“Tech Aspirations for 2025: 7 Resolutions I Know I’ll Break!”

This week marked New Year’s Day. Celebrations included fireworks and more. Similar to the previous year, I’ve crafted intentions for future Craig to overlook in favor of maintaining New Year’s resolutions aimed at cultivating a ‘Better Craig.’ For optimal guilt, my list is outlined below. Feel free to adopt these notions for your own – and just as effectively neglect them too.

1. Set up a robust Wi-Fi system

As is common, I received a router from my internet service provider. Uniquely, I managed to acquire one that actually performed well. However, it has aged. There’s a fair chance it might reset itself while I’m composing this piece. Additionally, there are sections of my residence that exist in a frightening pre-internet existence, without any connectivity. Thus: a mesh network is calling. Yet, the prospect of reconnecting numerous devices terrifies me.

2. Cease doomscrolling

Twitter’s evolution into X nudged me away from social media for about five minutes. First, I explored Mastodon. Then I moved to Bluesky. The latter’s homage to mid-era Twitter is so complete that my feed resembles what it looked like during Twitter’s prime. I now recognize that this was not necessarily beneficial for my mental well-being. I doubt I’ll stop scrolling, but my feeds could use a reduction in doom. More mini Schnauzers, comics, and Lego, essentially.

3. Revive cherished gadgets

In this year, I downgraded an iPad Air to iOS 10 without setting it ablaze. Now, it serves as an excellent archiving device for vintage iPad games. Last year, all I resurrected was the continuous guilt regarding malfunctioning gadgets accumulating dust in a drawer. Particularly a valuable Game & Watch with a displeased display. I’ve been informed that fixing it is straightforward. Given my inadequate skills in restoring aged gadgets, it could very well be until the next New Year’s resolutions list for me to tackle this task.

4. Streamline my vintage consoles

Speaking of gadgets collecting dust in drawers, it’s time I acknowledge I have an issue. I have a penchant for collecting retro consoles, and I find it hard to stop. There was a time when I proudly displayed them on stands. Nowadays, they’re crammed within a cramped space, resembling a real-world game of Tetris using devices that can genuinely play Tetris. Perhaps if I arrange them in a proper line, they’ll just vanish?

5. Organize a personal backup archive

This New Year’s resolution holds significance since I realized last year that I’m unaware of the locations of substantial portions of my files. A myriad likely resides on one of my numerous hard drives, each requiring a uniquely exciting cable for power. At least I’ve procured sufficient SSDs to transfer everything after organizing it – and a sizable hard drive for backing up the SSDs. Now, I just need to replicate that enthusiasm into the effort needed.

6. Re-emphasize on tangible media

I depend on my smartphone excessively. My reliance on digital content is significant. Additionally, I experience decision paralysis. My clever strategy: make a conscious effort regarding entertainment by returning to physical media. Listen to more CDs. Engage in more reading. Play games on cartridges, even if contemporary cartridges really are SD cards in disguise. The iPhone can simply step aside. Alternatively, use Apple Intelligence to list it on eBay, accompanied by a description, “My owner seems to be experiencing a mid-life crisis. Kindly purchase me. Free shipping!”

7. Accomplish all the tasks I neglected last year

This aspect might pose a challenge since I can’t locate last year’s checklist, though I did compose one for Stuff two years prior. And… I still haven’t completed many of those tasks. I failed to ‘simplify’ everything. I abandoned a streaks system. My phone continues to be in use during late hours. All of which is not encouraging. At least this year I haven’t vowed to organize my cables. As if that was ever going to occur.