Digital Minimalism Changes Your Life

The essential is constantly threatened by the insignificant.
(René Char)

Before seeing exactly what digital minimalism is, let me tell you a little anecdote.

In a recent experiment (Cf. Duke, Ward, Gneezy, Bos, Harvard Business Review), about 800 people were subjected to a series of math and logic tests, after being divided into 3 groups:

• Group 1 had to leave their cell phones outside the test room
• Group 2 had to keep their cell phones in their pockets
• Finally, group 3 had to carry out the test with the cell phone on the table.

Note that cell phones were muted and with notifications off, and it was forbidden to use them.

From a practical point of view, therefore, whoever had the cell phone on the table was actually also as if he didn't have it with him.

Despite this, however, the group that had the cell phone on the table performed much worse than the other two groups.

And the group with the cell phones outside the room was the one who got the best results ever.

This shows that, incredible as it may seem, the mere presence of the cell phone, even without being able to use it, even silenced, can cause loss of concentration and decrease in cognitive performance.

As if we had settled with it a kind of emotional bond which forces us, when it is close to us, to allocate a piece of our attention to it anyway.

A bit like it happens when in the room there is the person you like or a newborn sleeping in a cot: it is impossible not to notice their presence.

Now, I don't know about you, but I refuse to have an emotional connection with my smartphone and subconsciously think about it when I'm close to it.

Not to mention that the smartphone, in the end, is only the tip of the iceberg of the technological noise that surrounds us and continually distracts us.

For this, today, I will tell you how to become a digital minimalist, and I will propose you one  small challenge.

What is digital minimalism

“Digital minimalism is a philosophy that helps you question yourself about what is the real value that digital technologies have (and the behaviors that relate to them) bring into your life. Underlying Digital Minimalism is the belief that intentionally and radically remove “technological noise"That surrounds us, ed instead optimize the use of those tools that are really important, it can significantly improve your life "

Cal Newport, Professor of Information Technology and author of "Digital Minimalism".

So it is not at all, as some think, an anti-technological movement, quite the opposite!

Its theorist, Cal Newport, is an expert and enthusiast of communication technologies, and his real intention is NOT to let you use the technology, but is:

• Only let you use what you really need.
• Let you use it as efficiently as possible.

In such a way as to rebalance the relationship between us and technology.

 We and technology.

 A few numbers:

• The average time of use of mobile phones and tablets every day went from 0.3 hours in 2008 to 3 hours and 45 minutes in 2019.
• A fifth of the time you spend online is spent on social media
• The use of smartphones has doubled in the past 3 years
• The average person checks their phone once every 12 minutes
• The average person checks various emails and notifications more than 40 times a day.

Impressive, right?

Especially if you think that all this stuff here, until 10 years it didn't exist.

But now, quit the statistic for a moment, and think specifically about yourself.

How much time have you spent on the internet today?

How many times have you used / checked your smartphone?

How many times have you logged into facebook, instagram, snapchat, tinder, tik tok, telegram and so on?

Then, Think back to Cal Newport for a moment and ask yourself: Has all this enormity of time really added value to your life?

Or was it mostly a pastime that distracted you from more important and pleasant things?

If every now and then you are touched by these doubts, then I propose a "challenge".

7 days of digital minimalism

Over the next 7 days you will be using all the second digital technology the two commandments at Cal Newport:

• Eliminate what doesn't give you value.
• Optimize what it gives you.

To make things easier for you, I have prepared a list of hands-on activities from the Newport teachings.

After reading them, we'll discuss what you can expect to happen in these 7 days of digital minimalism-based healing.

1. Keep your cell phone as far away from you as possible

Given the experiment I told you at the beginning of the article, this is really the first and most obvious thing you need to do.

If you stay in one room, put your smartphone in the other: at first the temptation to get up to go and check it every 10 minutes will be great, but you resist.

You will see that, after an hour, you will find yourself working / studying with more precision and attention than usual

2. Arrange your contacts

Make all the people you no longer hear from the phone book, and those you know you won't want to hear in the future.

On the rest, match each number with the correct first and last name, and if possible with an e-mail address

3. Remove all social networks from your mobile

I no longer have anything on my phone, not even facebook.

And guess what: my life hasn't gotten any worse and I haven't lost any friends.

On the other hand, I have far fewer reasons to pick up my cell phone to fool around on it.

4. Clean your PC desktop

Remember the wonderful feeling when you first turned on your new computer?

The screen was bright, with a nice background image, and not a single icon to disturb the view.

Fantastic!

Now, however, when you turn on your PC in the morning you have in front of you a screen in which they pile up, more or less randomly, at least fifty icons.

Some of them you do not even know what they are, others you know perfectly well that they are of no use to you, and those (few) that you need have a hard time identifying them.

The time has come for make ALL icons disappear from your desktop. Don't stop until you've found everyone else's place, and don't leave one behind. From now on, in the morning, you will enjoy the peace of seeing a clean screen!

5. Uninstall any software you don't use

They take up memory, they continually pop up even if you don't look for them, they are very old, you risk making them start by mistake and block your PC, they conflict with operating system updates.

Why then do you keep them? Erase them all, one by one, without mercy.

6. Delete all files you no longer need

Don't you need a thing? Get rid of it.

You will feel relieved, kind of like when you take out all the junk from the attic, basement or closet.

7. Organize the remaining files in the most essential way

Now that you have less stuff, you also need fewer "containers". Then begin to logically combine your files on a small number of folders.

In doing so, rename them clearly and uniquely. Make a copy of everything and put it on one of the available cloud services, so you don't have to despair if your pc breaks.

8. At the end of the day, take out the trash

Is it normal to keep the garbage in the house for days?

No. The same goes for the PC then.

In the evening, close all programs, put all the work of the day in the right place, empty the trash, close the computer and forget about it until the next day.

9. Rationalize Apps

As made for the computer, delete from your smartphone all the ones you don't use. Instead, highlight the 4 or 5 apps you use the most.

10. Allocate a specific time to your "no core" online activities.

Chat with friends, stay on facebook, reply to unnecessary emails ...

There is nothing wrong with these activities.

The problem is, when they get out of your control, continually sneak into your day e they break your rhythms while you're doing something else.

To avoid this, set a daily time window in which you dedicate yourself to these things. The window is finished, please do not disturb!

Your new life with digital minimalism

What will you get with some healthy digital minimalism?

Of course, it depends on how well you manage to implement the advice you have read.

For the 7 days of "cure" to have an effect, it is essential to stop for a moment to "ask yourself what is the real value that digital technologies (and the behaviors that relate to them) bring in your life“, As Newport writes.

Because if you understand what it is the real value of the things you dedicate your time and energy to, you will inevitably make better use of both.

On a practical level then, if you do your 7 days of digital minimalism right, you can expect to varying degrees a series of changes very positive.

1. Increase your productivity

It comes by itself. Protecting your time from distractions improve concentration and work / study with more continuity.

2. You have more fun

You really want to be like those tables of friends or those couples at the restaurant instead of just chatting they're checking their cell phones? You deserve better!

By removing online from your social occasions and reserving it only for a short daily window, you can truly dedicate yourself to the people who are with you. They will appreciate it, you will see.

3. You have more self-esteem

Whenever, instead of being controlled by things, we control them, we improve our self-esteem.

Being the "boss" of your digital life, instead of being dragged here and there by it, will be a nice new sensation, and will make you feel "powerful".

4. You feel happier

It's the magical power of tidying up!

By eliminating the superfluous and managing the essential more effectively, every aspect of your life works better.

Your attention is in the present moment, your ability to concentrate improves, everything you do succeeds you better and faster.

You feel free, emotionally reconnected to the things that really matter, in control.

And when you look up and see, around you, the people immersed in their smartphones, you will finally realize how the issue got a little out of hand, and you will feel happy to have pulled out of it.