zachhois 's review for:

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport

informative reflective fast-paced

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I like the philosophy, because it doesn’t advocate for full cold-turkey abstinence, but rather assessing what adds value to your life and relationships. I want to push towards a digital minimalist lifestyle, or at least significantly reducing my hyperstimulation. My main points will be: focusing on one thing at a time, rather than having a YouTube video always in the background or whatnot; reducing my habitual opening of apps like instagram, especially when I’m going on a quick walk to another room; decoupling receiving a notification from an immediate call for attention; cultivating high quality leisure like reading, practicing my trumpet, meditating, walks, spending time with friends, OSRS (lol); and finally, most importantly, being more present at events and in life’s important moments where human interaction takes place (even when we are having a discussion, and we could so easily look something up). I also liked the idea of keeping the phone always on DND/having social media only on the PC, so you have to choose to look at them when you are mentally prepared.