Living With Technology, Quietly

Technology is designed to be noticed. Glossy plastic, status lights, logos placed where you cannot miss them. In a room you are trying to keep calm, that is a problem you can solve without giving anything up.

Deal with cables first

Nothing undermines a room faster than cables. They are also the easiest thing to fix. Cables that match the wall or the furniture disappear; white cables against a dark wall do not.

One roll-up organiser for the bag and one fixed run behind the desk covers almost every household.

Kill the standby lights

A bedroom with four small glowing dots is not a dark room. Electrical tape over standby LEDs is inelegant and completely effective. Better still, buy devices that do not have them.

Choose matte over gloss

The same object in a matte finish reads as an object; in high gloss it reads as a gadget. This is most of the difference between technology that sits well in a room and technology that shouts.

Give charging one location

Charging everywhere means cables everywhere. One spot — a shelf, a drawer, a tray by the door — collects the mess into a place you have decided on, and has the side effect of keeping phones out of the bedroom.

Warm light, always

Any light source you can control should be warm. A cool white desk lamp will fight every other light in the room. 2700K is the number to look for.

Fewer, better, and repairable

The most calming thing you can do with technology is own less of it. One good pair of headphones beats three mediocre ones, and the decision of which to use disappears.