Digital Minimalism

Book review on Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Cal Newport once again implores you to analyze what society generally does versus what you can do instead to cultivate a better life. In this book, he goes into technology (social media). After reading through, I realized a multitude of things that probably should have been obvious to me, but were not, because I instead gave way to letting social media and technology, in general, become limitations and controllers in my life. I’d say I am still in a state of what Newport calls “digital decluttering,” but I have more optimism about going on the way to becoming a digital minimalist. Time to live a life of happily missing out!

Notable points
* tech conglomerates make money using our attention.
* in order to allow ourselves not to be exploited in this sense, we must live a more mindful digital life.
* we can do this by putting into practice ways to be more intentional and deliberate in how we use tech.
* humans are engineered to be social— and being virtually connected masks the authenticity of relationships, conversation, learning, and leisure.
* we should change the warped way of thinking that social media and tech can be an alternative for these more fulfilling things. tech should only complement these aspects of life.
* there will be losses when you start living a more minimalistic digital life, but these losses will be worth it.