This 14" antique knife switch turns my cell phone and internet service on and off. Using this switch requires significant effort. Not all interactions with technology should be "frictionless," which has been one of the recent goals of user experience design. Some decisions should be very deliberate and frictionful.

This project is possible because I live in a 19th century farmhouse in a rural area where there is no cell or internet service without using a signal booster. While technology is central to my work, living this way allows me to reflect on my relationship with it from a distance. Being surrounded by the physical evidence of how ordinary people lived for the last 150 years gives me a palpable sense of time when thinking about the future.