Schools teach about addiction to alcohol, cigarettes and drugs, because these can be the most destructive. In recent years, new challenges have appeared. Teenagers are becoming addicted to playing computer games and to excessive use of social media.
This post is a summary of the excellent book Digital Minimalism from Jan Melvil Publishing and of my own view of this problem.
Table of contents
What is digital minimalism?
How many times a day do you check your mobile phone? Some of us check it as many as a thousand times a day. For these people, the phone has basically become an extension of their body, like an extra hand. Dozens of conversations and constant scrolling through social media. Modern technology is starting to steal our own lives, and we are addicted to it.
The first step in overcoming any addiction is admitting it. If we admit that we waste time on our phones and computers looking at worthless content, that is a good first step. The problem with our digital addiction is that it does not make us happy in the long term (and here it is similar to more familiar addictions).
Digital minimalism definition:
“A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimised activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.“
Just as with alcohol addiction, some people are more predisposed than others to becoming addicted to new technology and social media. App notifications pull at our brain like a magnet, and many people cannot resist this pleasure. They open apps and social media mostly without thinking.
A huge downside of constantly checking background activity and social media is the loss of concentration. These people cannot focus deeply on one thing and are easily distracted. This leads to poor performance at work and less enjoyment of it.
Many people also struggle because they use too many technologies and apps, which clutter their lives and leave them no time for the things that matter in the long term.
Digital declutter
Reflex behaviour, modern technology and social media can take over our lives completely. Our whole day is made up of checking our phone and reacting quickly to prompts from apps. As the book repeats many times, these impulses seriously disrupt our concentration and our experience of the moment. Simply put, we are constantly distracted.
In the book, the author describes how to carry out a digital declutter and start using technology again in a more responsible way. Right at the beginning, he explains that removing individual habits and networks one by one does not work very well. A 30-day digital fast followed by a careful assessment of what each technology really brings you is much more effective.
In the first step, it is important to list all the technologies you want to cut back on. These are mainly:
- Web apps
- Social media
- Websites
- Mobile apps
- News
- Games
- Netflix and similar platforms
A digital declutter has a more ambitious goal than a digital detox or fast. The aim is to use 30 days without technology to review your digital life and keep only the parts that are truly useful and beneficial. Another equally important task during a digital declutter is finding activities to fill your newly gained time. Long, focused reading is a good choice.
The last phase of the digital declutter is bringing back certain technologies that meet our new standards and genuinely support our growth or enjoyment. We should examine each of these technologies carefully and decide whether it really seems useful to us.
Cutting back on modern technology can make you calmer and greatly improve, for example, your sleep quality, which can be disrupted by focusing on your phone screen before bed or by blue light.
WATCHES: How can a watch help you gain more digital freedom? Younger generations do not wear watches and only use their phones, where checking the time always leads to other activities. Buying a watch can therefore reduce our dependence on the phone, but it is even better to get rid of the compulsive urge to keep checking the time. Apple and other tech companies have now launched smartwatches on a massive scale.
Social media
Modern social media has been with us for a very short time, yet it has a huge influence on people’s lives, the economy and behaviour today. Its benefits are debatable. The author of the book writes that social media forces its way into our lives through cultural pressure and a vague promise of value.
Modern marketing, triggers and the way social media is built are tailored precisely to the human brain, which easily becomes addicted to social media.
Many of us will surely ask: how can I cut back on technology when I work and earn money online? Digital minimalism should not affect your career. It is mainly about cutting back on activities that hold us back at work or take away time we need to recover. Thousands of people go straight to Facebook in the morning and fill their working hours with it. Then they spend their lunch break on Facebook, or even worse, keep Facebook and other distracting websites open in their browser all the time.
What can you take away from Digital Minimalism?
- Greater caution about modern technology and deeper reflection on your life, habits and how you spend your free time.
- Modern technology robs us of deep concentration and deep work.
- Reflecting on your own values and sources of joy.
- Finding hobbies, interests and fulfilment in life.
Digital Minimalism book review
A big minus is that the author has no social media accounts and little experience of using them. You will always believe a former addict who hit rock bottom when he says life is better without drugs, more than a Catholic priest who has never even tasted the tempting flavour of beer.
I see this problem as very relevant today, so everyone can find something in it for themselves. At the very least, you gain the realisation that constantly checking your phone and using dozens of apps brings no long-term value to your life. On the other hand, it distracts us from focused work as well as carefree relaxation and fun. Social media has become the norm, and without it a person today is partly isolated and out of the loop, which is the other side of the coin.
The book holds up a mirror to yourself. It invites self-assessment and self-reflection on everyday life and on modern habits. I would recommend Digital Minimalism to anyone who eagerly embraces every new gadget and looks at their phone more than three times an hour. For everyone else, it may serve as a sociological study of the new world. However, the topic is so relevant and pressing that it will speak to the vast majority of readers.
