Digital Minimalism

I’ve recently read Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism and felt like the people needed to know what it was all about so I’ve written this post sharing my main takeaways along with some thoughts of my own. I initially picked up this book because I wanted to further explore the relationship we have with technology but mainly, being a pseudo-minimalist myself, I was drawn to the title.

What is digital minimalism and why is it relevant?

In the book, Newport defines Digital Minimalism as:

“A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.”

The philosophy isn’t a rejection of technology, but a thoughtful approach towards our relationship with it and the considered curation of apps and devices with which we engage.

Increasingly, society has become dependent on technology to connect and entertain us, our reliance even allowing it to shape our thoughts and emotions. Although we know we shouldn’t passively allow the internet to dictate how we spend our time or how we feel people still succumb to their screens, not because they are lazy but instead because billions of dollars have been invested to make this outcome inevitable. Our screens are the single biggest factor shaping our lives today.

As Newport explains, humans are not wired to always be wired. Doing so leaves us with no space for our own thoughts.

The benefits of digital minimalism

By reducing fruitless time online, we:

Free up more time to pursue activities that bring us true joy and a sense of achievement instead of scrolling through social media or the news to pass the time.
Have deeper, more meaningful, connections with the people in our life. Dropping in and chatting to someone is worth a lot more than a flurry of meme tagging and texting (a hard truth, I know).
We get more time with our thoughts. By constantly having inputs we limit our ability to reflect on and appreciate life.

The list goes on, but I think it’s best if you experience the benefits for yourselves. Read on!

Concerning digital minimalism, Cal Newport claims ‘The sugar high convenience [of technology] is fleeting and the sting of missing out dulls rapidly, but the meaningful glow that comes from taking charge of what claims your time and attention is something that persists’. I can’t say if this is true for sure, but I will be experimenting by taking up his 30-day digital detox challenge in July.

It’s not quite as dire as it sounds, the details are below and if you want to join in that would be awesome! While most people have a reasonably healthy relationship with technology (I would count myself in this category) I still think this challenge is a great chance to gain further clarity and potentially tease out benefits from disconnecting further.

30 day digital detox

The idea behind this challenge is that a drastic change shocks our system to feel the effects of something more prominently than a gradual shift, hence starting with a 30-days digital detox, after which you can start reintroducing technologies that you deem necessary from a clean slate. So, this is how it works:

Put aside a 30-day period during which you will take a break from optional technologies in your life.
During this break, you explore and rediscover activities and behaviours that you find satisfying and meaningful.
At the end of the break, reintroduce optional technologies into your life, starting from a blank slate. For each reintroduced technology consider the value it serves in your life and how specifically you will use it to maximise its value.

Now as these aren’t the clearest instructions and there are likely some further questions I’ve fleshed this out a bit below (or you can grab a pdf version). If you still have something on your mind do message me.

30-day digital detox pdf Download

How to start the challenge

Find optional technologies to remove. These don’t have to be just physical devices but also services. Think social media, streaming services, video games etc. This will be person-specific and you’ll have to be honest about what counts as optional.
Don’t include anything that would harm you personally or professionally. If you need email or twitter for work that’s fine. Just make sure you’re only using it for work purposes.
You’re allowed practical exceptions (i.e. needing to be able to text your kids) but be strict with them. Again, down to you to decide what is reasonable but also try and think of alternatives where possible (i.e. call your kids instead of texting them).
Write down your banned list and practical exceptions and stick them somewhere you will see them daily.
Removing digital distractions before deciding what you’ll fill that time with will be a disaster. Figure out what you want to do with your extra time before starting the challenge.

How to spend your time

You’ll find that you have a lot more time in your day without these technologies so it’s important to plan to know how to spend it. Below are some ideas.

Create something as often as you can. While Cal recommends DIY, I would say just being creative and creating should be the goal. You can read my post about it here.
Join a social activity or club. It’s the best way to connect with people (as things open this will hopefully become more of an option).
Exercise! You could transform yourself in a month.
Take long walks. As we’ve all probably found out recently, these are great.

Tip: Leave your phone at home/in another room. Removing easy access will help break the habit of instinctively reaching for your device.

Ideas to help manage technology use during and after the 30-day challenge

Social Media

Get rid of social media on your phone and only access it only when you’re on your computer. You may be surprised at how little you end up logging on when they’re not right there.

Consider the law of diminishing returns. The added value of something falls the more you use it. That’s why focussed, intentional, engagement with something yields the best value for your time. Applying this to social media, you can probably get all the information you need in around 20 minutes a week.

Embracing slow news

The constant flow of information coaxes us into wanting to always stay in the loop. But as the news cycle is endless, aiming to stay up to date is futile as we’ll never be able to keep up. It’s really fine not to be clued up on the latest stories. If something’s important enough it will reach you.

Some approaches to news are to check only the best of the best news sources, not to look at the first wave of a breaking news story as it’ll be all jumbled and contradictory, and to download articles to read without the distraction of the internet. Oh, and stay away from twitter.

To make any webpage distraction-free and easy to read install the Just Read chrome extension (it’s free).

Texting

Consolidate your texting. We’re very used to having multiple conversations going at once and always being available. But by keeping your phone on do not disturb, checking texts only a few times a day and treating texting like email, you will free up a lot of time.

If you want to speak to someone why not give them a call or see them in person? As mentioned before, this will do much more to strengthen the relationship.

Solitude

Solitude is not the same as loneliness. It is the state of being alone without being lonely and actually has a lot of benefits.

Also, you can experience solitude anywhere as it’s about what happens within your mind, not your environment. You can banish solitude if you don’t allow inputs to intrude such as books, tv, podcasts, or any attention-grabbing activity.

This is linked to letting your mind wander which I wrote a post about.

Reintroducing technologies

So, you’ve completed the 30-day digital detox, had revelations about your technology use, and are thinking about what technologies to reintroducing into your life. When you do, consider the following.

Does this technology directly support something I deeply value?
Is this the best way to use technology to serve this value?
How am I going to use this technology going forward to maximise its value and minimise its harms?

That’s it! You’ve hopefully experienced what life is like when disconnecting a little further and have reclaimed and discovered your passions (I think this is how it all ends). As I said, I’ll be starting this journey on the 1st of July and it’d be great if you joined me. For some accountability, I’ve posted below the changes I’ll be making for the challenge. It’s just an initial list but I’ll update it as I go along.

My 30-day digital detox checklist Download

Overall, I hope this has given some insight into becoming a digital minimalist! I would highly recommend getting a copy of the book (you can grab it here) as it goes into more detail and makes for an excellent read.

Further resources

Here are some more resources to help you make the transition into digital minimalism. Click on the titles to be taken to the relevant resources.