Tech and Digital Minimalism
Our digitalized world
We are living in an ever more digital world that constantly demands our attention. Everything is just a few clicks away. Joy, intrigue, excitement, awe, and love. Right in our pockets. This makes our phones and other digital devices very versatile tools, and in some cases crucial. However, they are equally addicting as they are useful. This addiction has to be treated to prevent it from taking over our lives. We only want them to be good for us, not the opposite. Research has found that on average each UK Citizen uses their phones for almost 3.5 hours a day. 3.5 hours they most definitely could have spent more wisely. It is estimated that as of this year, 2019, 67 % of the world’s population owns a phone. If we are not aware of the problems they cause and act on that, who knows what will happen?
Corporations like Facebook, Google and Twitter all compete for your attention. They deliberately create compelling features that captivate and addict you. Some examples of this are the infinite-scroll and the ability to minimize the video player. Those abilities loosen up the friction to find something new to be gratified by to almost nothing which increases the probability of getting addicted.
“The tycoons of social media have to stop pretending that they’re 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.” ― Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World
The devices themselves are also getting faster and better each year so you, the consumer, can perform even more tasks. In terms of personal health, this is a bad thing, but these are big selling points. The market wants you to consume, but in this digitalized world we consume too much. We would benefit from disconnecting with our tech and connect with the world instead.
Adopting Digital Minimalism to your own life
This is where digital minimalism prevails. It is a lifestyle where you are aware of the dangers of digital devices which you try to use for as little as possible. Adopting digital minimalism does not imply living an ascetic lifestyle allowing yourself no pleasures. Phones and computers are allowed — as long as you are aware of your usage, and try not to spend more time than necessary using them. Just like a minimalist has possessions, a digital minimalist has a phone (although you do not need one).
We must develop a healthy relationship with our tech. It is clear that society wants otherwise. We have to connect with what really matters; our friends, our family and all there is outside of our screens.
Deciding what a healthy relationship depends from person to person. I try to limit my overall phone use to no more than 1.5 hours a day and on my computer, I use an app called Cold Turkey to prevent me from procrastinating. A good way to decide what your limits should be is to ask yourself whether or not you need to spend that much time on your devices. Do all of your apps serve an important purpose or can you delete any?
Up until now, when writing this article, I have been looking at my phone to see if someone has replied to my snaps. I realised that is was distracting, so I put it away. The addiction, or craving for gratification, or whatever it is, is constantly there. Therefore, it will help significantly to keep your phone away when you either are working, or perhaps going to sleep. I cannot count the number of times I have been unable to sleep and I pick up my phone.
Delaying our gratifications is the key. Resisting immediate pleasures provides as a means to reach your goals. This applies to everything, not merely to “digital” pleasures. For instance, resisting unhealthy food results in a healthier body. Resisting the temptation of posting for likes, or watching another YouTube video will result in a healthier mind.
If we want to connect with the world, instead of our digital devices, it is important that we become more aware of our feelings. We have to recognize that initial feeling that makes us want to pick up the phone or open the new tab. Knowing and understanding how and when that feeling arises, you can begin ignoring it and keep doing what you were doing.
It surprised me first that much of this correlates with regular meditation principles. When I meditate each day (using Headspace) I am being reminded that I must become more aware of my emotions. Doing so I become more self-aware and less harsh on myself. That is practically the purpose of meditation. You should not act based on your emotions, but rather be aware of those emotions and then figure out the best decision. Emotions are not known for being a reliable decision-maker.
“Rather than being your thoughts and emotions, be the awareness behind them.” — Eckhart Tolle
This is exactly what digital minimalism is about as well. Becoming aware. Becoming aware of what triggers our instincts to open our phones, refresh our feeds, and update our Medium stats. The solution might be as simple as to meditate.
Should Digital Minimalism really be necessary?
From a moral perspective, allowing corporations such as Facebook and YouTube to deliberately make us addicted to their sites is bad. The internet is crowded with companies that all want your attention — and making you stay longer generates profit. Like in most cases in our society someone’s profit are many people’s loss. We should be able to benefit from the digital utilities without having our time-deprived from us.
Most time spent on our phones is wasted on trivialities. As mentioned earlier, when we hint even the slightest feeling of boredom we seek to be gratified. This is not due to the extraordinary versatility of the utilities, but because of their addicting abilities.
The fact that we never let ourselves, because of our addiction, get bored means that we never get any chance to process our thoughts. Numerous studies show that people are becoming increasingly stressed in this day and age. Can this be because we never contemplate our thoughts and emotions but try to hide them away with momentary pleasures? Well, they are probably not going to disappear from our mind so I suppose it can get dense in there after a while.
Research has also shown that phones caused 25% of all traffic accidents in 2017 (in the US). This confirms that our addiction to digital devices has horrible consequences. To solve this it will not help to educate everyone about digital minimalism — something bigger has to change.
We are missing out on so many things when we constantly stare at our screens. Perhaps we would have become less stressed, finished our homework that raised our grade or perhaps maybe met a new friend. Establishing a healthy relationship with our digital devices and adopting digital minimalism to our lives will make us achieve precisely that. A better life.
Jakob Wilmer. July 2019
