I am no Luddite.

Why someone so steeped in technology is digital detoxing.

Photo by Fethi Benattallah on Unsplash

My home is smart. My devices are always on me.

I have three pieces of technology that monitor my health and wellness. I’ve come to rely on many devices.

That is why I am doing a digital detox. Not in the sense that I’m getting rid of all of my technology, or most of it.

I’m probably not going to convert to a dumb phone¹, but I want to limit distraction.

My 2025 Yearly Theme was The Year of Being Present. I want to double down on that in 2026.

I want to do more things in the real world. I want to learn about how things are made in the real world, without the assistance of technology.

It’s undeniable that technology has gotten me to where I am today. I often joke that without computers I’d have no skills, and that’s the problem. I know I’m a good teacher, and teachers don’t require computers to teach. But my life relies on technology.

I want Paper and Smoke to be the antithesis of that. AI and algorithms are taking over everything; the tactile, the in-person connections, the physical are all significantly more important to me.

I want to focus on my real-world hobbies and less on technology. I want to focus more on showing up for people in the real world. I want to show that AI isn’t intelligent, and it cannot save us from the hard work of doing things well.

I want to help people do more things with real people and real tools…without the complete and utter reliance on technology. Paper and Smoke is going to help me do that.

I’m going to cover how things are made. I’m going to cover how I am digital detoxing. I’m going to cover how I’m balancing my technology-heavy profession with real-world hobbies and real-world events.

And I’m going to do some deep research into how these things are affecting us. I’m going to rely on AI as little as possible².

Paper and Smoke pays homage to my favorite non-tech, non-digital hobbies. I love fountain pens, I love notebooks, I love analog tools. And I love smoking cigars. I love drinking coffee.

The feel of the paper, the sound of writing on it, is a tactile, visceral feeling. And the smoke from a cigar or coffee shows that you’re doing something in the real world. That you’re taking some time for yourself.

But the name also pays homage to two of the most significant human inventions in history: paper, and fire.

This is Paper and Smoke. It’s a look at how real-world craft happens, through the lens of a technologist going through digital detox. In a society increasingly online (and outsourcing thinking to AI), Paper and Smoke celebrates the real, the tangible, and the analog.

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1. Though I’d be lying if I didn’t say I’m dumbphone-curious.

2. It’s important for me to disclose though, to my great shame, Google Gemini actually came up with the name Paper and Smoke. I’m disappointed in myself for not being able to come up with something better. But man. It’s a good name, and the .com was available.