The world of GenAI: get an answer to anything and everything within seconds. No thinking required: just prompt and go. I’m all about technology and the wonders GenAI brings to our world. But sometimes I wonder: at what cost?
Once a week, on Sundays, I try to have a screenless day. A day where I try to minimize looking at screens, the digital world if you will.
I got the idea from a book I read a few years ago entitled The Revenge of Analog: Real Things and Why They Matter. It was written by a Canadian writer David Sax who focuses on the analog vs digital life, among other things.
The whole idea is that by using analog tools, not digital tools, you get time to think. Perhaps today, with all the issues about what GenAI may be doing to the development of younger lawyers’ critical skills, we need to revisit the notion.
Revenge of Analog
Sax argues in his book and elsewhere that as technology improves there is still–and perhaps even–more value in physical, analog experiences.
Sax is no Luddite. He embraces technology just not completely. As an example he cites the fact that retailers and tech companies that fuse digital with analog to get better outcomes.
According to Sax from his book, “In many cases, an older analog tool or approach simply works better. Its inherent inefficiency grows coveted; its weakness becomes a renewed strength.” The natural constraints of analog can actually increase productivity.
And this was before the advent of AI
Why? He puts it this way:
“The real world isn’t black or white. It is not even gray. Reality is multicolored, Infinitely textured, and emotionally layered. It smells funky and tastes weird and revels in human imperfection. The best ideas emerge from that complexity, which remains beyond the capability of digital technology to fully appreciate. The real world matters, now more than ever.”
And this was before the advent of AI.
Analog and Legal Profession
The notion that we need to embrace the analog while still using technology in its place is not foreign to the leading observers of the legal profession. One of the foremost thinkers in legal tech is Cat Moon. Moon is the Co-Director of the Program on Law and Innovation (PoLI) at the Vanderbilt Law School. She is also a professor on the practice of law and technology, a lawyer, and founding Co-Director of the Vanderbilt AI Law Lab. According to her LinkedIn page, “I empower law students to enter the practice of law with the skills and characteristics needed to thrive and lead change to make our profession better, and, most importantly, to #MakeLawBetter.”
Moon is certainly no Luddite.
I attended a tech presentation Moon gave at the ABA TechShow earlier this year. In that presentation, she actually passed out pencils and paper to the participants and asked them to write out ideas. In doing so she mentioned the idea that writing things down helps you remember them.
I asked Moon about this later. She told me she uses analog works sheets all the time. It forces people to get off their screens and focus on what they are doing, she says. It increases engagement of her students across the board.
Moon didn’t make this idea up: she cites research that “the unique, complex, spatial and tactile information associated with writing by hand on physical paper is likely what leads to improved memory.”
Says Moon:
“I’ve been using ‘canvases’ on paper for years and there is no doubt in my mind that folks engage more deeply when they’re all working around a physical piece of paper rather than a screen.
I also use ‘fun’ writing instruments often, like crayons and colored pencils. Even using colorful post it notes and sharpies seems to increase engagement and creativity.”
David Sparks and MacSparky
David Sparks is a long time Apple and tech enthusiast. He describes himself on his website as a “nerd since birth”. He runs MacSparky as resource to teach people how to be more productive with Apple technology. These resources include a blog, Field Guides, a podcast, a Newsletter, a YouTube Channel, and a community resource called MacSparky Labs. While much of his content is not legal related, Sparks often weaves his experiences as a long time practicing business lawyer into his content.
Sparks is no Luddite.
But when it’s time to come up with ideas and tasks to be done, what does he do? He rolls up his sleeves and uses a good old number two pencil
But when it’s time to come up with ideas and tasks to be done, what does he do? He rolls up his sleeves and uses a good old number two pencil. Says Sparks in a recent article entitled In Praise Of Pencils, “I very much have an analog side. Sometimes I find slowing down and writing things down helps me process thoughts a little better.”
As he has also noted, “Digital storage is great but there are moments when a pen (or pencil) and paper are simply the right tools for the job.”
Practicing What You Preach
After reading Sax’ book, I tried to adopt his practice of honoring one day a week as a screenless day. Most Sundays, I try to minimize my time on screens and use analog tools. I write my goals and objectives for the day with a fountain pen on a Leuchtturm notebook. I outline the week’s activities and often draft up an article outline. I use notecards and, on occasion, a physical whiteboard.
I have found the process refreshing. It focuses my thinking on what needs to be done and the priority. When I outline an article and then actually draft it later in the week, I find the actual preparation to go faster. I look forward to the day; I relish slowing down and thinking about what I am doing.
I also try to read an actual physical book on my screenless day. There’s something about having a book in your hands. Seeing print on paper. It reduces the temptation to skim through the material to get to the end. It focuses me on what the writer is saying.
But with the advent of GenAI, even I struggle to maintain this practice. I have found myself spending less and less of my screenless days, well, screenless. It’s simply too tempting and so easy to just ask ChatGPT for any information. It’s fast, I tell myself, to just enter my “to dos” on my phone rather than writing them out. It’s faster to ask ChatGPT or Claude to outline something than doing it myself.
But when I look back, I find my work product to not be as good. My to dos for the week aren’t always prioritized correctly, they are just thrown together willy-nilly. The book I tried to read sits unread while I use digital summaries instead.
At the end of my partially aborted screenless day, I’m not as refreshed. I’m not as focused. My week is not as well organized, and my goals are not clear.
And I am not a Luddite.
It’s becoming a Cliff notes version of life
A Broader Perspective
It would be easy to dismiss Sax, Moon, Sparks and even me as old fashioned curmudgeons who are living in a glorified past. But I don’t think so. You can ask any of us about technology and we can tell you more than most anyone.
But if you dismiss what we’re saying and our warnings about technology, you miss an important point. Using tech has become so easy and with GenAI, so seductive, that we aren’t thinking critically. I and others have written about the dangers of GenAI to young lawyers and students since it offers answers without context and without the background to separate the wheat from the chaff. It replaces our logic formed by looking at issues and thinking, with what is superficial. It’s becoming a Cliff notes version of life.
None of us are saying ditch your screens and don’t use technology. We are saying don’t let it be the be all and end all. Take time to use analog tools. Take time to think. I know I’m going to double down on the analog on my screenless day. I encourage you to do the same.
Life is what happens when you’re busy looking at your phone
A Higher Reward
I grew up with listening to music on vinyl records. You waited for the release of an album. Then you went to the store and bought the record. You looked at the cover, read the liner notes. Then you listened to the record often completely; it was not just background noise. All of this was part of the musical experience. It took more time than using Spotify but as Sax points out, the entire act was “more involved and ultimately more rewarding”.
I have found the same with my analog screenless days. The more religiously I do them, the more rewarding they are. All too often we choice technology as an easy way and miss what’s really important.
And to paraphrase John Lennon, life is what happens when you’re busy looking at your phone. Don’t miss it.