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Summary of Digital Minimalism 

4.6 . 5413 reviews

Short summary

Digital technologies — devices, apps, social networks — are the best things to happen to humanity. True? Well, not true. They were created as novelties, something we were supposed to use as “tools” towards specific ends, once in a while. Like keeping up with family and friends, or making phone calls. So, how did we find ourselves in our present dilemma where they have now occupied the core of our lives, and taken away our time and our attention? Are we forever condemned to this predicament of ours or is there something we do about it? Cal Newport, in his book, “Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World,” provides us with the answers we need.

Table of content

  • Summary of Digital Minimalism
  • About the author
  • What is Digital Minimalism about?
  • Who should read Digital Minimalism
  • Topics in Digital Minimalism
first key point

We signed up for new digital technologies for minor reasons, but then woke up one morning to discover they had taken away our autonomy

Listen the first key point
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“The tycoons of social media have to stop pretending that they are friendly nerd gods building a better world and admit they’re just tobacco farmers in T-shirts selling an addictive product to children. Because, let’s face it, checking your ‘Likes’ is the new smoking.” ~ Bill Maher, host of “Real Time” on HBO
Facebook started out in 2004 as a tool college students could use to look up boyfriends or girlfriends of the people they knew. It was a novelty, designed to play the minor role of connecting college students with friends in their lives.

The iPhone was designed to play the minor role of playing music files and enabling phone calls. At its unveiling, CEO, Steve Jobs hailed it as “the best iPod we’ve ever made,” and touted its ability to make calls as “its killer app.” Andy Grignon, a member of the original team that designed the iPhone said of it, “this was supposed to be an iPod that made phone calls.”

Today, both technologies, and indeed every other digital technology, radically change our experience of the culture — our social and civil lives. From their rightful places at our lives’ peripheries, they have become the core around which we organize our lives. For example, 1.5 billion people use Facebook everyday for at least an hour, and the average iPhone user engages his or her phone 85 times during a typical day.

These digital technologies crept up on us. We never had the chance to ask ourselves what we wanted out of them. We just signed up for them and woke up one morning to find out they had colonized the very essence of our lives — our autonomy.

Technology companies are to blame because they designed their products for these exact outcomes, so they can gain financially. Tristan Harris, former Google engineer said, holding up a smartphone, in his interview with Anderson Cooper on “60 minutes,” “this thing is a slot machine… there’s a whole playbook of techniques that get used by technology companies to get you using the product for as long as possible… because that’s how they make their money.”
second key point

Digital minimalism is a framework we can use to manage our use of digital technologies for maximum value and at little cost in time and attention to us

The author, Cal Newport, once came across an article titled “How I Kicked the Smartphone Addiction — and You Can Too” in the “The New York Post.” The gist was that the columnist “kicked” his compulsive use of his iPhone by disabling 112 apps on it.
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third key point

Decluttering — rapidly changing our technology-use habits — is our best shot at succeeding in transitioning into digital minimalism

fourth key point

We function properly as social animals when we alternate periods of solitude and interconnectedness

fifth key point

We are purpose-built for rich, offline interactions; and not even time spent on social media can compensate for that

sixth key point

Our lives are well-lived if we are able to reclaim, from digital technologies, the time and attention we need to live purposeful, leisurely lives

seventh key point

We can resist the lure of new digital technologies and the distraction they come with using some simple life hacks

eighth key point

Conclusion

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What is Digital Minimalism about?

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What are the benefits of books summary?

Do you find yourself staring at your computer for long minutes, unaware of time slipping by? Do you enter a room and suddenly cannot remember why you stepped in the first place? Is it a herculean task for you to sit through ten pages of a book without reaching for your phone? If yes, your focus needs some work and fast.

Actually, yours is not a unique situation. Many adults like you have issues concentrating on a given task. However, in this fast-paced world of ours, you can’t afford to be not focused at all times. Thankfully, this article comes to your rescue! With the tips and tricks from Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey, you will get in the top percent of folks who have mastered the art of concentration.

Do you find yourself staring at your computer for long minutes, unaware of time slipping by? Do you enter a room and suddenly cannot remember why you stepped in the first place? Is it a herculean task for you to sit through ten pages of a book without reaching for your phone? If yes, your focus needs some work and fast.

Actually, yours is not a unique situation. Many adults like you have issues concentrating on a given task. However, in this fast-paced world of ours, you can’t afford to be not focused at all times. Thankfully, this article comes to your rescue! With the tips and tricks from Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey, you will get in the top percent of folks who have mastered the art of concentration.