Synopsis:
The key to living well in a high tech world is to spend much less time using technology.
Georgetown computer scientist Cal Newport's Deep Work sparked a movement around the idea that unbroken concentration produces far more value than the electronic busyness that defines the modern work day. But his readers had an urgent follow-up question: What about technology in our personal lives?
In recent years, our culture's relationship with personal technology has transformed from something exciting into something darker. Innovations like smartphones and social media are useful, but many of us are increasingly troubled by how much control these tools seem to exert over our daily experiences--including how we spend our free time and how we feel about ourselves.
In Digital Minimalism, Newport proposes a bold solution: a minimalist approach to technology use in which you radically reduce the time you spend online, focusing on a small set of carefully-selected activities while happily ignoring the rest.
He mounts a vigorous defense for this less-is-more approach, combining historical examples with case studies of modern digital minimalists to argue that this philosophy isn't a rejection of technology, but instead a necessary realignment to ensure that these tools serve us, not the other way around.
To make these principles practical, he takes us inside the growing subculture of digital minimalists who have built rich lives on a foundation of intentional technology use, and details a decluttering process that thousands have already used to simplify their online lives. He also stresses the importance of never clicking "like," explores the underappreciated value of analog hobbies, and draws lessons from the "attention underground"--a resistance movement fighting the tech companies' attempts to turn us into gadget addicts.
Digital Minimalism is an indispensable guide for anyone looking to reclaim their life from the alluring diversions of the digital world.
In a Nutshell: A non-fiction book about using less technology and social media for a happier life
Published: Feb 5th, 2019
Format: Physical
Number of Pages: 256
Finished: January 2020
Rating: 2.25⭐
Diversity: None
My Thoughts
I have somewhat complicated feelings on this book. I feel like I need to say these are all just my opinions. Anyway..Through-out there were so many times I was internally screaming "DISABLED PEOPLE EXIST!" and wanting to DNF it. I almost wish I had. There is so much privilege that goes unseen that I wanted to scream. That's not to say I didn't get anything good out of this book, because I did, but it was a chore to wade through the privilege, so much of it I don't have myself, and the pretentiousness as well as an almost complete lack of being able to acknowledge the good social media has done. I know it has it's cons and flaws and people can definitely have an unhealthy relationship with it and the internet. Many do. That's a part of why I picked up this book. That doesn't mean it's evil, and I had heard that this book doesn't paint it as completely evil, and it doesn't. But it still drove me up a wall. The author even admits he has never used social media so you can take that how you want to as well.
Personally I am physically disabled (as well as mental health issues that i've had long before social media-PTSD, Depression, Anxiety-that I have had my entire life due to my medical issues and I did grow up in a time before social media and the internet like it is today-mentioning that because it talks about how teens today are more anxious then ever before due largely to social media) as well as queer (non-binary trans and bisexual specifically), and i'll get to why I mention that in a second.
Social media, even with it's cons, has given me a world of good. I grew up with VACteRL Association (used to be called VAteR syndrome) (capitalized like that because it's an acronym). I have rare medical issues and grew up with doctors constantly telling me "never heard of that" and looking at me like I got 3 heads. I still, less than 2 weeks away from being 31, have never, to my knowledge, met, in person, a SINGLE other person with vacterl. Not one. I grew up feeling all alone and like a freak of nature, in constant physical pain, like a burden because of the way people (including parents-not all of them-had 4 with stepparents) treated me, and like no one understood or even cared to. Add to that fact that at 13 I realized i'm bisexual and grew up thinking that's a sin and that I was going to hell for it. So I tried to pray myself straight for a few years. Obviously it didn't work. I'm proud to be queer now but man was it a journey. I also was confused as to my gender all my life but never had the words to describe how I felt.
What does that have to do with social media? As an adult I found facebook groups for people with vacterl. Finally, I can talk to others that have the same medical issues, have had the exact same pain and problems, that understand because they go through it too. Some even older than me despite being told if I was born just years earlier i'd be dead. Do you know how valuable this is? In addition to realizing i'm not alone and that there are others out there that understand and care...we can also share medical information. This can save lives or at least help each other live a little better. With rare medical issues this is an understatement. Feeling all alone is the worst feeling.
With social media I can now find many other disabled people who even when we have different issues we can often relate in certain ways. And I can find many other queer people now and see what teen me didn't get the chance to, that being queer isn't a bad thing. And now I know the word non-binary...finally, I understood my issue with not being able to describe my gender growing up. I knew how I felt LONG before I had the words. The word may be new to me, but the feelings aren't. Someone knowing that they aren't alone can save their LIFE. Many people don't have the privilege of having someone in their real life that understands or seems to care.
Time and time again this book talks about strenuous activity and walking. Umm...physically disabled here. I can't walk much or physically do a lot. Some people...can't walk at all. It even says (talking about someone named Thoreau) "But if we remain inspired by his vision, and try to spend as much time as is reasonable on foot and engaging in the "noble art" of walking, we too will experience success in preserving our health and spirits." I didn't know I had picked up a fitness book. "Noble art" of walking? So what about those that can't walk? That can't get out much? My medical issues keep me home-bound and i'm far from the only home-bound disabled person. Through-out this book it completely forgets disabled people exist, that not everyone can walk or do strenuous activity, or get out of the house often, or has people around them in real life that actually care about them or that understand them in some way.
It talks about craftsmanship, making things with your hands (not everyone has hands), and how making something in the physical real world is superior and seems to be what makes a person...matter. Time and time again it gives off the impression that if you are disabled, if you can't be handy in someway, you don't matter. Granted it seems to completely forget disabled people exist. The pretentiousness oozing off the pages made me want to throw it.
It also constantly mentions smartphones and to use your desktop computer once in awhile and you're smartphone a lot less so you are on the internet less. I'm sure that can work for some people but it believes that everyone HAS a desktop computer. Many people are too poor and the only access they have to the internet is their smartphone. I'm quite the opposite, smartphones confuse the fuck out of me. I do have a tablet but I use that for ebooks mainly. I do have a desktop...that i'm always on. Because i'm home-bound.
It also constantly says that downtime is overrated. Why must we always be productive? Why can't we just relax once in awhile? We aren't machines. We are human. Downtime can be necessary. Why must leisure activity be yet another thing to use as a measure of productivity and why must how productive someone is be tied to their worth as a human? When talking about leisure activities it kept saying "high quality" leisure activities aka strenuous and productive stuff.
If you are wondering why I even picked it up, it's because I do want to be on the internet/social media less because I want to do other things. I want to draw, paint, write, read more. I thought maybe I could get something out of this book. And as I said in the beginning, I did. It's not without some words of wisdom or information that is useful as well as some things I wish more people knew. I don't actually regret reading it, I just didn't like reading it and it was hell to get through. I can't really recommend it and I feel like I wasted my money on it because I bet I could've just googled stuff. But the good stuff in it is why it gets a strong 2 stars from me, rather than ya know, 1 star.
It talks about how we are social animals and how that evolved in our brains and why social media is kinda fucking with it. And how we aren't wired to be constantly wired, which i'd agree with. How we could generally use some solitude to be with our thoughts. A part of me hates to give it a low rating because of how valuable I actually do find the good in it. I would love a book on this topic but more nuanced and inter-sectional. I'm glad for what I got out of it and i'll try to take that and forget the rest of my frustrations with it.
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