Marcus Lopés

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On Becoming a Digital Minimalist

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the rules more rules

Part III: The Rules. More Rules.

Cut. It. Out. Often used as an admonishment by my mother when I was a kid and acting out, here I am referring to all the ‘noise’ in the world. The social media apps keeping us glued to our phones. Useless celebrity gossip. Narcissists. Anything, or anyone, holding us back from living an intentional, purpose-driven life. That might cause some to panic, but if we keep letting people and things distract us from living the purpose we desire for our lives, ask: To what end? [Read more…] about On Becoming a Digital Minimalist

On Becoming a Digital Minimalist

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digital minimalism

Part I: The Foundation

I had not heard of Cal Newport until earlier this year when, during my morning commute, I listened to Lewis Howes interview him on the School of Greatness podcast. It was a thought-provoking exchange about the ‘intrusion’ of smartphones and social media into our lives that prompted me to read two of Newport’s books: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World and Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. It is the latter that inspires this post.

What is digital minimalism? In his book, and this is an appropriate place to begin, Newport defines it as:

A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else. 1

The ‘Rules’

That “philosophy of technology use” demands, as Newport argues, that we define our technology rules. I recently spent time thinking about the rules I would need to successfully become a digital minimalist. Here are my [current] rules:

  1. Do not pick up my phone during the first hour of the day
  2. Remove social media apps from my phone
  3. Only access social media platforms on my laptop
  4. Limit use of streaming services to one movie or three episodes of a show on Saturday/Sunday
  5. Check WhatsApp/iMessages once a day (Monday to Friday), between 7:00 and 7:30 pm
  6. Embrace solitude

The goal of these ‘rules’ is twofold. First, removing distracting tools and breaking compulsive habits will help improve focus to perform what Newport calls deep work: “Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capacities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”2 Second, the execution of these rules, if done consistently, will allow me to live my best life by spending time on things I value.

In this four-part blog series, I will explore the above rules in more detail, and what works and what does not on my journey to becoming a digital minimalist.

 

1 Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World (New York: Penguin, 2019), 28.
2 Cal Newport, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World (New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2016), 3.

Going Beyond ‘Notifications Off’

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notifications off

At the end of July, I wrote about turning notifications off on my phone. I noted that it was a starting point in my struggle to stay focused in a distracted world. No dings or chirps, or banners appearing on the screen, to announce the arrival of a new message or reaction to a post. Because I was already, it seemed, reaching for my phone too often. I certainly did not need any other incentives to encourage that ‘bad’ habit.

But like I said, turning notifications was — and only could be — a starting point. If I wanted to work more deeply, if I wanted to be more productive, if I wanted to feel like my life stood for something meaningful … I knew that I could not stop there. [Read more…] about Going Beyond ‘Notifications Off’

Notifications Off

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notifications off

I ‘miss’ a lot because on my phone and laptop I keep the notifications off. And the sound. I can’t stand the ding of a new e-mail or text message arriving, or the ringing of an incoming call. Because I have enough distractions that I’m trying to manage on a daily basis, notifications — especially for social media apps — are the last things I need to add to the chaos.

As I reread Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, I know that my struggle to truly embrace and apply the concept of deep work in my life begins in my mind. While my social media use is down considerably, when I go long stretches of not being on it I can’t escape that feeling that maybe I’m missing out on something. But am I really missing out on something that, even when I’m using it, I’m not fully engaged with?

Notifications off … it’s a starting point and, ultimately, the key to me doing more deep work and regaining focus in this distracted world.

Into the Storm

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into the storm

Lately, I’ve thought a lot about a line from a hymn we sang often in church when I was growing up: “Keep me safe till the storm passes by.”

Because I’m in the storm, battered by high winds, trying to outrun the tsunami aiming for me, buried under thirty inches of snow and trying to claw my way out. Translation: trying to do it all and getting nowhere fast.

And like a hurricane, this storm has a name: change.

As a writer with a day job, I’m searching for another one that will give me more time for my writing (working with an increasingly impatient and abusive public is constantly testing my patience and my commitment to being kinder). I’m struggling to reduce my sugar intake … it seems harder to do this time. Still sidelined from running with a foot injury, I’m trying to find another way to stay active. [Read more…] about Into the Storm