about

I am Samuel Pitonak. These practices come from my own attempt to change my relationship with technology and live through the trade-offs.

The journey began in January 2023 with a drastic digital reset. Technology had taken too much of my attention, so I stripped my phone back to the essentials and returned to pen, paper, and analog journaling. The distance helped me decide which digital tools deserved a place in my life. I gradually brought useful tools back, then started examining privacy, data portability, provider dependence, and my ability to leave. The names came later: first self-awareness, digital minimalism, and tech independence; then reset, reclaim, optimize; and eventually Paper First Life and Journal Companions.

The aim is to make deliberate choices, keep compromises visible, and put life back in charge of the tools around it. Technology remains part of that life.

publishing trail

fwt. began publicly through writing on Substack in January 2025. Writing there helped me become more confident sharing the ideas before I started documenting the journey through weekly videos on the #freewithtech YouTube channel.

The Substack remains available as an archive. Neither channel currently follows a regular publishing schedule, but I plan to publish new #freewithtech videos on YouTube again.

affiliation

I created and independently maintain fwt. The paid fwt. axis and fwt. joex apps are first-party products I build and own. Links to them are not affiliate links. I will label any future sponsored or affiliate relationship clearly.

source

The software is MIT-licensed. The practice content is CC BY-SA 4.0.

the public trail

I started documenting fwt. publicly in early 2025 and made it my full-time focus for much of that first year: publishing weekly videos, shaping the ideas, and building and releasing apps. The path has changed direction more than once. I now think of this second year as an integration year: learning how to sustain the brand for the long term without sacrificing the rest of my life to it. These videos preserve that process as it happened.

Browse the complete YouTube trail.

timeline

  1. January 2023

    Digital reset

    Digital tools had taken too much of my attention, so I removed every app from my iPhone and returned to analog journaling. That extreme change became the beginning of the reset, reclaim, optimize journey.

  2. Early 2025

    Making the journey public

    I began publishing fwt. writing on Substack. It gave me room to become more confident creating content before I started documenting the journey through weekly videos on the #freewithtech YouTube channel. Together, they created a public trail of the practices, experiments, and changes in thinking.

  3. June-October 2025

    From companion apps to Journal Companions

    I began building small Apple Watch tools in June. By July, I was demonstrating fwt. axis and fwt. joex and inviting people to test them through TestFlight. I released fwt. axis and fwt. joex in September, then launched Journal Companions in October. This gave a name to the broader idea that small digital tools can support a paper-centered system while remaining secondary. Read about the Journal Companions concept.

  4. November 2025

    Wrist-first experiment

    I changed my cellular setup so a smartwatch could handle essential communication while my phone stayed away for longer. This became the wrist-first concept and an ongoing test of constrained technology.

  5. February 2026

    Naming Paper First Life

    I introduced Paper First Life as the clearest expression of paper's role in my system. It remains an anchor within the broader #freewithtech practice. Read about the Paper First Life concept.

  6. April-August 2026

    Building the practice database

    In April, I wrote down the practices and unresolved compromises in my own life for the first time. I rebuilt and expanded the list in July, checked it against the YouTube trail, and used it to create the first live #freewithtech practice database. Through July and August, it became directly linkable practices, concerns, concepts, and journey entry points.

  7. September 2026

    Launching the practice database

    I replaced the previous public landing with the live #freewithtech practice database. The earlier version remains available at v3.freewith.tech, while the new site turns the ideas into concrete practices people can search, adapt, and keep in their own collection.

support this work

I publish the live #freewithtech practice database freely. These are paid Apple Watch apps I built as Journal Companions. Buying one supports my continued work on fwt.

Track just 6 habits daily.
Live a balanced life.

A habit tracker for Apple Watch with integrations to Health for mood and mindful session tracking.

Go to App StoreRead more

Offload everything.
Continue the moment.

A capture tool for Apple Watch that makes offloading super easy in order to remain present.

Go to App StoreRead more