Hackaday’s own (Arya Voronova) has been making technology more personal by making it herself for several years and has just started writing about it. Her main point is especially true in this day and age, when many of the technological devices we could The programs they use to help us are instead used to spy on us or are designed to literally make us addicted to their services.
The project is both impossible and simple. Of course, you won’t be able to build a device that will fix all of your personal weaknesses (perceived or otherwise) in one fell swoop. But what if you started looking at them one by one? What if you started building good habits with the help of a fun DIY project?
And that’s where (Arya’s) plan could be genius. Since each project is supposed to be small, it forces you to focus on a specific problem rather than being discouraged by the impossibility of getting “better” in some vague overall sense. Any psychologist would tell you that introspection and breaking down complex problems are the first steps. And what motivates a hacker to take the next steps? That’s right, the fun of brainstorming, planning and building a beautiful, concrete DIY project. It’s like the ultimate motivation, Hackaday style.
And DIY solutions are a perfect fit for personal problems. Nothing is as customizable as what you design and build yourself from scratch. DIY means making exactly what you need, or at least what you think you need. Iteration, improvement, and the usual prototyping cycle applied to personal growth sounds like the ideal combination, because that’s how technology works, and that’s how people work too. Of course, even the coolest DIY device, for example, can’t make you more mindful instantly, but if it’s a tool that helps you get there, I don’t think you could ask for more.
