Become A Digital Minimalist

Overview

Your time is equal to their money. This is known as "The Attention economy". We are now living in the attention economy era, where companies bid on our attention. The media company which will grab the best attention of the users will generate more money. I don't have any problem with that business model. I have a problem with the digitally addicted user, who mindlessly use these technologies as digital zombies.

Digital Addiction

After touchscreen phones were invented they revolutionized our lives in many ways. Most people stick to their mobile screens. This is the best time to save people from cyber distraction by making people aware about digital minimalism. People join Facebook to connect with friends but when that friend is sitting in front of us we are unable to maintain an uninterrupted conversation. We give more importance to our mobile phone notification over the friend sitting in front of us. HBO's popular show Real Time with Bill Maher once said in his show "Checking your likes is the new smoking" because continuously checking how many views you got in your story, how many likes you got in your post affects your brain more badly than smoking cigarettes. Today's parents give smartphones to stop their kids from mischief. But they don't understand digital screen is more addictive than drugs.

A recently conducted research found out the single biggest factor shaping our lives today is "Screen". The screen's addictive property is not an accident rather a carefully engineered design that always drives us to check it once in a while without any reason. The color of the screen highly influences our brain, that is the reason the color of the icons of our apps are mostly red, blue, and green. The material design and colors make the screen more addictive.

Did you know previously Facebook's notification color was blue to match with Facebook's color palettes, but people were not clicking that icon very often. So they applied color psychology and changed that color from blue to red and naturally people started clicking on it. This is the power of color psychology.

Social/Digital Life Balance

From ancient times our brain tries to maintain our social status that's why Aristotle once said "Human is a social creature". To balance own's social life, people think of conversation and digital connection as the same. But this is wrong. Conversation means face-to-face talk where there is eye contact, tone of voice, and facial expression. This is the best way to maintain a social life. Whereas digital connection is mostly fake. A digital connection can be a supporter of conversation but can never be an alternative. People think if they don't connect every moment then they will get disconnected. But the truth is being less digitally available, makes relationships stronger.

If you stay less digitally connected then whenever you will meet a friend you will have more topics to discuss upon. Whereas if you stay daily connected then you will have nothing to talk about and you will then naturally scroll your social media feed. Data clearly says more digital connectivity leads to isolation. Since digital technology is always available and cheap, it has lead to addiction and made us mentally pauper.

Some data says -

• People spend 1/5 time on social media.
• Smartphone usage doubled in the last few years.
• An average person spends 2-3 hours per day staring at their mobile screen.

So the time has come to kill this madness and redesign our life. If we don't do this then "Smoking is Injurious to health" will be rephrased to "Smartphone addiction is Injurious to mental health". That's why to use digital technologies effectively we have to know the principle of digital minimalism.

What is Digital Minimalism

"Digital Minimalism" is a philosophy that helps you to choose the digital tools that will add value to your life.

Things required to become a Digital Minimalist -

1. Use digital tools intentionally.

Whenever you unlock your phone keep in mind for what purpose you have unlocked the phone and after completing that keep the phone. This will help you to get rid of the distractions loophole. In most cases we use technology for short-term emotional relief rather we should use it to create something valuable for us.

Cal Newport said, "Humans, deep down are craftsmen". So we should always we technology to create something.

2. Set boundaries to use digital technology.

• While studying or spending time with family we should turn our phones into airplane mode and keep them in a drawer.

• We should go for an evening walk without taking the phone with us.
• Delete unused apps, documents, and photos.
• Have lunch without using a smartphone.
• Use the most addictive apps on your laptop rather than your phone.
• Stay away from fake news.
• Only stay in that Whatsapp group where you will get valuable information and leave other useless groups.

My Opinion

Digital minimalism doesn't mean you stop using all digital technologies. It means you should have control over your digital world and use it for your benefit. If you become a digital minimalist then you will be able to give time to your most valuable things. Reducing digital distraction is the best way to increase productivity. If you don't want to become a slave of technology rather you want to use it effectively then you should read "Digital Minimalism" book by Cal Newport.

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