Let’s try Digital Minimalism
Reading time: 6 minutes
The aim of this short article is to encourage the reading of this book and not to replace it. If you decide to purchase it through our affiliate link, we’ll get a few pence in our bank account and you’ll get a big thank you!I didn’t need Cal Newport to tell me that wasting several hours a day hunchbacked over my phone wasn’t doing me any good. Though, I kind of did.
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I enjoyed reading Digital Minimalism, (Check my book summary here) and I must admit it is quite powerful, especially if you are perfectly aware you’re spending too much time scrolling mindlessly your Facebook feed or watching Tik Tok voiceovers of dogs. It gets under your skin.
That’s why I decided to try out what he proposes.
Without diving too deep into the book's contents, let’s see what this book is all about.
As Cal puts it, Digital Minimalism is not just an exercise or a movement; it is a way of rethinking our relationship with technology. A philosophy, if you like, with no tricks, or shortcuts, or easy wins. It is a way of reshaping behaviours.
But let’s start from the beginning.
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Within Part 1 of the book, which is called Foundations, Cal unfolds a straight forward yet hard method to use modern technologies the way we want to, and not as the attention economy has designed them.
The only thing you need to do is follow three steps:
Step 1: Spend 30 days as disconnected as you can go without losing your job or convincing your spouse to divorce you.
Step 2: Be sure to fill the time you don’t spend online with meaningful and satisfying activities.
Step 3: At the end of the 30 days, reintroduce technology intentionally, paying attention to the value it serves and making sure it fulfils its purpose at the lowest possible cost.
Having had problems with authority my entire life, I tend to question and often criticise any instruction I’m given, and the three steps above make absolutely no exception.
Let’s talk about Step 1.
Cal writes it in the introduction, but he does not possess any social media account. He doesn’t use them. Which might explain why he thinks that 30 days without a smartphone is an achievable goal for the average person.
I can’t find my back garden without Google Maps, and living approximately 1,100 miles from my family, I make extensive daily use of any internet-based communication service; from WhatsApp to Skype.
It’s ok, though, Cal says. You can set rules on how you use disruptive technology. You just have to stick to them for the 30 days.
Easy.
I’m not saying it’s impossible; I’m just saying he should know better. In the book, he compares your smartphone to a slot machine - not an exaggeration, I’m afraid - and then he just tells you to quit for a month.
I don’t feel like I’m particularly addicted, but I’m not ready to leave my phone behind for a freaking month. Even a week makes me sweat.
You don’t go to a smoker and say just quit for thirty days and then re-evaluate your relationship with cigarettes; it’s not how it works, especially if everyone around you is constantly smoking in your face and every time you speak with your mother you’re forced to take a cigarette between your fingers and take in the smell of it.
30 days would be a long time for anything, but to go cold turkey on the internet it’s an eternity.
On the other hand, I really like the idea of step 2.
Photo by Adam Birkett on Unsplash
This was one of my early thoughts when I first realised I had to let go of my phone. If I just don’t use it, I thought, eventually I’ll get bored and I’ll do something else. Unfortunately, because I’m already finding time for meaningful activities in my life and in my work, I feel more entitled to avoid boredom with screen time.
You know, cleaning the bathroom, keeping the dog out of troubles or that two hours of data entry a customer has requested for yesterday would be an absolute nightmare if it wasn’t for my trustworthy mobile.
I’m not complaining. I’m just saying it’s going to be hard, but no one said it’s supposed to be easy, right?
At last, step 3: the reintroduction.
Let’s look at one example of what it means to reintroduce a technology at the lowest possible cost.
Some time ago I joined a massive writers’ community based in Italy with tons of free materials and lessons with famous novelists and screenwriters. It brings without a doubt great value into my life at the negligible cost of keeping the Facebook app installed on my phone.
But, like many other things in life, you pay a heavy price without even noticing.
In fact, although I get the value of the weekly free class and a few scripts and exercises, the cost in terms of time and attention is humongous. If downloading the link to the Zoom call takes less than a minute, to get there I have to open Facebook, which immediately screams like a toddler with tummy ache, flashing red notifications and advertisements like Las Vegas’ signs. I’m only human; so, more often than I’d like to admit, I end up spending an hour on the app watching videos of funny lemurs or reading comments under the latest post of the Brazilian prime minister.
That’s not a fair trade.
If I could start, and finish, with Step 3, I would do it; but Cal stresses the importance of detaching from your daily usage to understand what you miss and what is just mindless habits, and I believe him.
I’ve been keeping a bullet journal for the last 15 months, and tracking my phone usage it’s been like slowly building up to my own intervention. Maybe re-thinking Step 1 and its massive digital detox it’s not such a bad idea after all.
What I plan to do
Let’s get down to business, shall we?
First of all, I’m going to focus on my smartphone usage only. I don’t feel the need to restrain any other device because of my observations over the past year. Laptops, tablets and even the tv have never stopped me from being productive (although I hate the word) while my phone has.
I will try to access social media only for this website's benefit and I won’t stream any non-educational material before dinnertime.
I’ll track my screen time and activity restriction with an app called “Stay Focused,” which doesn’t work perfectly but will do the job.
As regards the meaningful activity I’m going to adopt in place of mindless scrolling, I’m simply going to write, read, listen to good music, maybe learn something, and definitely have some real conversations.
I’ll check in again once it’s time for the reintroduction and I’ll let you know how it went.
Alla prossima.
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