De-automating

I find I’m automating things less, rather than more. I have automatic software updates turned off on both my phone and my laptop. I turned off spell check and autocomplete on my phone and on my email. You can get messages with typos from me, it’s fine, it’s organic! I turned off Gmail’s smart features and now I just unsubscribe from annoying spam lists instead of letting Google filter everything. The autogenerated “thread summaries” of personal email chains with friends were just too intrusive and unpleasant. I do have some of my bills set to autopay, but not my credit card bill; you do want to attend, at least once a month, to what you’re spending money on! I know, I know, efficiency. But one thing I’ve found after decades of adult life is that, when I’m inefficient, it’s not because things take too much time to do; it’s because I’m avoiding something I don’t feel like doing. No amount of automation can cure that.