Minimalism is about more than just decluttering your home; it’s about simplifying all aspects of your life, from your schedule to your relationships.
When I say relationships, your mind may jump to those with your friends and family members, but there’s one relationship that’s often overlooked: your relationship with technology.
Like all relationships, your relationship with technology can either be productive and positive or toxic and debilitating.
If you feel like it’s the later, becoming a digital minimalist can help you heal your relationship with technology.
In this post, I’ll share exactly how to become a digital minimalist. If you’ve tried to embrace digital minimalism in the past and failed, I’ll be introducing a new approach that could be a game-changer!
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What is Digital Minimalism?
Technology can be a negative or positive presence in your life. The difference lies in the intention behind the way it’s used.
For instance, Skyping with a friend who lives miles away is a positive use of technology. Spending time with your family but texting that same friend the entire time is not.
You see, technology is not inherently good or bad, which is what makes our relationship with it so nuanced and complicated.
Digital minimalism is a philosophy that aims to serve as a guide for navigating this complicated relationship.
Becoming a digital minimalist isn’t about demonizing technology or completely disconnecting. It’s about defining what you want your relationship with technology to be and then having the tools to make it happen.
In my eyes, there are three main “focus areas” when it comes to becoming a digital minimalist:
- The Mental: Changing your mindset around technology so that you can use it in a more productive way.
- The Physical: Deciding which devices you should keep in your life and which to get rid of—headphones, cords, iPad, etc.
- The Clutter: Decluttering your devices—unread emails, files, apps and social media accounts that aren’t adding value to your life.
In this post, we’ll dive into each of these areas to answer the ultimate question: how does one become a digital minimalist?
Keep in mind that the term ‘digital minimalism’ was coined by author and computer science professor Cal Newport in his book Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. In this post, I’ll be deviating from his strategy and sharing what has helped me (aka, my approach to becoming a digital minimalist). To learn more about the book and Cal’s strategy for becoming a digital minimalist, click here.
The Mental
Before you start deleting apps or clearing out your email inbox, we’ll need to tackle the most difficult part of becoming a digital minimalist (in my opinion). The mental.
To do so, I’ve designed an exercise that will help you define what you want your relationship with technology to be. All you’ll need is a pen and paper. I encourage you to do this exercise with me!
Step 1: List Your Digital Devices & Their Function
To start, let’s celebrate all that that technology can do.
Think of your digital devices as tools—designed to make your life easier.
In this first step, you’ll want to list all of the devices you personally own. For instance, a TV, laptop, and cell phone.
After you’ve listed each device, ask yourself which aspects of these devices are adding value to your life. What can these devices do that you can’t live without (or you simply don’t want to live without)?
I’ve done this exercise myself, and here’s what I came up with:
Cell Phone
- GPS
- Listening to music and podcasts (Spotify)
- Camera
- Text/Call
- Google Authenticator
- Paying for parking
- Checking bank information/sending money
- Calendar
- Stopwatch
- Calculator
- Looking up critical information (e.g., pulling up plane ticket information)
Laptop
- Watching movies/TV shows
- Blogging
- Researching
- Watching YouTube videos
Headphones/Speaker
- Listening to music and podcasts (Spotify)
Step 2: What Do You Not Want to Use Your Devices For?
After you’ve written out what you want to use your devices for, you’ll want to do the opposite.
Ask yourself what you don’t want to use your devices for (that you’re currently using your devices for).
I’ve done this exercise as well, and here’s what I came up with:
Laptop
- Online shopping
- Scrolling social media
Cell Phone
- Non-essential, random searches
- Online shopping
- Scrolling social media
- Watching YouTube videos
Headphones/Speaker
- N/A 🙂
Step 3: Set Rules and Guidelines
Now that you have an idea of which devices you use and how you want to use them, it’s time to establish some rules and guidelines surrounding your usage.
The goal of this step is to help you be more intentional and controlled with your technology use.
We’ll do this by determining how often you want to use your devices and when. If you’ve found using app blockers or putting your phone on grayscale mode to be helpful, you can include that in your rules.
I get that some of you may cringe at the thought of following rules, especially ones that you’re imposing on yourself. But I’ve found that having rules is super helpful, particularly when it comes to controlling your impulses. In fact, I even have rules for things like clothing shopping. Click here for my 8 rules for buying clothing as a minimalist.
When deciding your rules, split them up based on your devices (like you did in the previous step).
Here are my rules and guidelines:
Laptop
- Laptop use in the morning should only be used for blogging – nothing else
- Watching movies and TV shows is reserved for weekends (my bf hates this rule but I stare at a screen all day at work and I just can’t bear the thought of screen time after work too)
- Limit one movie per weekend (or two episodes of a TV show)
- Limit laptop use after work. Only research things that are dire.
- Online shop only when necessary. Buy things in store otherwise.
- Never check work emails from laptop (unless urgent)
Cellphone
- Keep grayscale mode turned on at all times (except when using GPS or camera)
- Put cell phone on airplane mode an hour before bed
Speaker/Headphones
- No rules!
The Physical
When we talk about digital minimalism, the physical aspect is often overlooked, but I find it to be super important.
What I mean by the physical aspect of digital minimalism is all the actual stuff you have that affects how you interact with technology. So, the digital devices themselves and accessories, like charging cables.
As a digital minimalist, the goal is to only keep the technology that adds real value to your life. So, it’s time to let go of the rest.
If you’ve already done the exercises from earlier, you should have a good idea of which devices are actually worth keeping. If you can’t think of a single reason to use a particular device (but can think of a million reasons not to), then it’s probably time to say goodbye to it.
Here are some places to start:
- Streamline Your Cords: Sort through your collection of cords and cables. Keep the ones you reach for regularly, and let go of any broken ones or those that leave you scratching your head about what they’re supposed to charge.
- Ditch the Dead Electronics: Say goodbye to your outdated or broken electronics like headphones that don’t work or the Gameboy you haven’t played in 10 years.
- Cut Out Distractions: Let go of any digital devices that aren’t adding value to your life or align with your goals. For instance, if you’re trying to cut down on screen time, consider getting rid of your TV like I did. Now I just watch movies and shows on my laptop and it’s made a HUGE difference.
- Trim the Tech Fat: Do you really need multiple devices that essentially do the same thing? Consider whether having a laptop, desktop computer, and an iPad is truly necessary.
The Clutter
Last but certainly not least, let’s tackle the digital clutter.
Digital clutter is like the digital equivalent of a messy room—it’s the unnecessary files, apps, emails, and other digital stuff that fills up our devices and online spaces. Clearing digital clutter is critical for becoming a digital minimalist.
When I think about digital stuff, I try to see them beyond their digital nature. I treat them like physical objects. Each email isn’t just some abstract thing; it carries weight. Maybe not physical weight, but definitely mental weight. I visualize every email in my inbox, every YouTube channel I follow, every social media platform I’m on, and every app on my phone as tangible things that add heaviness to the load in my life.
Now, in this next step, it’s time to clear out all that weight.
Here are some places to start:
- Unused Applications: Apps that you never or rarely use.
- Outdated Files: Documents, spreadsheets, or presentations that are no longer relevant.
- Duplicate Files: Multiple copies of the same file stored in different locations.
- Old Emails: Unread or outdated emails that clog up your inbox.
- Unused Subscriptions: Newsletter or other subscriptions that you no longer use.
- Photos and Videos: Photos or videos that capture the same moment. Do you really need 100 photos to remember one trip?
- Browser Bookmarks: Bookmarks that you no longer visit.
- Desktop Clutter: Icons and files scattered across your desktop.
- Social Media Follows: Friends or followers on social media platforms that you don’t know in real life. YouTube subscriptions to channels you don’t actually watch.
- Old Notes and Reminders: Digital notes, reminders, or to-do lists that are outdated.
- Old Text Messages: Text messages or chat conversations that you don’t actually need to look back on.
Things to Keep In Mind…
Becoming a digital minimalist may not happen overnight.
After all, with technology woven into so many aspects of our lives, it can be super difficult to sever that cord (yes, pun intended).
If you’re anything like me, your journey toward intentional technology use will be a long one. Three months in, you may backslide and re-download a bunch of apps you deleted or follow a social media account that you unfollowed during your initial digital declutter. Remember that this is normal and okay. Just stay focused on your goals and don’t let one small setback undo all the work you’ve done.
You’ve got this!
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