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#+title: Digital Minimalism
#+date: 2023-10-04
#+description: My personal retrospective on digital minimalism.
#+filetags: :personal:
I've written [[/wiki/#digital-garden][a note about minimalism]] before,
but I wanted to dedicate some time to reflect on digital minimalism and
how I've been able to minimize the impact of digital devices in my life.
#+begin_quote
These changes crept up on us and happened fast, before we had a chance
to step back and ask what we really wanted out of the rapid advances of
the past decade. We added new technologies to the periphery of our
experience for minor reasons, then woke one morning to discover that
they had colonized the core of our daily life. We didn't, in other
words, sign up for the digital world in which we're currently
entrenched; we seem to have stumbled backward into it.
/(Digital Minimalism, 2019)/
#+end_quote
* The Principles of Digital Minimalism
As noted in Cal Newport's book, /Digital Minimalism/, there are three
main principles to digital minimalism that I tend to agree with:
1. Clutter is costly.
- Digital minimalists recognize that cluttering their time and
attention with too many devices, apps, and services creates an
overall negative cost that can swamp the small benefits that each
individual item provides in isolation.
2. Optimization is important.
- Digital minimalists believe that deciding a particular technology
supports something they value is only the first step. To truly
extract its full potential benefit, it's necessary to think
carefully about how they'll use the technology.
3. Intentionality is satisfying.
- Digital minimalists derive significant satisfaction from their
general commitment to being more intentional about how they engage
with new technologies. This source of satisfaction is independent
of the specific decisions they make and is one of the biggest
reasons that minimalism tends to be immensely meaningful to its
practitioners.
* Taking Action
In order to put the logic into practice, I've created a few new habits
and continued performing old habits that are working well:
** Using Devices With Intention
- I already rarely use "social media", mostly limited to forums such as
Hacker News and Tildes, so I've just tweaked my behavior to stop
looking for content in those places when I'm bored.
- Use devices with intention. Each time I pick up a digital device,
there should be an intention to use the device to improve my current
situation. No more endless scrolling or searching for something to
interest me.
** Prevent Distractions
- Disable (most) notifications on all devices. I spent 15-30 minutes
going through the notifications on my phone, watch, and computer to
ensure that only a select few apps have the ability to interrupt me:
Calendar, Messages, Phone, Reminders, & Signal.
- Disable badges for any apps except the ones mentioned in the bullet
above.
- Set-up focus profiles across devices so that I can enable different
modes, such as Personal when I only want to see notifications from
people I care about or Do Not Disturb, where absolutely nothing can
interrupt me.
- Clean up my home screens. This one was quite easy as I already
maintain a minimalist set-up, but I went extreme by limiting my phone
to just eight apps on the home screen and four in the dock. If I need
another app, I'll have to search or use the app library.
- Remove the work profile from my phone. This was a tough decision as
having my work profile on my device definitely makes my life easier at
times, but it also has quite a negative effect when I'm "always
online" and can see the notifications and team activity 24/7. I
believe creating a distinct barrier between my work and personal
devices will be beneficial in the end.
** Creating Alternative Activities
This is the most difficult piece, as most of my hobbies and interests
lie in the digital world. However, I'm making a concerted effort to put
devices down unless necessary and force myself to perform other
activities in the physical world instead.
I've started with a few basics that are always readily available to me:
- Do a chore, such as organizing or cleaning.
- Read a book, study a piece of art, etc.
- Exercise or get outdoors.
- Participate in a hobby, such as photography, birding, disc golf, etc.
- Let yourself be bored and wander into creativity.
* Making Progress
I'll be taking notes as I continue down this journey and hope to see
positive trends. I've always been a minimalist in the physical world and
it feels refreshing to filter out the clutter that has come to dominate
my digital life over the years.
I'm excited to see where this journey leads.
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