In my last blog post, My Trial Run of Digital Minimalism. I explained the first step in the process toward Digital Minimalism that Cal Newport explains in his book. This first step is the 30-Day Digital Declutter. Now I will explain the second step of the process and what I learned:
Reintroducing Optional Technologies Back into Your Life
After the 30-days of basically zero optional technologies, comes the important step of deciding what optional technologies you are going to reintroduce back into your life. Newport explains a serious pitfall many people fall into while doing this process. That pitfall is allowing ALL optional technologies back into your life after the 30 days are up. But this is a mistake, he says. The point of the 30-day challenge is not to just detox from your technology, but to make room to see them clearly for what they are... tools that serve you. Your technologies are not simply things you use because... well... everyone else is using them. That is not the mindset of a digital minimalist.
So, when reintroducing optional technologies, Cal gives a set of criteria to follow (the quotations below come from Chapter 3 "The Digital Declutter" of his book Digital Minimalism):
First, ask yourself, "Does this technology directly support something that I deeply value?"
Then, if you decide a technology does, ask, "Is this technology the best way to support this value?"
If a technology passes both questions, then it must pass this third question, "How am I going to use this technology going forward to maximize its value and minimize its harms?"
Only start using a technology if it has passed this screening process.
What I Reintroduced
As a reminder, here were my rules from the Digital Declutter:
"- Tech only for growth and work. - No games. No movies or shows alone. No Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or Pinterest except for work (aka use a timer). No YouTube except for Yoga or Workouts. No podcasts."
And here are my new Digital Minimialim Rules:
"~Technology is a tool to be used to improve my life, not a distraction to help me escape from my life."~ *I will use my tech and screens only to grow, work, and take small & productive breaks.* My rules and guidelines: No games alone. Call instead of text as much as possible. No FB on my phone (aka the app is uninstalled). No streaming TV/movie apps on my phone (except the Chosen). Max 2 hrs on YouTube (remember to save time for workout/other important use). Max 2 hrs on Instagram (remember work comes 1st). No Pinterest or Tiktok except for work. Try to only watch TV/movies with others. If I am going to watch something alone, max 2 episodes or 1 movie. Make sure I have some silence each day. Aka --> some time without audio or video input."
So, what I reintroduced was:
Phone/computer games if I am playing with others. - I added it back because it supports my value of connection and relationships. Also, I don't do this super often so I don't think it will cause harm.
Facebook on my computer. - However, because I have Instagram on my phone (which is way more tempting), I will hardly ever do this.
YouTube on my phone. - I added this back because there is a lot of stuff I find valuable on YouTube. I didn't exactly follow Cal's recommendation to only add it back in if it is the "best way" to support my values. However, the time limit per day (which I keep decreasing, actually) will help me use it as short, productive breaks, rather than a distraction from my life.
Instagram for fun on my phone. - I mostly added this back because there isn't much way to avoid it when I have to use Instagram for my work. However, the time limit helps.
I can watch TV/movies on my laptop alone. - However, I have limited how much I can watch per day. This is still a bit of a problem. But I am using it less.
Podcasts - I really only cut these out to try it. They provide a lot of value to me and I pretty much only listen to business and self-development podcasts anyway.
What I'm Learning
I still struggle with wasting time on YouTube, Instagram, and Netflix. However, the limits I have in place help significantly. And, as I said above, I am going to keep lowering my YouTube and Instagram time allowed on my phone until it feels right. Right now it's down to 1 hr and 40 minutes each a day.
I felt way better about myself and my time when I removed the 3 aforementioned apps from my daily life. I foresee myself doing more detoxes from them in the near future.
I enjoy evenings consuming sort of useless media. Although Netflix, lots of YouTube, and most of Instagram do not support any of my values, they do make me happy and relaxed (when I use them sparingly). So, I am not going to completely cut them out of my life. I also am mildly addicted to them still. But I'll work on that too.
Comment below what the three top time-sucking/joy-sucking technologies are in your life. Then commit to the 30-day digital declutter (or use my 30-day digital minimalism challenge) and to only reintroduce technology that makes you a better you.
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