I have owned a Mudita Kompakt for one week. That week is the reason I am writing — not a support ticket, not feedback in the usual sense, but an open letter and an offer. What triggered my interest in your project was the product itself: the Kompakt.
For many years I have tried to bring consciousness to my relationship with technology — to the conditions of experience and of presence that the contemporary world produces, and to the sense of anguish it installs in us. Much has been said about the “attention economy”. I believe that is only the tip of the iceberg of much deeper questions, at the level of individual experience as much as of our collective horizon.
Let me turn to my particular, practical case. Every situation is different, and you cannot tell everyone that a phone that only calls and sends SMS is enough. In my case: I own a personal training centre in Madrid. I use no specialised software, but two tools are essential to my work, at least when I’m not at home doing online work — WhatsApp and Google Calendar. Perhaps, years ago, I could have built a different kind of client relationship that did not pass through those tools; the truth is I have used them for years and they serve me well. And for years, they were exactly what blocked my transition to a simpler phone. I tried Nokias and other models, and there was always some problem: linking WhatsApp to the computer so I could work calmly from a desktop, or something else.
I have had the Kompakt for one week, and my feeling is this: for every problem, I am able to find a solution. I have arranged with my bank to validate operations by SMS. For transport in my city and for payments, physical cards; for access to various places, QR codes. Google Calendar through Firefox for small schedule changes; email through Thunderbird. In short: after one week, I am seriously considering getting rid of my iPhone, with my working stack becoming the Kompakt and, at home, a computer for online live sessions.
All of which brings me to why I am writing. I am deeply aligned with the ethics and the aesthetics of this project. I say “ethics and aesthetics” rather than “values”, because “values” is a word the corporate world has already worn out — too often used, together with “community”, to mask not-very-edifying relations. In this case, I mean it.
That alignment includes respecting your bets. I do not understand, for example, why some users protest decisions like the home screen presenting only a few apps instead of all of them. I understand many criticisms — without sideloading, the Kompakt would not be my device — but others forget that the aesthetic and technical choices of the company you are buying from deserve respect.
And because I am aligned, I would like to offer something. Nothing concrete yet — simply to explain who I am and to extend a hand.
My profile is somewhat heterodox. I graduated in Political Science. After a change of direction, I graduated again in Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, and I have spent the last eight years working in the field of physical health ever since. The last four of those years I have focused on proposals that counteract the effects of a sedentary lifestyle, with an emphasis on joint health and what I call joint longevity. Alongside the in-person work at the centre, I have also delivered online joint-mobility sessions for the employees of companies such as Decathlon. One caveat I insist on with my own clients: “longevity”, like “values”, is a word the market converts into a marketing claim. What underlies the techno-oligarchs’ obsession with extending life is, in reality, an infantile denial of death. That is not the longevity I work on.
As for what I can offer: I have no programming knowledge; that is not what I bring. What I can offer is thinking — about the philosophy of the project, its communication, its strategy — and availability: I am happy to talk with whoever on your team this might be useful to.
And one idea. Alongside the Meditation app, the Kompakt could host a minimal viable intervention against the main physical problems that sedentary life causes us. Beyond what our technological conditions do to our mental health, they also have harmful effects at the physical level — and I believe a simple intervention is possible. Not training as it is usually understood, but simple, inclusive movements from which everyone benefits: the trained person who needs to keep their joints healthy, and the completely sedentary person, each with their own range of motion and intensity. I am aware of the device’s graphic limitations: this is not a phone for watching videos, and how to do this well is still to be worked out.
Everything indicates that you have gained a loyal user who will enjoy this device — and who, when the next one arrives, will follow. What remains is admiration, and a hand extended.
With gratitude and respect,
Iván