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thecasecloser 's review for:
Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
by Cal Newport
After being vegetarian for 6 years, last summer I started craving the idea of meat. I thought that I would be able to feel the protein flowing through my veins, like I was becoming superman. I decided to try fish in Hawaii - I picked out a small shop known for fresh fish weeks in advance and was so excited to try it for our first lunch there. My reaction to trying fish, chicken, and steak again was, "oh yeah, that's what that tastes like." I didn't miss it, and it didn't make me feel any different.
The real key to what I was craving was digital minimalism. I did my own version of Cal's 30 day "digital declutter" in an effort to not be so distracted by technology when our son was born. Of course, he came the day after the 30 days ended. I think Cal's approach is really smart - strip your technology use down to only the essentials (or objectively high-quality), get used to that, and only add back in what is actually important or valuable. After 30 days of not using YouTube, I no longer missed it, and actually felt like it was a really low-quality source of entertainment compared to a good show, movie, or book.
I almost immediately felt the benefits. My attention span and appetite for working hard in my job increased immediately when I was no longer distracting myself. I slept more, exercised more, and read more. I'm definitely not perfect but every time I replace mindless, low-quality screentime with literally anything else - even replacing that time with just sitting there doing nothing - my life is better.
My only criticism of the book is that it's a little boring and intuitive, obviously there aren't any surprises here. We all pretty much know why social media and other scrolling is bad, so I didn't learn anything new.
The real key to what I was craving was digital minimalism. I did my own version of Cal's 30 day "digital declutter" in an effort to not be so distracted by technology when our son was born. Of course, he came the day after the 30 days ended. I think Cal's approach is really smart - strip your technology use down to only the essentials (or objectively high-quality), get used to that, and only add back in what is actually important or valuable. After 30 days of not using YouTube, I no longer missed it, and actually felt like it was a really low-quality source of entertainment compared to a good show, movie, or book.
I almost immediately felt the benefits. My attention span and appetite for working hard in my job increased immediately when I was no longer distracting myself. I slept more, exercised more, and read more. I'm definitely not perfect but every time I replace mindless, low-quality screentime with literally anything else - even replacing that time with just sitting there doing nothing - my life is better.
My only criticism of the book is that it's a little boring and intuitive, obviously there aren't any surprises here. We all pretty much know why social media and other scrolling is bad, so I didn't learn anything new.