Direct Deposit

March 1, 2025

When I got my first checkbook in high school, I had to learn how to use it. I would write checks for things and then periodically have to balance my checkbook to keep the balance up to date based on any deposits, withdrawels, debits, or credits against my account. It was mostly silly stuff like haircuts, new shoes I wanted, etc. I was just a kid, and checks were basically the only way I had to pay, except for cash.

Before electronic money became the norm (I think I was writing checks for haircuts in the…early 2010s?), I remember people having to “balance the checkbook” as one of their household chores. Money used to be more manual. Before the days of direct deposit, you’d be issued a physical “paycheck” that you would deposit at your bank, or you’d be given physical currency (e.g. a denarius for a day’s wages) that you’d have to manage in other ways. Budgeting was done on paper, by hand. Transactions were the visceral exchange of physical items (you get a Benjamin, I get groceries).

Now, everything is automatic. This has benefits, of course, including speed and security. My paycheck goes directly to my account every two weeks; I don’t have to worry about losing the money I earned via physical theft or negligence. But technological advancements are not strictly improvements. Everything is a tradeoff. Something is an improvement only with respect to a chosen metric, like “efficiency” or “speed” or “cost”. Some metrics are easy to quantify, like “GDP”. Others, like “national economic wellbeing” are harder, and may not even count as “metrics”, but they are still things. Things matter, even the ones that are hard to measure, but easier to feel. Congrats, you’re a Luddite now.

I’m pretty good with my money. But, I feel as though I don’t have much control over it. This is ironic, because the biggest selling point of the modern machinery of computers is the immense amount of control they offer. In finance, accounting software keeps our books balanced, bots execute trades in milliseconds on Wall Street, payment providers make automatic debits against our checking accounts to pay debts and bills, and household budgeting software to automatically tracks and categorizes our transactions. Everything stays controlled, but we aren’t actually the ones controlling it. The rise of electronic money put money outside of our moral and rational reach. We can instantly pay for something on Amazon without any apparent transaction; all I did was click a few buttons, and I recieved shiny new packages on my doorstep. We can zip dollars around the internet on a whim, as fast as the speed of desire. We have Netflix, Spotify, iCloud, and other subscription services that quietly sip money out of our checking accounts while we sleep. Debts plague our balance sheets, and credit cards make our wallets obese. The average American household is drowning in automated financial complexity.

The solution to the complexity always seems to be more complexity. Use fancy household budgeting software like You Need a Budget to have visibility into all your transactions. Turn on alerts for account balances at your bank. Pay for TurboTax Premium to file your income tax returns. Get coupons for online shopping with Honey. Sign up for a subscription service that will help you find and cancel other subscription services. Buy Financial Peace University. What a mess!

To me, it feels like most of my money practices are handled automatically, and that’s not a good thing. My budget software can tell you where every cent is, but can I? It certainly makes me better at balancing my checkbook. But it makes me worse at talking with my wife about our household assets every month and taking more active stewardship in the state of our money. It’s hard to steward something you don’t have to touch or look at to make work, and computers make everything work good enough. Everything is a tradeoff.

It’s been years since I’ve physically balanced a checkbook. I was afraid I’d forgotten how to. Have we forgotten the ways our fathers managed their wealth? Have computers really made us better at doing so today? If the way computers have affected the way we manage entertainment, sex, and communication with others is any indication, then it probably hasn’t.

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