7 Habits of Digital Minimalism

I recently read and was inspired by Cal Newport's book "Digital Minimalism". If you haven't read it, I definitely recommend it. I knew I could do better at this whole digital minimalism thing so wanted get more ideas and help taking some next steps toward this effort. I had made some attempts prior to reading the book, but wondered, what does Cal have to say about it and what can I tweak now (and slowly increase incrementally)?

Below is my account of the methods I'm trying out in order to free my mind and spirit so that it is more open to the present moment.

#1 Unsubscribing

About 2 years ago, as an attempt to remove all temptation from shopping, I started to unsubscribe to every email I received from stores. Also, when I receive any “junk” type email from my bank, cell phone company, or anyone else that managed to get a hold of my email, if it wasn’t adding value, I click unsubscribe.

# 2 Block

I’m lucky my baby boy is still in the phase of 2 naps a day, so I can take a little “me time”, to you know, work on this blog, shower, tidy up, that kind of thing. But when he’s awake in between naps, that time is special for me and him. I have my phone on a timer to block off almost every app except the ones I need like my phone, texting, and agenda App (I use Calendars, primarily for the task management functionality).

#3 Notifications

Notifications are the reason the phone is so addicting. We have been programmed to recognize those sound or banner alerts as a reward. As if someone is thinking of us or as if we need to know what’s always going on (#fomo). I have gone through all of my apps and turned off notifications from nearly all of them. That's right, I receive no notifications from email, Instagram, Facebook or anything other than the following which I allow:

• text messages including WhatsApp and Messenger (because I sell stuff on Facebook)

• phone calls

• Calendars (for appointment reminders)

• Nest (it's my baby monitor)

• Okta (the SSO to get into my work cloud)

It's made a HUGE difference in breaking my habit of wanting to check my phone. Part of getting past it though is also resisting the urge to look at your phone to check the banners. That is still a work in progress for me.

#4 Deleting Apps and Using a Desktop

Full disclosure, this part of my “digital cleanse” happened when I ran out of storage space on my phone. It’s unbelievable how many photos and videos I have taken of my kid and of all the beautiful sunsets I've seen in the same 3 places (oy!). So rather than make tough choices on what photos or videos to delete, I opted to remove apps I no longer needed. I should probably tend to the photos another time. ;)

The mental reward from deleting the apps is the noticeably less distraction or temptations lurking on my phone, which is usually within 3 feet of me at all times. While I was digitally cleansing my phone, I put all of the apps into folders except the ones I use the most: phone, text, mail, Calendars, camera and photos. This kept them hidden from just being an easy click away.

I even deleted my LinkedIn app....whoa. I figured If I really needed to use it, I could log in from my laptop. That was a great change as I no longer find myself trapped in an information vortex on LinkedIn.

#5 Unfollow

I love Instagram. Well, I loved the old Instagram. You might recall: the Instagram that used a chronological order for the photos in the feed vs. algorithms and had little or no sponsored ads. Over the years, I had accumulated A LOT of accounts that I followed (on my personal account) and a lot of them resonated more with the old me versus my current state, evolved version of me. The person I was before would love to spend some hard earned money on a designer bag. I also previously enjoyed gawking at all the bloggers with their picture perfect (aka unrealistic and #sponsored) feeds. Now, if an account no longer sparks joy for me in some way : unfollow, bye bye.

#6 The Leave Behind

I am fortunate to live in Vancouver, a very beautiful city in Canada on the west coast. I live steps from the seawall and you can catch me for a walk out there every. damn. day. I used to bring my phone with me...I needed it for the camera. What if the sun was hitting the water just right or I saw something I might regret not capturing on my phone, only to never look at it again?

Can anyone relate to that?

For the hour or so that I might be out, I eventually I began to choose to value presence of mind and connection with my husband, dog, and baby while we enjoyed the views and each other’s company. Now, most times, I choose to leave my phone at home and take photos with my mind instead of with my phone. I enjoy the smells, the sights, the company and smile at people we pass by. It’s been a game changer.

#7 Do Not Disturb

iPhones have a setting where you can select hours for a feature called “Do Not Disturb”. I use this gem to turn off ALL alerts on the phone, even my phone and texts and everything mentioned in #3. I have this set from 9pm until 8am. If I choose to check my phone or even remember to for that matter, I can see the banner alerts from the apps that I've received notifications from but my phone doesn't light up when those notifications arrive. Sure, I miss texts sometimes but if there is a really important issue, someone can call me as I have a setting to allow calls from my favourites contact list. Otherwise, I respond when I can.

What tricks do you have up your sleeve? Please share by shooting me an email or leaving a comment!