Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport (2019) is not a new book but I think holds relevance for anyone hoping to recalibrate their relationship with social media and technology tools.
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,” and provides three guiding principles:
1. Clutter is costly. We have so many apps and services available, yet they tend to create a chronic drain on our attention and time and provide little commensurate benefit. Newport quotes Thoreau in Walden: “The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.”
2. Optimization is important. This means identifying how a particular technology supports something of value, and to then think carefully about how to use the technology. This helps counter what Newport calls the “lopsided arms race” posed by the attention economy.
3. Intentionality is satisfying. Intentional decisions about technology use support healthy feelings of autonomy and meaning. It’s empowering to edit/curate what you take in in a world of information overload and services competing to monetize your attention.
Newport advocates for quality and depth over quantity in social connection and covers the value of solitude, including “the insight and emotional balance that comes from unhurried self-reflection.” These ideas run counter to what Newport describes as “the narrative of techno-maximalism that contends more is better when it comes to technology—more connections, more information, more options.”
Newport lays out a detailed 30-day “digital declutter” process that provides a fresh start from which to reintroduce the most meaningful and useful technology tools, as determined by the values of the user. More than a break/detox, this is an exercise to create a sustainable approach for a healthier life including more authentic social connection and tangibly valuable leisure activities such as crafting, playing music, etc.
I found this book readable, thought-provoking, and helpful for rethinking social media use.
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