Why I Am Not Going to Buy a Computer
by Wendell Berry
This essay explores Berry’s resistance and reluctance to the advancements in technology. He talks about his refusal to buy into a new technological age and in turn, not to buy or use a computer. First published in 1987, this essay explores the topic in a witty and charmingly outdated way.
What really made this worth the read to me was how it was published. This book compiles readers’ letters they sent in filled with their reactions and thoughts. Most of these take a stance in defense of the computer and critique Berry’s reasoning. What interested me was even if you didn’t always agree, much like the reader that wrote in, Berry makes you think. Why do we adapt to new technologies so quickly and easily? Is it always beneficial to us? Does it really make things easier? He contemplates all these questions and leaves the reader thinking about them as well. By compiling people’s reactions and responses to his published works, he opens the space for new ideas and the conversation to be continued.
‘We’, as in the people of society, always look for things to be efficient, fast. We need more all the time. But Berry contrasts this saying “If the use of a computer is a new idea, then a newer idea is not to use one." New, he thinks, is not always better and the striving toward new can be an undoing.
It wraps up with Berry’s reaction to the readers’ reaction. This second essay, “Feminism, the Body, and the Machine,” didn’t sit as well with me. It aged quite poorly and his thoughts about feminism leave much to be desired. One of the issues is that it feels like he is coming out on the defensive. Instead of coming to the criticisms of his work in good faith, he is clearly offended and tries to explain why everyone is wrong. There is a whole section on the fact that his wife types for him and how it isn’t oppressive. That everyone who read his essay that way is just plain wrong. It makes the reader go on alert with the tone.
Though the essay, in an ironic way, did feel like social media in that the photos or videos people post, in this case an essay, are only a few moments of a day and can be so easily taken for real life. I’m sure Berry did not intend it that way, but it felt like that to me.
Aside from that, the conversational quality of this was what made me enjoy the read the most. This collection of texts examines the topic from different times, people, and points of view. There was a back and forth between writer and reader. Short and to the point, Berry articulates his points about materialism and our relationship with technology and how it affects our values.
There’s heart here and it’s impressive how relevant this still is decades after it was written. Berry says, “My wish simply is to live my life as fully as I can. In both our work and our leisure, I think, we should be so employed. And in our time this means that we must save ourselves from the products that we are asked to buy in order, ultimately, to replace ourselves.”
How do I live a life “as fully as I can”? While I don’t think in order to “save ourselves” we must separate ourselves from the new, I do think there is truth to the fact that we should be intentional with how we spend our time and what tools / products we choose to rely on. While using a computer is often the only option nowadays, we can try to take the time and think about why that is; to acknowledge the systems which make it that way.