It all depends on the situation.  Sure, I believe in no cell phones because too many people are rude with them; and cable/satellite offer nothing truly worth watching.  However, some things are worth investing in, especially with the gas crisis.  

For example, I have a gaming system-- an Xbox 360.  It may be expensive, but for a total of around $500 or so (I bought mine close to when it came out, and the price includes stuff for a second player), I am able to make friends all over the world.  Better yet, I can play with the friends I graduated with who are four states away.  Sure, I could call them, but Xbox live allows me to play with 16-32 of them at once, all the while chatting.  It's definitely more fun to blow stuff up together.  I have even found new clients through this, as well as new friends from Australia.

So technology isn't all bad.  Oh, and I met my wife on the Internet 7 years ago.

ME! I HAVE BEEN A MINIMALIST FOR YEARS AND YEARS AND EVEN MORE YEARS. AND, I LOVE IT THAT WAY. NO TV. NO FANCY CAR. NO LIVING ROOM SET(MY LIVING ROOM IS MY DANCE FLOOR). SIMPLE CLOTHING AND SIMPLE AND NUTRITIOUS MEALS MADE BY ME TO MY STANDARDS.

PEOPLE COULD USE SOME LESSONS IN SIMPLE LIVING. THEY MAY GET THOSE LESSONS VERY SOON WHETHER THEY WANT THEM OR NOT.

I had a cell phone a couple of years ago and that was an extra one my brother had and let me use no charge. I used it as my primary phone for awhile(I did not talk much) mostly because our mother was in a nursing home and I was the one called . I no loner have it and do miss having it mainly for emergency contact when I am out at night for school. I do have cable (TV and internet) for my only primary source of entertainment and the computer for school. Since I do not spend money that I deem unneeded for me, I allow myself the cable. I do not go on vacations(I don't care for traveling much) and I do not have any kind of game system. Each person is different in their wants and needs and it's all good.

You all sound like a bunch of old fat ladies...Wal-Mart goers... always looking in the pile of never fashioned clothes and garage sales.

Get with the time people, technology is here to stay. How anyone uses it is a different story.

Dial-up, pleaseeeeee! I hated Dial-up since its first days, simply because the technology was never meant to carry data on the first place.

Get DSL or Cable for god sake. Web 2.0 is already here.

Even DSL light will be OK for the nickel & dime people.

I wish I could have more technology ( if I could afford it )

I read books, I go in Vacations, I only watch Discovery, Science channel, and the History channel. But you need cable for that...And HD is worth the upgrade. Nothing like watch the places you can not afford to go (for now) in 1080i  

I never play video games, because the low video resolution even on HD they still look very unrealistic to me. But I would definitely buy Microsoft Fly Simulator when video cards and computer power will be there to deliver almost real life experience.

Technology in every aspect is one of the greatest achievements of mankind. In despite of those times where its use is not so glorious or when it hurts our planet.

But, then again we use new technologies to find solutions create by old tecnologies.

All those great tireless minds that spent their entire life to make ours better doing research in new technologies are the real heroes to humanity. Because of them we can survive life everyday challenges; we can beat cancer and achieve more in life.

More respect to technology people, one day it might save your life, just the way it saved mine.

Well i think me and my hubby are pretty frugal. We rarely eat out, avoid the movie theatre, don't drink alcohol(which is a huge savings!), and limit buys based on wants rather than need, but I did stop to add up technology spending and i guess i didn't think about it as it seems so necessarry.  We spend 350-400/month on cable, internet, phone, cell phones, fax, and that does not include the added elctricity.  I think we are going to have to have a chat and see if we can trim a bit more.  We are shooting for retired by 50 and with some more trimming off the technology maybe we can do it early or at least have bettter retirement at 50.  

Im 26 yr and have been able to piece together a 130k retirement portfolio by living low tech and not trying to compete with the joneses. It seems everyone wants new $250 sneakers and designer clothes that work no better then my $45 dollar sneakers and jeans trying to impress other people. Who cares what other people think... most are in debt up to their eyeballs trying to impress people they dont know.

I do spurgle on somethings like books and I have my button down shirts tailored but only because off the rack doesnt fit me as I am tall with long arms.

I have set my financial goals to have 250K in investments by age 30 and am on track to beat that currently.

     Everyone has their own budgets and has to decide where to put their hard earned money. I admit, I do like tech, to an extent. I have a cell, with the minimum plan, but I don't text. I still do not have a big/ widescreen tv, seeing how the economy is going I'd rather have the $2000 in savings. Will I get one eventually? Yes.

    I believe in everything in moderation. I pay my-futureself first, meaning 401k, investments, and savings, then I pay my-present self.

    I mean what do I truly need in life, if you want to be extreme, I need a place to sleep, food, water, and clothing. Everything else is a want not a need.

    I do not have any credit card debt, and it will stay that way. But I will still "waste" money on things that I could do without, but choose not to.

Hmm...somebody praising the low tech lifestyle on an internet blog.  Kind of ironic, isn't it?

A reminder: I didn't say you SHOULDN'T use technology. I simply suggested thinking about how we use it and why.

No one is saying that technology is inherently bad. I'm using it right now, in fact.

Thanks for reading.

When I read this article "the low-tech life..." I immediately began to think - living with pre-1980s technology.

Nope.

Switching from a "cell phone" to a "pre-paid phone"?!!!!  That's like switching from a cordless phone to a corded phone, it's not much different.

Not using cable TV or a phone, but using Skype/Internet access???  What's "low-tech" about that???

Phlueeze.  This isn't even about living low-tech.  It's about making a calculated choice not to have one "high-tech" pleasure, but instead replacing it with something else (usually the Internet) that still requires a $1,000 computer and a $40+ per month broadband Internet account.  I'd at least believe the article if their ONLY Internet access was the occassional (i.e. once a week or less) use of a public computer at a public library or school, the only phone was a corded landline phone with basic (local) service only without long distance, either no TV or at least off-the-air TV only (no cable TV), and using newspapers and magazines for reading up on current events.