Contraction can be dangerously self-limiting. If you take it too far you sink into the bog. But expansion can be dangerously grandiose. If you take expansion too far you crash and burn.

This crash and burn syndrome is now relevant in debates about "the right to be forgotten." Haunted by their most foolish years, people are beginning to fight for internet contraction.

A push for contraction can also be seen in the rise of so- called "slow movements" across other disciplines. But contraction is more than just moving slowly - it means active decline.

Every time you breathe out, pushing the diaphragm upwards to empty your lungs, you accept decline. I love to hold out. I love decline as much as I love growth. And I do not want to force the expansion of my life through external technologies.

Unforced contraction means yielding to decline. If the word "contraction" is off-putting, consider it more like pruning blossoms at the end of a season so that the new flowers have a place to grow. Yes they are blossoms, but they have had their time and are finished.