Clear Your Cache: Offline Routines in an AI World
Share
This week, a friend of mine told me that Claude, one of the leading AI assistants, was finally being installed on all the computers in her workplace. While the employees were excited, as with many tech installations before it, it was bumpy. The app kept crashing on their regular browsers, leading to long wait times on projects and frustration.
As the world goes more and more artificially intelligent, or on-chain, whichever phrase you prefer, the need for patience that tech is asking from its users is great. Offline routines are one way to release that frustration and increase patience, and that is what we offer at Shop Purple Umbrella: a way to shift offline in an online world. The online world right now is not without its own obvious stress. According to the American Psychological Association, workers who worry that AI will replace their jobs are significantly more likely to feel tense or stressed during the workday. The APA also found that nearly half of Americans reported feeling more anxious in 2024 than the year before, a number that has been climbing steadily since 2022. For some, they think this stress is just them, their office, company, city, or sector, but it is much broader. Gallup's 2024 State of the Global Workplace report found that 41% of employees worldwide feel a lot of stress each day.
So then the problem becomes not AI is here, but how do you greet AI? There are a variety of different ways you can go to combat stress, a light workout, journaling, or meditating with a candle are just a few. The most important thing is that you pick something to lessen the anxiety and frustration. While AI assistants like Claude are here to stay, the way we co-exist with them in the world is something we still control, at least for now.
This is, strangely, a pro-tech argument: if we do not clear our own cache and search history offline, continuing to be participants in the AI revolution will be much harder than it needs to be.
Not Knowing Where To Start: