Source: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport
Reason to read: To learn how to have a healthier and more productive relationship with technology.
My name is Tyler and I’m addicted to screens.
Feel the same way? Don’t be too hard on yourself.
You see, we live in an attention economy where the most valuable companies in the world profit in proportion to how much time users spend on their platforms.
Your addiction to screens isn’t because you’re lazy, but instead because billions of dollars have been invested to make this outcome inevitable.
Comedian Bill Maher frames it brilliantly with this quote:
“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.”
Bill Maher
The trouble is you can’t put the genie back in the bottle. Our lives are digital now.
I see two options going forward: Either submit to Zuck’s dystopian dream by feeding your addiction until you become one with the metaverse. Or redefine your relationship with technology such that it supports, not supplants, your core values.
Cal Newport favors the latter. His solution, which he coins “digital minimalism,” is perhaps best illustrated by the Amish community.
Here are a few of my favorite highlights:
- “The Amish do something that’s both shockingly radical and simple in our age of impulsive and complicated consumerism: they start with the things they value most, then work backward to ask whether a given new technology performs more harm than good with respect to these values.”
- “The reason most Amish are prohibited from owning cars, for example, but are allowed to drive in motor vehicles driven by other people, has to do with the impact of owning an automobile on the social fabric of the community.”
- “At the core of the Amish philosophy regarding technology is the following tradeoff: The Amish prioritize the benefits generated by acting intentionally about technology over the benefits lost from the technologies they decide not to use. Their gamble is that intention trumps convenience—and this is a bet that seems to be paying off.”
The climb out of mindless internet consumption starts with identifying your core values.
Then you can be more selective about which tools support those values, and which tools you are better off avoiding.
It’s a simple philosophy, not an easy one.
However, it’s in choosing to make difficult trade-offs like these, with clear intention behind them, that forms the foundation of a meaningful and productive life.
Apply it today: Go to Settings > Screen Time on your iPhone and find the social media app that you use the most. Write down how you use that app to support your values and how it might be a source of distraction.
Life is short. Will you spend your days filled with purpose? Or are you content to sell your attention for cheap likes?