Digital Minimalism
In a world that is connected much more than it has ever been before, the opportunities social media provide can drastically overwhelm you without any control. Digital Minimalism is a book focused on understanding how we can use social media to its full potential. This book dives into how we can stay intentional and shares lessons we can use to encourage positive usage of social media and the digital world to allow in-person experiences to thrive.
“Minimalists don’t mind missing out on small things; what worries them much more is diminishing the large things they already know for sure make a good life good.”
I read this book while visiting Phoenix, Arizona. The book was a constant reminder to not scroll through Instagram reels and Facebook’s feed without intent. These tools are made specifically with that action, but if we are aware of this and have a reason for always being on social media, the digital world is not something that controls us, but we control it. The digital world then becomes something that empowers us further and provides us a way to navigate towards our goals and save time overall.
I used to take social media breaks and uninstall all the applications, but I was met with the same problems after a period of time. This book provided a foundation - a framework - for how to not need to do a social media cleanse and instead, make it a piece of who you are to better your mental health and your interaction with others.
Top 3 Lessons
Always have an intention when you are connecting to the digital world
Use the digital tools to learn, teach, and share with others
Treasure in-person interactions over all else
Lesson 1: Always have an intention when you are connecting to the digital world
Social media is progressively navigating towards a world where you can swipe mindlessly, anywhere from using Tinder for meeting others, reels to quickly receive snippets of information, and Facebook to see what is happening in the lives of others. These are only a few examples of the many ways organizations and apps are built to keep you hooked onto using their apps.
When you enter with an intention of what you will use your digital tools for, there is a definitive start and end point. You can then trace back what you did with your time and know what was absorbed because passive ingestion of information will not lead to as much retention as those moments of intent.
Lesson 2: Use the digital tools to learn, teach, and share with others
The digital world is filled with content and is constantly increasing everyday. The best time to start making content and sharing your wisdom is now! The process may be long, but the more you create your own content, the more you are investing in yourself and developing a way for others to learn from your own experiences.
We all navigate the world with different experiences every day. I will never live your full world, and you will never live mine, but the teachings you share from your past experiences will provide others a mechanism to understand what you learned along your journey of life.
Lesson 3: Treasure in-person interactions over all else
Humans are social creatures. We are progressively becoming more remote and entering a digital world, especially after COVID-19, but there is an unattainable aura when you are in person with others. Those moments are special because you see their body language, can interact with them physically, and the interaction is not over 2.4GHz of WiFi. You are there in person! Utilizing these tools for social interactions will continue to lead you towards using the digital world less as more in-person social time will mean less time aimlessly wandering the web.
Conclusion
Digital Minimalism provides you different viewpoints of how to make your life more intentful by using the digital world as a tool. Instead of viewing social media as something controlling our life, the book guides the reader through a new lens of viewing social media as a positive asset when used correctly.
Want to use social media to its full potential instead of always deleting apps?
Read the book here: Kindle | Hardcover | Audiobook
I’d love to hear your learnings from the book! Tag me on an Instagram story once you finish at @kevintptran.
