Introducing Gadget Rules

It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that we introduce Gadget Rules, a growing collection of guidelines for using technology in ways that best serve our bodies, our minds, and each other. The first three rules are available, and an additional rule will be published weekly (follow @GadgetRule for updates).

David Siegel gives an account of how the idea for the project came about:

At 2:30 a.m., the iPad on my desk spontaneously turned on. Its bright screen illuminated my bedroom, waking me from a peaceful sleep amid a stretch of sleepless nights.

“I’ve violated some unwritten rule about having gadgets near my bed–that’s why an iPad has gained this rude capacity to wake me at 2:30 in the morning,” I thought.

I went to the kitchen to make tea, and began writing a list of rules meant to protect my sleep and waking life from the growing presence of high-tech devices. I called the list “Gadget Rules,” having just read Michael Pollan’s “Food Rules,” a book whose form and tone I greatly enjoyed.

Watch “Thoughts on Gadget Rules” for more insight into the motivations behind the project.