Digital Minimalism

Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World

by Cal Newport

Hardcover, 284 pages

English language

Published Feb. 5, 2019 by Portfolio.

ISBN:: 978-0-525-53651-2
OCLC Number:: 1038242757

(106 reviews)

Digital minimalists are all around us. They're the calm, happy people who can hold long conversations without furtive glances at their phones. They can get lost in a good book, a woodworking project, or a leisurely morning run. They can have fun with friends and family without the obsessive urge to document the experience. They stay informed about the news of the day, but don't feel overwhelmed by it. They don't experience "fear of missing out" because they already know which activities provide them meaning and satisfaction.

Now, Newport gives us a name for this quiet movement, and makes a persuasive case for its urgency in our tech-saturated world. Common sense tips, like turning off notifications, or occasional rituals like observing a digital sabbath, don't go far enough in helping us take back control of our technological lives, and attempts to unplug completely are complicated by the demands of family, …

Drawing on a diverse array of real-life examples, from Amish farmers to harried parents to Silicon Valley programmers, Newport identifies the common practices of digital minimalists and the ideas that underpin them. He shows how digital minimalists are rethinking their relationship to social media, rediscovering the pleasures of the offline world, and reconnecting with their inner selves through regular periods of solitude. He then shares strategies for integrating these practices into your life, starting with a thirty-day "digital declutter" process that has already helped thousands feel less overwhelmed and more in control.

Technology is intrinsically neither good nor bad. The key is using it to support your goals and values, rather than letting it use you. This book shows the way.

4 editions

urn reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Review of 'Digital Minimalism' on 'Storygraph'

4 stars

In the end, Cal makes good points, explains them clearly, and provides examples. Take want you want and leave the rest, but there's a lot worth taking (e.g. no phone in the bedroom, no social apps on phone, use browser extensions to limit access to social media to certain times, cultivate "hands-on" hobbies that bring a sense of meaning and worth, focus on longer form and ideally in-person communication over likes and comments, etc).

Less great parts: the dude is a well-off white man and it shows. No compelling ideological orientation towards society to be found here, and too many throw-away examples that assume an audience who shares most/all of his privilege. He's got a few mentions of women here and there (largely that they've been fucked, historically) but it's in no way fundamental to his argument. If you've done any reading in the productivity realm you're used to this, …

Chris reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

None

4 stars

I listened to this on Audible (which made sense). Much good thought here. I have already installed Freedom to block social media on work days and some day soon will get around to getting rid of of most of my social media accounts. Trouble is the damn things are useful. Or interesting. Twitter can get stuffed though. I already don't use my phone that much, so it's just sitting at a computer.

tronicdude reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Review of 'Digital Minimalism' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Nothing here which hasn't already been written about extensively elsewhere. Nicely packaged tho.

Yasir Bilgic reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Review of 'Digital Minimalism' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Çok yetersiz.
Dijital minimalizm kullanmadığınız uygulamaları silin ve bildirimleri kapatından öteye gitmelidir bence.

torin reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Review of 'Digital Minimalism' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Like many popular non-fiction books, this is an essay padded out to a book. The author isn't wrong about how phones hijack our attention, but it's really written from the perspective of a well-off and able-bodied man. As someone whose abilities and energy vary a great deal from day to day, I need my phone - and relationship to it - to change day to day without falling into the addictive traps it lays for me. This book wasn't very useful on that front.

The lack of a gender or class lens was eyerolling to painful in some places. For example, his solution for a lot of social media is to confine it to your actual computer - when half of people ONLY have internet access on their phones. In the US, more than 40 million people only have a smartphone to access the internet and they're almost all poor.

I was also annoyed because he, like many authors in this space, really devalues text as a communication medium. Many of my closest relationships are text based or have a textual communication foundation. (Dearest Ida, penpal of 25 years and going strong!) And many famous relationships in history have large textual components - swoon so many great epistolary romances and friendships.

But yeah, be intentional about how you use your phone and the internet and think about what matters to you and schedule time to do it.

Rainer König reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

None

5 stars

Its definitely a very interesting book. And also a scaring one to the social media addict, because it suggests to transform your smartphone into a dumb phone. So, what lessons can I get from that book. One of the best explanation of the "you're not the customer, you're the product" idea in social media is that the companys are selling "eyeball time" to the advertising companies. The more users are hooked to their plattform, the more revenue they get. So its clear that the social media giants don't want you to reduce the time you spend there. On the other hand Cal Newport is totally right about the impact that this "always online" has on our real life. Highly recommended reading for every social networker.

Clément Martin reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Review of 'Digital Minimalism' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This book has given me my brain back. No amount of thanks will be enough, but if you're unsure and are afraid it's a technophobe's rants made book, I urge you have to have a quick look at it. It is eye-opening.

Lavinia reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Review of 'Digital Minimalism' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

In his new book Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport talks-in such a powerful way-about how costly it is for us to spend a big part of our lives in digital platforms, social media and all kind of media use.

There are certainly benefits in using social media, but Cal Newport guards us against the pitfalls of letting these technologies get the best of us. If you value your life, you need to try to make every minute meaningful. A life well lived requires activities that serve no other purpose than the satisfaction that the activity itself generates, said Aristotle. Becoming a slave to the attention economy of conglomerates is not a meaningful way to spend your life. If your personal brand requires engagement with services like social media, it’s important to approach these activities with a sense of zero-sum antagonism, Cal Newport suggests. Look carefully at these technologies and decide, consciously, …

Noisy Deadlines reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Review of 'Digital Minimalism' on 'Storygraph'

5 stars

A very good read in times of overwhelming social media feeds. The idea is to unplug and do more creative fun things. Some ideas were not new to me but it brings lots of examples of how to address bad habits related to the digital world. It's definitely eye opening and give us a method on how to become digital minimalists. Less is more.

Jack Baty reviewed Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

Review of 'Digital Minimalism' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I enjoyed it. Cal has never had a social media account. Counter-intuitively, this gives him a clear perspective of the cost/benefit balance offered by social networks. He offers a number of actionable ways to reduce and clarify how we interact with devices and other people.