Digital Minimalism
“When the product is free, you are the product”
We live in a time when access to information is literally at our fingertips. You can be walking to the train station and purchase a course to begin a journey toward an entirely new career. You can be riding the bus and learn a whole new language while waiting for your stop. You can search a topic and find hundreds of research materials with seemingly endless possibilities.
But… do you ever feel like the level of access to information we have today is too much? Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities? Do you ever feel like there are so many options that you can't even choose? Do you ever get nostalgic for the flip phone days, when texting and typing were a chore on a 10-digit keypad, and the screen was so small you'd rather go out and seek the answers yourself? Do you ever miss the days of leaving the house without a phone, because there was no one you needed to call anyway?
I believe there is real value in digital minimalism. Unrestricted access to apps and information 24/7 isn’t healthy. As humans, I don’t think we were ever meant to know as much as we do now. And I don’t think we fully realize just how much our phones are manipulating us—stealing away our short and precious time on this earth.
I find that I have so many more hours in the day to think and live when I'm not glued to my phone, and I believe the ability to set boundaries is a powerful thing.
