Digital Minimalism
by Cal Newport · first published 2019
61% recommend34% neutral5% critical
Why HN recommends it
Practical case for being intentional about tech use, with a 30-day digital declutter, rules for social media and phone habits, and room for boredom; suits people wanting a plan beyond quitting cold turkey.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
The key to living well in a high tech world is to spend much less time using technology. In recent years, our culture's relationship with personal technology has transformed from something exciting into something darker. Innovations like smartphones and social media are useful, but many of us are increasingly troubled by how much control these tools seem to exert over our daily experiences – including how we spend our free time and how we feel about ourselves. In Digital Minimalism, Newport proposes a bold solution: a minimalist approach to technology use in which you radically reduce th
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…space for in my life, introducing rules on how i spend my time, stop using SM platforms, or limiting the usage to bare minimum for the platforms i need to have some access, exercising and more. The book "Digital minimalism" by Cal Newport informs my efforts. I highly recommend it. Now, the reason i make this thread is because i have noticed that i «forgot» how to think and engage with others. What i mean by that, assuming…
on “Ask HN: How to regain my mind back?” ↗…1000x worse. There's no easy solution. I don't think becoming a digital luddite is the answer...but we all need to be more intentional with our time. It's not the only answer, but Cal Newport's book Digital Minimalism^1 is a good read for anyone that finds themself feeling this way. [1]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40672036-digital-minimal...
on “Why do you waste so much time on the internet?” ↗…ourselves. I think this is something that average person just needs to educate themselves on and make the decision for themselves. It's not impossible to break free from it. I highly suggest everyone checkout Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. It's a fantastic read.
on “America’s social-media addiction is getting worse” ↗…think of as the "hypermedia" era very well. But the author doesn't offer suggestions for what, if anything we should do about it. As for myself, a couple years ago I read Cal Newport's Deep Work and then Digital Minimalism, and found their ideas compelling enough that I deleted Facebook and disabled web browsing and email on my phone (although I later put web and email back). However, #deletefacebook seems to have about…
on “From context collapse to content collapse” ↗…days so as to switch our attention from one task or one source of stimulation to another. We cannot but be changed.” This part rings true for me. Last summer I read Cal Newport’s “Deep Work” and then “Digital Minimalism,” in which he gets very into this topic of hypermedia and distracted living. It greatly influenced my thinking about how I use my time, and made me more conscious of the need to focus and actually be…
on “Our Bookless Future” ↗…more work done. My stress levels are way down. My book-reading rate has at least tripled. This article refers a lot to Cal Newport's excellent Deep Work, but I wish it also referred to his more recent Digital Minimalism, which is full of useful advice for limiting the ways social media and instant messaging undermine our productivity and happiness.
on “Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens” ↗As starting points I'd recommend checking out Digital Minimalism [0] (a concept and book by Cal Newport) and Tristan Harris' work at the Center For Humane Tech [1]. There are lots of products that try to help people spend less time on social media. There are website/app…
on “Digital Detox Startups?” ↗I recently read and enjoyed Cal Newport’s “Digital Minimalism.” After reading it I locked Safari and Mail off my phone — those are the two that distract me constantly. I also deleted my Facebook account and removed the Twitter app from my phone. I haven’t missed…
on “Boy, Disconnected” ↗Read Cal Newport's book Digital Minimalism. The only real long-term solution is to change your relationship with your phone. It doesn't need to be within reach at all times. You probably barely need it at all, maybe 1% of the time. Just turn…
on “Ask HN: How do I stop wasting so much time on my phone?” ↗I recommended it in a similar discussion before, but Cal Newport's "Digital Minimalism" offers reasonable ways to introduce intermittent fasting patterns into your social media consumption vs quitting cold turkey. Some sample strategies to adopt: 1) Mobile sites only, never apps. Always…
on “My life after quitting social media” ↗Cal Newport’s new book ‘Digital Minimalism’ offers a good viewpoint on why this is useful: how much time to you lose mindlessly clicking around on HN and Reddit each week? (Unfortunately, I keep track of this and it is disturbing.) With a quality…
on “Apple's Reinvention as a Services Company Starts for Real Monday” ↗…making Reddit more than just a ctrl+t -> r -> enter away is helpful. A great book about all of this that was also helpful for further motivating me to try to be proactive here was Cal Newport's book Digital Minimalism [http://calnewport.com/books/digital-minimalism/]. It's not really a book about "quit Facebook", but rather "be intentional about the technology in your life instead of having technology happen to you.…
on “Low-quality sleep can lead to procrastination” ↗…variety of reasons. During March, I read six books. I normally read about two books a month. Was I really reading four books a month worth of Facebook? Quite possibly. I recommend reading Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism for a solid basis on how to deal with social media - where it's necessary, where it's okay, and where it's actively harmful. I also recommend reading Gary Rogowski's Handmade: Creative Focus in an Age…
on “Americans Agree: Social Media Is Divisive (But We Keep Using It)” ↗…workflows (and I can see how it would), I think in order to be an effective human in the modern era _requires_ thinking critically about technology choices and how to use them. Cal Newport's new book Digital Minimalism was a great read about this - be intentional about your tech choices, and be intentional about when and how you use them. Otherwise it's super easy to just get sucked into spending all day wasting time…
on “Slack Is Not Where 'Deep Work' Happens” ↗Cal Newport wrote an entire book around this called Digital Minimalism. I encourage folks to take a look. Taking an occasional break is good. Making technology actually work for you is better.
on “Dopamine Fasting” ↗