A bartender invented putting a lime in a Corona. That small habit spread and made Corona the most popular beer worldwide. We have folk wisdom for food—"An apple a day." What's our folk wisdom for technology?
This was the question behind Gadget Rules, a project I talked about at a San Francisco hackerspace. In Japan, a belief that eating a KitKat before a test brings luck made Japan the world's largest KitKat consumer—by 10x. The "Holy Grail" in public health is to create a maxim that goes viral—a simple saying that changes behavior at scale.
Michael Pollan's Food Rules collected these for eating: "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." "Only eat foods that will eventually rot." "Eat your colors." Simple sayings that create a culture around healthier choices.
But by 2010, smartphones had been out for three years, and we were noticing something uncomfortable. Our behavior was changing in ways we didn't understand. Nicholas Carr's The Shallows captured the moment—it had become harder to read long books, something that used to be easy. Around food, we have norms, etiquette, and folk wisdom. Around technology, we were consuming as fast as we could, with no cultural tools to guide us.
So I started Gadget Rules: short, memorable sayings for healthier relationships with technology. One example: "To sleep in the dark"—simple, memorable, backed by research on light and circadian rhythms.
My favorite gadget rule: "Have a gadget hero." Pick a role model—even one from antiquity—and think about how they would use technology. The thought experiment sounds odd ("How would Jesus use an iPhone?") but it's useful. It forces you to step outside your habits and consider what intentional technology use might look like.
Technology changes our values. Socrates opposed literacy—he feared we'd lose our powerful memories, which he saw as sacred. That's not our value anymore. We might feel nostalgic for slow, focused reading, but future generations might see it as inefficient.
The culture around technology is still being formed. Gadget Rules was an attempt to contribute—to create sayings and norms that help us use technology more thoughtfully.
