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atticusbinch 's review for:
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
by Cal Newport
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
TLDR: This book is great for people seeking solutions to social media addiction and phone fatigue. However, there should be more critiques of capitalism, and there should be a balance between productivity exercises and rest.
This book presents an interesting claim: everyone should be cognizant of their social media consumption and screen time, and monitor how it affects their mental, emotional, and physical health. Newport offers insight into how we have arrived at the precarious moment of all-consuming screen time and the attention economy. He offers digital minimalism as an alternative to being sucked into the vortex that is constant access to any and everyone everywhere. This book details case studies of those participating in digital minimalism, how tech giants have caused these issues, and helpful suggestions on how to reduce your consumption and occupation with your phone. The only issues that I have with this book are that it needed more of a critique on capitalism and how we shouldn't only be worried about "productivity" in our downtime. I understand the point of moving away from social media, and an obsession with your phone will generally give people free time. However, I wish Newport had talked about how capitalism's systems are also preventing us from having a lot of time to think and create. I think the idea of being productive all the time is a trap, and we should allow ourselves time to relax instead, when all we do is work anyway. I think the COVID lockdowns showed us all that being hyper-productive will also impact our mental health, and we need to allow ourselves time to rest and heal, too. Newport's suggestions are about occupying your time with something else rather than endlessly scrolling on social media, but without rewiring our brains to think of pleasure/leisure/rest as an acceptable alternative too, then I think that's just setting people up for burnout. I've been burnt out for years, and I've barely recovered because my body is in survival mode 24/7 because of capitalism. Aside from those critiques, I do think Newport's suggestions, like deleting social media apps, are actually useful tools. I've done that for the past few years, and it works like a charm to rest my mind and body. My friends and loved ones are used to me having long absences. I'm unsure of the physically demanding skills, but I would definitely like to try it.
This book presents an interesting claim: everyone should be cognizant of their social media consumption and screen time, and monitor how it affects their mental, emotional, and physical health. Newport offers insight into how we have arrived at the precarious moment of all-consuming screen time and the attention economy. He offers digital minimalism as an alternative to being sucked into the vortex that is constant access to any and everyone everywhere. This book details case studies of those participating in digital minimalism, how tech giants have caused these issues, and helpful suggestions on how to reduce your consumption and occupation with your phone. The only issues that I have with this book are that it needed more of a critique on capitalism and how we shouldn't only be worried about "productivity" in our downtime. I understand the point of moving away from social media, and an obsession with your phone will generally give people free time. However, I wish Newport had talked about how capitalism's systems are also preventing us from having a lot of time to think and create. I think the idea of being productive all the time is a trap, and we should allow ourselves time to relax instead, when all we do is work anyway. I think the COVID lockdowns showed us all that being hyper-productive will also impact our mental health, and we need to allow ourselves time to rest and heal, too. Newport's suggestions are about occupying your time with something else rather than endlessly scrolling on social media, but without rewiring our brains to think of pleasure/leisure/rest as an acceptable alternative too, then I think that's just setting people up for burnout. I've been burnt out for years, and I've barely recovered because my body is in survival mode 24/7 because of capitalism. Aside from those critiques, I do think Newport's suggestions, like deleting social media apps, are actually useful tools. I've done that for the past few years, and it works like a charm to rest my mind and body. My friends and loved ones are used to me having long absences. I'm unsure of the physically demanding skills, but I would definitely like to try it.