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

2.0

I am not finishing this! I am a third of the way through and I don't want to continue. Newport is an outsider to digital culture, which yes gives him an important perspective but also means that Newport has an especially hard time grasping the nuance and importance of the internet, especially to marginalized groups. This books seems to be written for a white middle class, which is fairly narrow. The internet operates very differently when we're looking at it from the perspective of sex workers, closeted queer teens, or undocumented families trying to navigate where is safe. By a third in, all of that nuance is stripped out and replaced with "Do you really need this? Apply some rules I'll call nuanced but aren't, and then think about your life." Newport doesn't seem to believe noise is that important, but noise can wake us up. Noise can reveal a Greek choir of voices, which can be synthesized into powerful perspectives: that's why journalism needs both data journalism AND personal essays. He's navigating this all just from the essay of the individual, the personal essay, the fucking WALDEN POND example. I see its value but I don't respect the way Newport is writing about the digital world or the lack of a spine this book seems to have. I don't want to finish a book I don't respect.