The assault of technology, from e-mail to cell phones, is causing a backlash against electronic overkill. By night, he leads a monastic life far from the digital crowd and its chirping, blinking gadgets. Technology was supposed to free us and make our lives easier, but it's done the opposite. He and his wife, Nilima, sleep on the floor on a comforter and two pillows. I don't need all those laptops and cell phones and Palm Pilots.
Technology is a tool to make things, to create something of lasting value.
It's not meant to control my life. I won't let it enslave me. Desai and a growing cadre of consumers and business people are modern-day Luddites. As the new economy roars into the 21st century, they're part of a rising, populist backlash against technology overkill, the omnipresence of the Internet and the teeth-gnashing demands of the digital lifestyle at work and home. That's nearly double the number of those who had dropped out by 1998.