Digital Minimalism
Here we are in the middle of a traumatic year for the planet. As I have aged, gracefully I might add, the years go by quickly, every new year feels like one long hangover from last year end’s party. The beginning of this year followed much the same script until someone somewhere decided to do something unexpected which shall be not be mentioned here by me, as I am sure, we are all fed up of reading about it. We are still not even half way through and the year feels like those last ten minutes of a HIIT workout session. I am sure we are all keeping ourselves occupied in the confinement of our apartments, which mainly involves our thumb running marathons on our phone screens against the backdrop of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter among other social media platforms. The incessant need to check these websites for new content irrespective of the time of the day is becoming one of most noticeable habit, if not concern, of these modern times. The need to constantly either consume content or create to attract attention is reaching such a pivotal moment that it is categorized as one form of addiction. Now I do know my way around the traditional forms of addictions and I have dabbled into one or few but I never knew a device and a blinking notification light will ever cause me or people like me any kind of anxiety. The irony of it all is the very device that causes us to waste hours on stretch tells us to take it easy with new features embedded in the OS feeding us with exact details of our screen-on time. I don’t mind indulging as I believe I have enough control over my impulses to avoid being called a social media addict, but when moment of truth arrived, when I had to leave my phone for repair, I constantly found myself reaching out for non existent device in my pocket or wondering about my social media feed. Just to have a dramatic effect, I realized it while I was walking back from the repair shop, I stopped in my tracks and gave a baffling look to folks walking past, giving them a notion that I forgot or dropped something. By the time I reached home, I was well on my way in plotting my escape from social media trap.
Once you start researching for ways to cut down on your social media time, you are bound to run into different lengths of articles on how to use your phone by turning off the notifications or by uninstalling the apps altogether. After going through these articles, I finally found an appropriate reference material in the last place you look nowadays, A Book. It was suggested by one of many you tubers that advice you to cut down on your use of social media, on social media, consumed by a social media addict on a social media platform. To all fairness, the book is one of the best self help/guide book I have come across which helps you to deal with the anxiousness related to social media platforms. I used to read fair amount of books even as a active member of all these social media clans but when I read through the book and followed some of the suggestions from the author, I am pleasantly surprised with the results. The idea of the book and the term which is floated around so casually by all articles and video bloggers is Minimalism. The term in itself is not new and there are successful people and case studies that advice you to follow it in your life. The term we are interested in exploring here is one of it’s variance -
The book by Cal Newport is one of most interesting and relatable piece of non- fiction literary work in recent times. It touches on the important aspects of attention economy, all the while maintaining a very informative view of the yesteryear practices which encourage us to revisit our outlook towards our day to day lifestyle and consumption of content. The specific examples of famous personalities of past and their use of time compared against our use of time, really made me rethink my approach towards use of my time and how over the years a evident loss in discipline has been shockingly in every project I undertook and relationship I had or continue to have until I decided to implement few of the advices mentioned in the book.
I will not go into specifics of the book to avoid any spoilers. The book is a page turner and highly recommended. The takeaway from the book for me, I decided to manage my time in a better manner so I devote my time to those aspects of life which matter to me and then indulge in other aspects. I did not go ballistic and deleted all my social media accounts but took a retrospective look at the use of specific platforms and decided to categorize each service or app I use as Essential and Non Essential. The essential category obviously differs as per individuals and the apps that make it to this category go with me everywhere in my phone. The Non Essential category includes everything from social media to streaming services and games, apps for which are stationery in my tablet and laptop so in case I want to use any of it, I make sure I do so in my free time. The other major point I want to mention which I gathered from the numerous articles I read was the age old habit of maintaining journal and todo list. Divide each day into essential things to accomplish followed by some non essential tasks which help you relax for the day. I am not the most disciplined individual who follows every item on his timetable but what I realized when I decided to plan my day void of distractions is that most of the things we indulge in are so inconsequential to us that if it wasn’t for an agenda pushed by few profit hungry organizations, we won’t have these distractions in our life.
“Choosing a Focussed Life in a Noisy World” - Cal Newport
To end this little ranty note on digital minimalism with a message from the book - “Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our personal technology. It’s the key to living a focused life in an increasingly noisy world.”
The noise of social media and the constant distractions give us an anxious feeling of loosing control. Digital Minimalism helps you to -
Take Back the Control!!!
