You live in a world where the mind remains “connected” almost all the time, although it is often not remembered exactly when or why that dynamic began.
From a notification while having breakfast to a message while working; from checking social media for five minutes to staying for an hour; from glancing at accounts before going to sleep to doing so right after waking up.
You may not want to give up social media or your mobile phone. The truth is that they are part of society, as well as work, relationships, and family.
“Digital minimalism” sounds like something serious, but it can simply be a small step toward a more deliberate lifestyle, focusing on those areas where you wish to place your attention, whether in social media, work, or personal relationships.
This term, “digital minimalism,” brings to mind minimalism and design. Although, in its connotation, it is rooted in minimalist patterns and spaces with flawlessly smooth surfaces, that is not what digital minimalism implies. Digital minimalism is practical in the sense that it encourages simplifying what consumes energy, time and attention, beyond connections and personal relationships.
There is no defined set of apps that you must have, nor a specific number of hours that you must dedicate to them. Instead, it is about asking a series of questions about what value each platform, application, or specific use adds.
You can use WhatsApp every day and feel that you like how it works; that does not mean that you need to be in several groups.
You can have an Instagram account and enjoy using the app, but that does not mean that you need to check it every time you have a free minute.
It sounds easy, and it really is: once you try these steps, you begin to notice that your day goes by differently.
Digital minimalism: starting with notifications
Starting with notifications is a good concrete starting point.
Mobile phones constantly ring, whether due to social media posts, emails, generic offers, story replies, or general updates. It almost seems like they compete with each other to get attention. Everything consumes time —and even if it is only 15 seconds— that brief cycle produces an accumulative loss of productivity.
The first thing you can do right now is to customize your notifications to get rid of that burden.
Two lists can be created: one with what you definitely want (calls and messages) and another with what you can probably do without (general notifications). You can spend the next 24 hours noting each notification you receive and transferring them to the corresponding list (those to which you could have given a “Like” or those you could do without).
The “could have given a Like” list will probably outnumber the other, if the latter even has elements besides calls and messages.
Now, you disable the other notifications without trying to be extreme —you have already done a great job removing a burden— and you can ask yourself: should this notification have bothered me?
More screen-free time, without great demands
You can dedicate short periods of time to being completely away from electronic devices without any expectation of what you should do.
These short breaks can be placed at different times of the day:
After waking up in the morning for the second time.
After getting up from breakfast.
After going for a run or a walk.
After eating.
Before going to sleep.
While your partner reads aloud or while you put on a kettle.
The point here is simply to give your brain a break from the continuous flow of news, data, and noise. Your day does not stop just because your phone does, and it is good to allow yourself to experience that for short periods. This is great practice, especially when these activities are done regularly, because it helps develop a greater capacity to stay calm, relax, and simply do nothing.
Your phone is not everywhere
Nowadays, the habit of carrying your phone everywhere has been adopted, even if you only go to the bathroom or on the way to work. It could be said that it is a security policy to carry the phone everywhere, but it could also simply be a habit. Here is an alternative you can try right now:
Think of an activity you do daily that justifies carrying your phone (listening to music, etc.).
When you have to do that activity, place the phone in another room or move the activity to another room. For example, if you like to take medication during the workday, you can place the phone somewhere away from you, like the desk, and take the pill there. If you do not feel like separating the phone from the activity, you can try moving the activity instead. This is a small change, but it is a good opportunity to realize that you are capable of doing the activity without your phone. It may surprise you how quickly you get used to it.
Social media: more manual control
Deliberate choice comes into play here. Social media platforms are designed to keep you hooked, and although that might be something negative, this is not about judging. Perhaps it is simply a matter of balance, as in many aspects of life. You can make some deliberate decisions about when to use a social network. The simplest changes involve hiding or uninstalling apps and programs, or simply ending your relationship with them. Another good strategy is to determine times when you consider it appropriate to check your social media accounts.
Also, it is useful to count how long your session lasted if you entered out of curiosity. You may find that you entered a social network by chance, gave a “Like” to something, and suddenly you have been wasting 30 minutes. This is not always terrible, as long as you know that you should not be on social media at that moment or that you have already wasted too much time today.
Tech break, also boring
Limiting the use of smartphones is discussed, but simply doing nothing also needs to be mentioned. Boredom has an unfairly bad reputation. When you have some free time, you generally waste it immediately doing something insubstantial. To avoid this misuse of time, you spend less than ten minutes on metaphysical contemplation and then you buy something on Amazon. Now, if you had to be truly bored, what would you do? Perhaps simply look out the window and watch people wander by. While making coffee in the morning, perhaps you decide to watch the stove for a few minutes. It is likely that you will notice that your smartphone does not cover all your needs.
Try this: a one-week experiment
You can try a one-week experiment to see what life is like without so many notifications and fewer screens. You can work on this: for seven days, do the following:
Turn off any of those annoying notifications.
Decide on a time of day when you completely put your phone aside.
Place your phone out of reach during some activity you do every day.
Choose one social network you want to experiment with.
Take note of any moment when you think about doing any of these things without your phone.
After a full week, it is not about looking back with nostalgia at all those hours lost in front of screens. You can think about how the week went: are there some things you miss? Great. Are there others that you can perhaps set aside? Amazing. This is not intended to be a comprehensive evaluation of your lifestyle at all. It is completely normal to be comfortably integrated into the system; instead, you can try to look for opportunities where you can exercise deliberate choice.
Less noise, not less technology
Digital minimalism. It sounds like a self-improvement campaign, but in reality it has nothing to do with that. This concept is enormously flexible and inclusive; instead of judging your current habits as good or bad, it urges you to critically examine where you reside in your own life. It may surprise you how simple it is to make truly significant changes in your daily routine. You may find that technology remains an important aspect of your day, but that it now moves to the background behind your creativity, your connections, and your productivity. You simply turn the volume down to a more reasonable level.
If you ever decide to delve deeper into this, you are recommended to explore this blog and its articles on a slow lifestyle, tech breaks, quiet spaces, and ways to introduce gradual changes into your daily life.
