I spent New Year’s morning with a group of 20-somethings, and as they talked about their hopes and plans, I asked if they minded my taking notes and publishing some of their ideas. I said I wouldn’t use their names, but the first-person voices are theirs.

Here is a baker’s dozen:

• My sister had a baby two months ago. She has said “no” to all the baby trappings – the apps that track when you feed your baby, those toys that supposedly boost IQ, all the must-have “cool parent” products. She carries her baby around in a sling and uses hand-me-down clothes. “It’s a crazy racket and totally unsustainable,” she says, “the whole baby industrial complex. I’m not buying in.”

• I am going to get up early and read for half an hour before the world is awake. I don’t read books on a device – I stare at a screen all day. I need a break from that. Even if books use up a lot of paper, I prefer them. Reading sets the tone for the rest of my day. I’ll bring my book with me, read on the train on my way to work. If I put off reading until the evening I may not get to it. Or I’ll fall asleep in the first paragraph.

• I spent time with a friend over the holidays. She lives in the Midwest and I live in the Northeast. We are going to write letters to each other this year, snail letters with stamps and return addresses. We’re sick of chatting on Facebook.

• I’m going to read a poem every day.

• I see movies like “A Time to Kill” or “Body Heat” and it just blows me away how much technology has changed since then. In those flicks you’ll see a desk with just a Rolodex on it and some papers, maybe a typewriter and a phone. Back then, when you left the office, the office stayed behind. My office is always with me, on my smart phone, my laptop. At any hour I’m checking email, marketing on Facebook and Twitter. This year I’m starting a new job that I won’t have to take home. No more intermingling work and private life.

• Last New Year’s a friend wrote, “stop complaining” on a piece of paper and carried it around in his wallet for all of 2012. It got really dog-eared but it was a good reminder. This year, I’m putting a piece of paper in my wallet that says, “Be grateful for today.” No more worrying about the future and regretting the past. All of that takes so much energy and isn’t about today.

• The comedian Louis C. K. says his young daughters wake up and are always eager to face the day. “Yay, the world is still here.” He gets up grumbling, swearing. I’m like him but I’m going to be more like his daughters.

• I plan to take lunch breaks, actually leave the building, sit on a bench somewhere. Too often I shovel my food in, hovering over my keyboard.

• I’m going to say hello to more people at the office – people I don’t know but see all the time, like by the coffee machine. Why not say something? Too often it’s: “I’ve already not talked to this person six times. Why make it seven?”

• “No” is a complete sentence. I’m going to practice saying no without frills. “I can’t come tonight but thank you for inviting me.” Period. There’s no need to make excuses, to explain why, to go on and on.

• We plan to buy experiences this year: tickets to the Philharmonic, to plays, plane tickets to visit friends, rather than stuff, like new dishes, couches, jeans.

• I’m determined to get more sleep.

• I got a computer program that lets me use my keyboard but disconnects me from the Internet – I can set it for however long I want to be offline. I love it. It’s called “Freedom.”

What are you going to do differently in 2013?