality", is the guiding word. We need to be more intentional about what we do, how we do it. Take a minute every now and then to consider if this is the best way to do things, is the default ringtone on my phone actually bringing me joy or would i prefer something personal?
Do i like taking this route to work, or would i enjoy life more if i just left 10 minutes earlier and took another route?
Maybe i should go to a thrift shop and get some nice engraved cutlery, so every time i pull it out of the drawer i get just a tiny hit of "my pretty cutlery :)"