A Philosophy of Technology Use // Digital Minimalism 03

“Small changes are not enough to solve our big issues with new technologies.” -Cal Newport, Digital Minimalism

In the introduction to this series, I shared Cal Newport’s assertion that we need, “A full-fledged philosophy of technology use.” This article is a brief explanation of the Digital Minimalism philosophy.

Digital Minimalism Defined

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.

Notice the key words — carefully, optimized, strongly, happily, everything. The words are strong and decisive. This is not a space for gray. Digital minimalists, like minimalists of the physical variety, are disciplined and intentional. You already know what you enjoy in life and do not need more screen time to get it. I doubt you wake up and plan to waste your day on facebook. Yet, the lure of new technologies will pull you in, unless you have a plan to match your intentions.

In his book, Cal Newport spells out three main principles for digital minimalists to follow. Since he is a computer scientist, he backs up his claims with tight logical arguments, similar to math proofs.

Principle 1: Clutter is Costly

First, I recognize that even Instagram has some value. The trouble is the death by a thousand cuts that comes from the cluttered experience of using a social network. You go to check one quick thing, an hour later you emerge disoriented.

The cost of clutter is clearest in physical minimalism. For example, when you dump clothing that doesn’t fit you, it is easy to find your favorite clothes.

Cal Newport points to Henry David Throeau’s, Walden for a historical example of clutter’s cost. Thoreau’s journey into the woods is often romanticized as a story about man’s connection to nature and himself, but Thoreau was also a calculating student of personal finance. He kept careful tables of the cost of land, food, clothing, etc.

Thoreau said he went to the woods, “Because I wished to live deliberately.” This required him to understand costs, because he saw cost and life in zero-sum competition. He defines cost in terms of life, as follows, “The cost of a thing is the amount of what I will call life which is required to be exchanged for it, immediately or in the long run.” He goes on to ponder why people accept the cost of backbreaking labor to make slightly more money. For Thoreau, working one day per week generated enough income to cover his expenses.

However, most of us do not recognize the tradeoff proposed here. We see more pay as better, despite longer hours, greater tax bills, and hidden costs, such as commuting to work.

In Sapiens, Yuval Noah Harari declares that we have been making these poor trades for millennia. The move from hunter-gatherer society to farming made us slaves to our own fields. The luxuries of each generation became the necessities of the next. In his next book, Home Deus, Harari posited that we will make the same mistake with technology, becoming enslaved by constant data collection in order to achieve greater power over our health and longevity.

Do not be fooled. Resist the excess. Less is more, because digital clutter will create greater demands on your life.

Principle 2: Optimization is important

It is lazy to assume that bigger is better. We like to throw growth at problems. Running out of money? Get venture capital. Sales numbers down? Get more customers. In fact, these problems are often about quality not size. It’s hard to think like this. It takes thoughtful analysis to get to the roots of a problem. Cal Newport explains that even when growth feels right, it can be dead wrong, because, “a process cannot indefinitely improve its output.”

Imagine you get your first car, utility goes up. You get another car, utility goes up again. You get a third car, utility begins to level off. By the fourth car, you’re running out of space and making zero gains in utility.

Social media use is similar, the value levels off fast.

The good news is that you may have an opportunity move up another curve — optimization. If you use social media like companies want you to, frequently checking and responding to the shiny alarms, you have a big opportunity to optimize. When you first alter your practices, you can make rapid improvement in the value extracted while sacrificing less time to the Silicon Valley nerd gods.

Principle 3: Intentionality is Satisfying

I’ve been hearing a lot about the Amish in podcasts. They are credited for their community, their healthy microbiome, and their intentional use of tech.

The myth is that the Amish reject all technology. In fact, they try out most new technology to see if it helps or harms the community. Often, they tweak technologies to get maximum benefit and minimal harm. For example, they use tractors with metal wheels, because they allow for the gain in production without the isolation of driving them on the road like cars.

Cal Newport says that the Amish are making a simple bet, “That intention trumps convenience.”

Other people can attest to this bet. I’ve gone 6 months without a car, and it felt great to know that I chose it and grew closer to other people because of it. And the walking was great exercise.

Being selective will connect you to a sense of purpose that lasts longer than any social media sugar high.

For more on Digital Minimalism, check out the book by Cal Newport.