As the new year gets rolling, I’m embarking on a digital decluttering exercise with a group organized by my friend, Michael Weinraub. We will be following the process outlined by Cal Newport in his book, Digital Minimalism:
- Declutter: Take a 30-day break from “optional” digital technology.
- Discover: Explore and reconnect with values and activities that are meaningful to you.
- Decide: Reintroduce only those technologies that support your life in the best way possible.
I’ll go into more detail about each of these steps in future posts, but here is the basic outline of my plan for step one:
- Delete social media, email, and financial apps from my phone (along with a bunch of apps I wasn't using anyway).
- Disable notifications for non-essential, non-family communications (including text messages).
- Refrain from web access for Twitter and LinkedIn (my social media) during the break.
- Limit checking and responding to personal emails and non-family text messages to 15 minutes per day (if needed).
- Limit TV to NFL Playoff games (seasonal).
If you’ve gone through a similar experience, let me know… I’d love to hear about it!