An MIT student and his wife gave up electricity, phones, running water and motorised tools for 18 months; then concluded that less technology made life harder but more meaningful

For most people, technology is meant to make life easier. For Eric Brende, an MIT graduate student studying the relationship between technology and society, he decided to test that assumption in everyday life. So, in the 1990s, Brende and his wife, Mary, left behind many of the conveniences they had grown up with and spent 18 months in a deliberately low-tech community.According to WIRED, the experiment eventually became the basis of Brende’s 2004 book Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology. His experience was less a rejection of modern inventions than an attempt to understand when convenience stops being useful and starts creating new demands. Brende described how he and his wife lived without telephones, running water, modern refrigeration and motorised machines. They did, however, retain a Ford Escort, which Brende admitted they used more often than strictly necessary.Life without the usual conveniencesThey lived among a group Brende called “Minimites,” whose way of life resembled the Amish but relied less on technology. They made sure to keep their location secret so that they could remain away from the outside world. Their experiment meant that tasks they once handled with technology at home now had to be done by hand. Water had to be gathered in unconventional ways, and food had no refrigerator for storage.The community, however, found its way of making things convenient. According to WIRED, the community would make use of a hydraulic ram in order to push water uphill, and a wood-burning stove to generate heat and cook food at the same time. In winters, the ice collected from ponds and preserved under sawdust was used for refrigerating purposes. Moreover, the water wheel was used to power the rotary saw used in the lumber factory of the community. That distinction mattered a great deal to Brende. The experiment was not about returning to a time without tools.When saving time creates more workThe most surprising thing was that getting rid of labour-saving technology did not automatically mean that everything became worse. Some tasks became much harder, but Brende found other aspects of daily life improved. Brende and Mary encountered a similar principle during their experiment, as everyday tasks such as growing food, preparing meals and handling household work required more manual effort. The extra effort also gave neighbours more chances to help one another by turning some chores into group tasks. Brende reached a similar conclusion from his own experience, though he could not prove it would apply to everyone. Ultimately, the question was how much technology people actually need.A different definition of progressThe 18-month experiment also made Brende rethink his view of leisure. He was initially drawn to the idea that technology would save time and create more free time. What he found instead was that technology came with its own demands, including maintenance, expenses and the need to work harder to afford it.In a 2004 interview with WBUR, Brende said that the couple's experience showed him that people who began working early on farms could sometimes have more genuine leisure than people living faster-paced, technology-heavy lives. Research on technology non-use provides broader context for that observation. Brende did not return from the experiment arguing that everyone should abandon electricity or modern machinery. Instead, his conclusion was more modest: convenience should not automatically be equated with a better life. Doing things the harder way could sometimes bring exercise, more contact with neighbours and a greater awareness of the work involved.That is the central lesson of Better Off. Brende moved from MIT, one of the world’s best-known centres of technological innovation, to a community where technology was deliberately reduced. After 18 months, he realised that some things would indeed become harder with less technology. At the same time, he found that the work became more tangible and enjoyable.You use AI every day. Now get your AI Quotient. Take the AIQ test.