Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

I first heard about Cal Newport through an episode of 10% Happier that discussed his latest book, Slow Productivity. I might read more of that later next month. I chanced upon Newport's earlier book, Digital Minimalism, published in 2019. I thought I had a good grasp on the hows and whys of approaching technology use, but I turned out to be wrong. A few pointers I picked up:

It's designed this way: Snapchat, LinkedIn, and Instagram were founded by students of a Stanford psychology class. Human brains are easy to manipulate to begin with (cognitive biases). Stack that on top of screens that connect you to a virtual reality and slot machine-style design: pulling down to refresh, pops, little red notification lights, unpredictable "social interactions" - dopamine hit after dopamine hit. 

That being said, it's not that useful to see tech use as an addiction. At worst (or best, if you are in the business of making these things), tech use is a medium-intensity addiction - getting off Instagram probably won't give you physical withdrawals that a smoker or workaholic might get (I'm now imagining a fidgety 9-year old who cannot get their hands off their phone). Rather, Newport takes pains to point out that mitigating the harms of technology use depends on how you use it, without doubling down on the banal perspective of "it just depends". To that end, the book asks us to think intentionally about what we use and how we use it.

Use technology with intention: A digital detox asks us to get away from our phones for say, a month. This is the abstention perspective - we experience a hole in our lives during that month, and we resume using our phones after that month. 

Let's suppose instead that we think carefully about what we use our phone for, and what sort of needs that it might meet. We will then want to ask how we can meet those same needs without using our phones all that much. For instance, perhaps we value social connection with our friends - we want to stay updated on what they're doing. Instead of scrolling through their Instagram Stories, we could schedule a time to meet them in person to catch up - the skin and bone encounter is way more valuable.

By thinking about what we get out of using technology and the needs that it meet, we can see how they fit into our lives. This gives us the space to think about our needs, and to use technology in more limited and specific ways to meet our needs.

Build a life worth living: It's probably no coincidence that the decline of organised community and public life (see: Bowling Alone) facilitates a shift towards the "connection" over the "conversation" - the vague feeling of having been social, without taking on the risk and interaction. There is a void in our lives that social media use fills (as a major subset of technology use). 

The book asks us to do things with our hands and get in touch with the real world, and gives metalworking, taking walks, and playing the guitar as examples. That's pretty male-coded; I could see crochet, cooking, and doing the housework as examples of doing things with your hands too.

The book also asks us to take part in structured social activities. While we don't necessarily have to go to church, we can join communities (CrossFit, board gaming, book clubs), or even make them ourselves (giving the example of Ben Franklin, though meetup.com would be a pretty good example today). By giving ourselves the opportunities for thick social interactions where we have to read complex social cues, we exercise the social part of our brain, which happens to be our default brain. This meets the need that social media initially promised to fill, and hence sets us free from its grasp.

This tackles the heart of the problem - we are social beings that need a social life. While we could duct tape over some of it with social media, it doesn't really plug the whole. We can't confront and reduce technology use if we don't think of way to meet our own needs. 

This is an interesting book, and offers many suggestions that can be put into practice. I'll try some of them (quarterly and weekly plans, dumbphone, structured social activities, crafts, walks) and see how it goes.