Um. I do grow my own food. Not all of it granted, but a little household planning makes my wife's trips to the store pretty efficient. The rest comes from the g

Um. I do grow my own food. Not all of it granted, but a little household planning makes my wife's trips to the store pretty efficient. The rest comes from the garden, which we've had no problem managing ourselves without a database telling us when the carrots should be coming ready. There was a great article in Wired a while ago about how the Amish have been misunderstood as being luddites for a long time. Rather, they make as much of an informed decision about how much technology they let into their culture as possible so as to disrupt the positive aspects of their society as little as possible. That's not to say their experiment is perfect or a model for everyone else, but there is something to be said for taking a measured approach to introducing new tech and data to our lives. As one example, learning to keep track of how long you've been using your current toothbrush can seem boring and un-useful, but it's those little skills that you teach your children that help them manage other, more socially-important, aspects of their lives. Sure, the adults in the house can get a leg up on keeping track of household items, but imagine for a moment a child growing up in a world where big data tracks their needs and things magically arrive when they need them. Suddenly we must be much, much more focused and intentional about teaching them basic management skills, rather than having them taught organically via their everyday experiences.