Ash's Brain Thinkings - 2026

Digital Minimalist

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As I crawled my way out from the depths of my most recent depressive episode, my partner suggested, nay, begged that I read a book titled "Digital Minimalism" by Cal Newport. I scarcely believe it an exaggeration to call this book truly life-changing. You see, I was quite hopelessly addicted to Reddit, social media, and other such awful, woefully poisonous places on the internet. The methods outlined by Cal Newport in Digital Minimalism proved instrumental in relieving myself of this addiction.

To survive the thrashing of my unrelenting mental affliction I clung hastily to the most readily available method of coping; the internet. While this was a momentary reprieve, it, like any other unhealthy coping mechanism, only proved to further my own downfall. I became, as I said, hopelessly addicted. From the moment I first opened my eyes in the morning, until my partner came home well into the evening, I was scrolling on my phone or on my computer. These online hellholes of addiction lured me in with the hopes of support, of places where I felt welcomed, places where I could increase my understanding of hobbies, and of other interests. This hope, as I should have already known all too well, is merely an illusion.

This interminable internet usage was immensely but not irreparably damaging to my psyche. While indulging in this addiction my anxiety and my depression were heightened, my pleasure from, and interest in, hobbies, relationships, anything other than the screen with which I was consumed by, were diminished, greatly so. My life scrolled by, a steady stream of empty, meaningless "content" which had no importance to my life. My memories of the months prior to my digital declutter (this "digital declutter" is a method which Newport puts forth in Digital Minimalism, to quit these addictive programs and websites) are nothing more than a blur, like the faintest memories of a dream. Reflecting on this fact brings me to the most sorrowful disposition, as this should have been a spectacularly memorable time in my life. These were the days that my partner had moved in with me. As Catherine Price, author and advocate for healthier internet usage, states in the dedication for her book How to Break Up With Your Phone, "Our lives are what we pay attention to", and rather than paying attention to the Love of my Life, and the immense joy their presence fills me with, I was directing it towards fucking Reddit.

Digital Minimalism begins with a section discussing the vile nature of what Newport calls "new tech" (meaning tech such as social media, smart phones, and the like) as well as the duplicitous nature with which they have entered, and taken over our lives. I already had a fairly well-deserved hatred of these "new tech" and the companies which have made them a ubiquitous part of our lives, but this book struck even further hatred for, and fear of these things into my heart. With this deepened fervor I endeavored to heed his words closely and heartily follow his suggestions.

Part I: Quitting

To paraphrase Newport's definition of digital minimalism (as I no longer have the library copy on hand to reference, only my notes), "A digital minimalist applies technology in highly selective and intentional ways that yield big wins, and is comfortable on missing out on everything else." The first, and hardest step to achieve this state is to complete a thirty day "digital declutter". As someone who is a fan of Marie Kondo, the idea of looking at the act of quitting this addictive new tech as a declutter positively "sparked joy" for me. The rules of this declutter are strikingly simple: halt all use of any non-vital new tech for 30 days, and set strict rules for when to use vital new tech.
For me, these rules were such:

I found the digital declutter to be the most profoundly effective method of quitting that I have ever attempted. Completely abstaining from these addictive technologies evinces just how unnecessary, and detrimental they are. Within merely a few days I had already become accustomed to the change and started experiencing the drastic benefits. The clouds parted, the fog lifted, and I regained control of my life. My hobbies started coming naturally to me, with but the slightest push on my part to initiate them. Reading became my prime downtime activity. By the time I completed my declutter I had read a dozen books and learned how to knit. I was happy, my life was starting to be what I had always hoped it could be. With this inimitable, incontrovertible success I was all the more resolute in my desire to follow Newport's methods.

Part II: Becoming

The following methods laid out in Digital Minimalism are to determine what tech to reintroduce into your life, and how you will do so in a manner aligned with the digital minimalist lifestyle. This is where one actually becomes a digital minimalist. The declutter is simply to remonstrate the would-be digital minimalist of their addictive use of tech.

The first of these methods is "leisure planning". It would prove rather difficult to be a digital minimalist if we did not replace our addictive tech use with a viable alternative. Abstinence from this addiction would simply be a perfunctory chore, it would be an inane life, an empty existence no better than doom-scrolling your days away. Newport outlines specific, and detailed methods for leisure planning, however the concept is rather straightforward in its goal: simply, plan your leisure activities ahead of time. Having them pre-planned, picked out, ready to go, removes much of the initial barrier to starting an activity. I am finding this to be highly effective. I have been more consistent with my established hobbies and making rapid progress in my new ones. As I have previously mentioned, I learned the skill of knitting. I have learned all the techniques necessary to create hand-knit socks and have successfully knitted two miniature practice socks. I will soon start knitting myself a pair of real socks. It's incredibly exciting. Similarly, I have chosen to schedule my videogame time to be exclusively on the weekends, and to pre-plan what games I will play ahead of time, in order to let gaming have time to flourish while not impeding on my more important physical hobbies, and to help me have more focused gaming sessions. As of writing this post, I have yet to actually have one of these gaming sessions, as I have been so busy, but I am confident that my proposed plans will be beneficial.

The other methods I implemented are "single purpose computers" and "slow media". The concept of single purpose computers is that the danger, the distraction of our new tech devices comes from their greatest advantage: their versatility. This versatility creates an environment of distraction where it becomes difficult to maintain focus on a single task for an extended period of time. The draw of social media, games, messages, notifications, etc. creates an importunate urge to switch tasks. In order to alleviate this distracting urge Newport suggests locking down your computer or smartphone while engaged in a task. For example, you can use an extension for your web browser to block any distracting sites during the day, with only a small window to check them during a designated time. I have het to resort to such an extreme, as I found simply scheduling a specific time to check these sites has dramatically reduced my capricious nature of my internet usage. I have further made my smartphone into as much of a single purpose computer as I have been willing too. I have uninstalled many social applications such as Discord, and hidden everything that I still may need to use on occasion but that tend to be distracting when they are readily accessible. I have also annihilated nearly every notification, as they are notoriously impetuous in their demand of one's attention.

"Slow media" is a rather self-explanatory and simple concept. Rather than relying on algorithms and subscriptions to bring us our media, we switch to seeking it out ourselves. No more news articles sent to our e-mail inboxes, no more YouTube subscriptions, no more Netfix algorithm. I seek out the news on my own time, I read books instead of binging YouTube, and I borrow DVDs from the library instead of scrolling through Netflix, and other streaming services. My interaction with media happens on my own time, and on my own terms. I'm still just as informed and entertained, maybe even more so, than I was before, and I feel significantly more freedom.

In conclusion, Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport is a book with life-changing potential. I would recommend it to anyone who uses the internet, owns a smartphone, and wants to regain control of their lives. His methods have helped me dramatically gain freedom from addicting technologies, something that I have been trying to achieve for years. I must also admit that my success was likely influenced by starting a low-dose of antidepressant in the weeks leading up to my reading of the book, and implementation of its methods. I likely wouldn't have been able to so successfully follow the declutter and adoption of the other methods if I wasn't first treating my depression. I will say, though, that the combination of the two has been an incredible journey that has brought me to a place of contentment and joy.