Digital Declutter
By Pamela Wong
Pamela is a Trained Professional Organizer based in Oakville, Ontario and is the owner of Zen N Organized. She helps homeowners and small business owners transform their homes and home offices into organized spaces. She has a practical, non-judgemental approach to organizing. Her objective is to create functional and harmonious spaces for her clients.
This Blogpost Is Inspired by Cal Newport’s Book: Digital Minimalism | On Living Better with Less
Are you guilty of using too much technology and the mindless scrolling?
Do you find yourself wasting hours on social media?
Wouldn’t it be nice to know a way to downsize your technology use?
If you say yes to any of these questions, then I strongly recommend Cal Newport’s book about Digital Minimalism.
I was very intrigued by this book as I wanted to learn more about living better with less. In addition, I wanted to understand the world of technology over-consumption and how we can correct such behaviour.
Disclaimers:
- I purchased and paid for this book myself because I was genuinely interested in the topic. I am not being paid to write about this book. All opinions are my own.
- This blogpost is not a conventional book review. I don’t plan to provide any summary or give any rating.
Here are some of the takeaways for me:
- Behavioural addiction and the comparison of technology use (waiting for the next like on social media) to a slot machine (to get the next win).
- How overuse of technologies connects to depression and mental illness
- Your time is one of the most valuable commodities and by encouraging behavioural addiction, tech companies are taking your valuable time away from you.
- If it is free, it is using you or your data
- We need to replace the low value clicks with high quality conversations. A true connection, such as a face to face conversation with a friend, is worth so much more than a heart icon on your Instagram post.
- The importance of solitude – your thoughts, initiated by you, are more important that what any social media is trying to tell/sell you.
- Use technologies with intention. You should be the one controlling them, not the other way around. Decide on which tools to use and why you want to use them.
This last bullet point really resonates with me. Just like Word or Excel, I need to decide why I want to use Facebook or Instagram.
Cal Newport also lists specific steps and walks you through the digital declutter process. If you are in search of digital declutter and a step-by-step to guide you through, then I highly recommend this book to you.
If you’ve read this book or if you have gone through the digital declutter journey, I would love to hear from you. Drop me a comment and let me know how the process was.
