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

It is always unsettling to me to read a book where the author is clearly aware of the fact that he is not including me in his audience, and then blithely continues to do so throughout. For all the good points in the book (particularly the difference between connection and conversation, and using tech to support your goals instead of as an end in itself) there was little acknowledgement of how femmes manage relationships. The best general example is the reference to the Arts and Crafts movement being part of a chapter about working with one's hands, but he talks mostly about manly welding and woodworking, with no reference whatsoever to traditionally feminine crafts, or to more frequent domestic work, such as cooking. The best relationship example is his advice to call your cousin on the phone instead of looking at baby pictures on Instagram. Those things are not mutual exclusive, and they serve dramatically different relationship purposes! I want to be clear that I saw no evidence for this in the work, but I am reminded of all the news articles about people quitting Facebook who then rely on their spouses for family news and calendar management. Most of what social media does is ease things we were already doing. Instagram and Facebook do a good job of replacing my mom's newsletter of our childhood events, or the random envelopes of photographs I used to get in the mail. Neither of those things prevented her from also speaking on the phone to people. The difference is really in the ubiquity of these things in our lives, which raises different questions. The practical suggestions to shift one's life more toward face to face or voice contact to keep relationships fully engaged are great. So are the suggestions about rearranging leisure time. But I couldn't help but notice all throughout that I was not part of his imagined audience.