Tech

Digital minimalism: Two years on

In November 2020, I read Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport and decided to try what Newport calls a Digital Declutter. This is a 30-day cleanse of your attention, with thankfully no colonic in sight.

I wrote about my experiences in Digital minimalism in action: the 30-day digital declutter. In that post, I shared my struggles, what worked and the simple changes that had the biggest impact.

I considered the experiment a success. But that was nearly 2 years ago. How much of it am I still practising now?

Digital minimalism in action: the 30-day digital declutter

2023 note. I’ve published a two-year follow up to this experiment: Digital Minimalism: Two years on.

In November 2020 I started reading Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Newport’s compelling writing style alongside the logic of his argument quickly moved me into action and I decided to embark on what he calls a 30-day Digital Declutter.

The philosophy of digital minimalism is not simply to rid ourselves of technology but to be clear on what we use and why, so that we can free ourselves of the compulsive use that apps are so effective at fostering. This is not a case of simply removing a few apps, but instead:

Why you should be writing in Markdown

It’s time to break the tyranny of note-taking apps and blogging platforms: write your online content in a universal language that encourages flow and keeps you focused on the content.

When you’re writing for the Internet, you want to be able to save and move your writings around as easily as possible. You don’t want each new app loosing bits of your formatting. After you’ve published your words, you don’t want them locked into that one particular presentation forever, right?