Making Progress
I haven’t written in a while, but I also haven’t stopped thinking about digital minimalism. I’ve wavered somewhat on my practices. After my illness last summer, I fell out of a lot of my habits. I had a Reddit binge that was hard to pull out of. But eventually, and somewhat naturally and gradually, I did return to a better place of balance.
I’ve had some new wins recently in trimming down how I use devices, so I’ll share them here with you.
- Disabling YouTube data collection / recommendations
YouTube by default collects your search and viewing history, and uses this data to provide recommendations to you. You can choose to disable these features, and if you do, YouTube will stop providing you with a customized feed of recommendations. I think this was probably designed to disincentivize the user from disabling data collection, but for me it’s a win/win. I can still use YouTube to search and watch videos. I can still see videos posted by creators that I’m subscribed to (in reverse chronological order). But the YouTube home page is empty, and I don’t have an algorithmic feed to get sucked into. This is now my preferred way to use the service and overall my time there is more intentional. https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/95725
- Switching back to physical books and writing tools
I have long read ebooks and used various digital productivity and writing tools, from note-taking apps to e-ink writing tablets. But I also love physical books and traditional stationary and fountain pens. There is enough of a body of evidence documenting the cognitive benefits of using physical books/stationary over digital that I have decided to simply switch away from digital versions of these tools. I’m trying to simplify my life, and while there are convenience benefits to ebooks, I think if I had to just pick one, physical is overall better. Having more physical objects in my every day workflow result in less time on devices, and less cognitive load associated with managing, updating, charging, etc, said devices, and fewer devices that I need to own. https://stephenbigelow.substack.com/p/the-paper-advantage-why-physical
- Using fewer devices
As I’m switching to analog media/tools where I reasonably can, I’ve also examined my device usage and am seeing where I don’t need as many as I have. Lately I’ve been dealing with some stress, and having fewer devices to juggle helps simplify things and save me some energy. Previously I was using on a weekly basis: Phone, iPad, Laptop, Work Laptop, Digital Watch, Garmin Smartwatch, Earbuds, Headphones, Nintendo Switch, eink tablet. In a radical bid to simplify, I decided a) I don’t truly need my laptop for much lately, so I’ll do all my personal computing on my phone + iPad, b) I wouldn’t really miss not having health data, so I’m just ditching my watch + smartwatch for a while, c) I can pick one pair of headphones d) I don’t need my eink tablet. This leaves me with phone, iPad, work laptop, earbuds, Nintendo switch. 5 devices instead of 10. A significant reduction in devices to juggle and switch between. And overall less screen time as I switch to physical alternatives.
Taken together, these changes are feeling really good. Making space for more downtime and calm in my life.