Why and How to Become a Digital Minimalist
I would like to start this article by letting you know that digital minimalism, while super cool for many reasons, isn’t necessarily the right philosophy for you. I say this because I don’t want to tell you that you suck for doing something you enjoy because then I’d be doing exactly what I criticise loads of digital media of already doing; playing on your insecurities.
But what I will say is that too much of anything has its consequences and there is some data to suggest that an increasing addiction to your phone can lead to increasing feelings of anxiety. Just like any addiction. If this applies to you, and you think you may be wanting to move toward strengthening the values of deeper focus, self-awareness and control, then digital minimalism may be for you.
The Value of Intention
The idea that social media is sometimes bad for us isn’t news. Nonetheless, it probably features in your life daily and for some, all day long. Much like regular minimalism, digital minimalism asks if this is out of an intentional choice, or out of a habit, addiction or some other unintentional void-filling behaviour. The major problem with the things we consume online though, as opposed to actual things, is that they are specifically doing that via grabbing your attention, often without you really wanting it to.
The designers of Instagram know that if they space out the more exciting and more relevant-to-you content, then you’re more likely to keep scrolling for that anticipated dopamine release and get more addicted. Same with Tik Tok. And Facebook/Meta knows that shocking, negative stories with stereotypes draw in more eyeballs.
Since companies get paid based on how much of your attention they grab, they will do this by any means necessary, even through capitalising on certain addiction-prone mechanisms in the brain. Doesn’t sound like there’s much room for intention there, right?
The Underappreciated Value of Intense Focus
I’ve always been a digital minimalist to some extent, but I also always complained that I felt like I was missing out on the bonding that went on over group chats. Then after a couple years of really trying to message lots, I felt so frustrated with it, I decided to do a total digital declutter.
This is because, the more I messaged and used social media, the more my attention got spread over multiple ‘presences’ and virtual worlds shallowly and the less I got to experience my own real presence deeply. That deep presence is a value of mine. It’s what makes walking my dog so calming for me or what makes me lose a sense of time when speaking to a friend for hours.
Of course, the inputs from the outside world make us largely who we are but the digital realm has us wired up to so many inputs firing in from different directions that it can often prevent us from firstly understanding the depth and detail of what we’re experiencing and secondly consolidating those inputs so we can creatively come up with the best output response. We need time for this too. We need solitude with our thoughts.
The Step by Step Guide to a more Intentional Digital Life
So without further ado, these are the steps to help you attain deeper focus and more intention in your life.
1. Press Refresh and Try the 30 Day Challenge
This one may be a little drastic for you, but if you’re really serious about being more intentional with your time, then it’s worth a try. All you need to do is remove all technologies from your life that are not professionally or personally essential for 30 days. This “cold turkey” approach will hopefully rid you of any compulsive behaviour you’ve developed.
2. Keep Whatever holds Value
Once you’ve completed the detox, you can now decide how you are going to be intentional with your apps and websites of choice. You could, for example, schedule in the time you spend responding to messages for your commute. The key here is determining which parts of your digital world add value to your life and how and when you use it to maximise that value.
3. Get rid of pesky notifications
Notifications are the most powerful of all attention grabbers, so turning off as many as possible is perhaps the most liberating of these steps. I can understand that you may need to keep messenger notifications turned on for certain people but most of them can probably wait until the end of the day for a response. Alternatively, you can ask your friends to call if they want to chat.
4. Plan your leisure time
This is basically the crux of what digital minimalism is all about; being intentional with your time. Imagine the life-changing book you could have read instead of scrolling on Instagram for hours in a week. Maybe instead of being tempted into binging a Netflix series, you could have discovered a new sport and new friends too. It’s not that I’m saying certain activities are better than others, it’s about what is valuable to you; what makes you happiest in the long run.
5. Spend Time Alone
So social interaction is at the crux of human development but I, and Cal Newport’s book, think that society may have underestimated solitude. We need this sometimes too, if we want to let our amazing brains do their job and focus without external distractions. Some of the most ingenious ideas have come from someone sitting alone or walking alone without any input.
6. Leave your Phone at Home
The idea of this is probably insane to a lot of people, and maybe you have a family to think of that needs you on-call. If not, then leaving your phone at home can allow you to be more present and engaged with the world around you. Otherwise, you can always adjust the settings on your phone so you only get notifications from certain people who call/text you.
7. Consider Calling Instead of Texting
One of the biggest problems with digital communication is that it stunts our ability to develop face-to-face social skills which the human brain was essentially designed for. If you can call, especially video call, there are a hundred times more non-verbal cues that you can pick up on. You can also talk about more in a shorter space of time and in more depth.
8. Block by Default
Steve Jobs’ famous speech about his new iPhone that was in fact a phone, an iPod AND an internet communicator still rings loudly in our multi-functional device loving ears today. It was revolutionary to everyone at the time, but since all this stuff about attention loss has been talked about, I’ve realised multi-purpose devices may be partly to blame for why our attention spans are spread across multiple places at once. So don’t just tell yourself you won’t go on certain websites or apps, block them by default except for the times when you intend to use them.
Maybe you’re thinking all these steps are a little over the top and perhaps you’re right, for you. It all depends on what exactly your intention is. If you really value connecting to people online or require digital tools for your self-development, then you don’t necessarily need to do all these steps. The point is that you use the digital world as a tool to manifest your true values, instead of letting it dictate them.
If you’d like to learn about digital minimalism and focus in more detail, this article was inspired and informed by these two books:
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