By Cal Newport
This was another selection of the Self-Improvement book club. Like the previous selection, The Untethered Soul, I had already read this twice and I consumed it a third time on audiobook. I did the full digital detox the first time. I did not do that this time. I agree with the author on the notion of having a philosophy of technology use rather than only a series of hacks. It also extends beyond the technology. What type of life do I want to be living? What do I get from screens versus activities out in the world? Technology and screens can facilitate real world coordination but they must remain a tool in service of a real life, rather than a diminished substitute.
I made some progress since my first encounter with the book. I deleted my Facebook account, my Twitter accounts (which had been mostly abandoned anyway) and locked myself out of my SomethingAwful forums account. It felt like total victory at the time, although my bad habits just moved a little. I check Reddit compulsively. I don’t even like it. It’s an ugly site and an obnoxious echo chamber. However, it’s a place to see what people are saying and I can’t help but follow that curiosity. I don’t have an account. I can’t post or vote. That makes it a little bit worse because I need to take more technological steps to lock myself out. Besides Reddit, I check LinkedIn more than I have any reason to. My feed isn’t very interesting, so it doesn’t hold me for long, but I still check up on it often. The real kicker is YouTube. I have legitimate appreciation for YouTube and I don’t want to give it up. I love video podcasts. I love BJJ instructional videos. I love reviews of guitar gear. I don’t want to cut those things out. However, I definitely get distracted and can fall down holes rather than accomplishing the thing I set out to do. I might mean to curate a list of jiu jitsu techniques that we’ll be working on in class, but suggestions about comedy or music will tempt me off course. I also realized that I stopped accepting quiet. I always feel an urge to have some kind of sound playing. I can’t always concentrate on work if it is spoken or has lyrics, so I’ll play instrumental music. If I’m not working, than podcasts podcasts podcasts.
I needed the reminder about solitude deprivation. I really don’t give myself enough time to just think. In fact, I actively avoid it. If there is quiet time, I will fill it with something. Books, music, movies, YouTube, video games, internet. Whatever it takes to avoid being alone with my thoughts. That can’t be good. Since this recent revisit of Digital Minimalism, I’m trying to consciously reduce the stimulus in my day. I don’t listen to anything in my car on the way to BJJ in the morning. I stopped eating on the couch in front of the TV and instead eat at the table.
There were a couple of concepts that Newport talked about in the book that I didn’t recall taking from it, but I’ve implemented since my first read. One: being a joiner. I’ve joined a volunteer organization and multiple book clubs. I’ve resumed attendance at the local OWASP chapter. I’m meeting with people in real life with regular schedules. We still try to have dinner with our friends once per week. Sometimes other things interfere, but it is a priority. I’ve also created a form of office hours. I protect my No Meeting Friday calendar at work. I don’t have any recurring meetings and I don’t accept any other meetings that could be held at another time. This was first done to ensure that I had enough uninterrupted time to do my own work. It has also created a window where I am regularly available for lunch. I’ve made that known to my friends and I’ve had many lunch meetings with people because of this arrangement. It helps me stay in touch with people in a meaningful, real life way.