Digital Minimalism
A friend recently shared a few videos (end of post) and Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I picked up a copy from the library and have been working my way through it. This was good timing as I've been increasingly fatigued and frustrated by phone/app/website addiction.
By the way, here's a salient quote that the book contains from Sean Parker, founding president of Facebook, 2017:
The thought process that went into building these applications, Facebook being the first of them, ... was all about: "How do we consume as much of your time and conscious attention as possible?"
As it stands right now, I've deleted or deactivated every social media account. I've removed most apps from my phone and now have less than 35 installed. No bank apps, no parking apps, no games, and hopefully soon, no streaming music service. Mail and Safari are disabled; I'm using Firefox Focus because there's no tab support, history, or bookmarks.
These changes mean that banking and email happen on the computer. Most parking apps have a website or phone number. And for music, I loaded albums onto an old iPod (Nano 7th gen, though I wish it was a revised Classic 6th gen). I'm going to focus on buying music rather than paying for a streaming service, and try listening more to albums instead of individual tracks.
Yesterday, I left home for several hours without my phone and lived like it was the '90s. There were a couple times I mindlessly reached for the it, then realized there was no real reason to (including sharing a random snapshot with friends). It really allowed me to relax.
Something that helped me to leave the phone behind was remembering that, before mobile phones, it was normal for people to be unreachable for hours at a time. We would respond to voicemail or written notes to return a call once we returned home. It is fine, and even healthy, for me to leave the phone behind and attend to messages when I return.
Benefits
I'm finding greater calm and clarity as well as significantly more time to think, write, and read. Having time to be alone with my thoughts is invaluable. I'm contemplating using the time to study for a certification I'm working toward as well as get back into playing piano and guitar.
Videos shared by friend: