30 day Digital Declutter
Starting June 14
Let’s start with Cal Newport’s perspective on this not being a Detox:
It’s a mistake to think of the digital declutter as only a detox experience.
The goal is not to give yourself a break from technology, but to spark a permanent transformation of your digital life.
Those who treated this experiment purely as a detox, struggled with the process.
A temporary detox is a much weaker resolution than trying to permanently change your life, and therefore much easier for your mind to subvert when the going gets tough.
getting started.
Put aside a 30 day period during which you will take a break from optional technologies in your life.
During this 30 day break, explore/rediscover activities and behaviors that you find satisfying and meaningful.
At the end of the break, reintroduce optional technologies into your life, starting from a blank slate. For each technology you reintroduce, determine what value it serves in your life and how specifically you will use it so as to maximize this value.
First step - identify which technologies are “optional”
TV? Videogames? Netflix?
This is up to you to decide. If you find these activities taking you away from deepening into your creative processes - I recommend adding them to the restricted list.
Consider the technology optional unless its temporary removal would harm or significantly disrupt the daily operation of your professional or personal life.
You get to decide if you are cutting WhatsApp out or not. I am personally going to allow myself to check WhatsApp four times throughout the day.
Don’t confuse ‘convenient’ with ‘critical’ - it’s inconvenient to lose access to a Facebook group that tells you about parties in town, but this is not critical.
If your job requires you to post on Instagram and Facebook throughout the week - this is not an optional technology.
We will build Operational Procedures around technologies we are required to use for work purposes.
Operational procedures - using instagram for work
These procedures specify exactly how and when you use a particular technology - allowing you to maintain critical uses without having to completely restrict the platform.
I have to use Instagram because I am managing the social media for a record label.
I am deleting my personal account off of my phone.
I am setting up specific windows of time for when I use Instagram to post for the record label.
I will only use Instagram on the morning of releases, when I’m required to publish a post.
In and Out: I make my post, then get the fuck out of there.
Make clear rules and boundaries around the technologies you will still be using for work purposes.
day 31 - reintroducing technology
Don’t jump in on day 31 and bring all the optional technologies back, this is a mistake.
The goal of this final step is to start from ZERO and only let back into your life technology that passes your strict minimalist standards.
It’s the care you take here that will determine whether this process sparks lasting change in your life.
When reintroducing a technology, consider the following questions:
Does this technology directly support something that I deeply value?
Once a technology passes this first screening question, it must then face a more difficult standard:
Is this technology the best way to support this value?
If you’re using Instagram to stay in touch with your Cousin… is there a better way to do this?
Maybe call them twice a month?
If a technology makes it through both of these screening questions, there’s one last question to face.
How am I going to use this technology going forward to maximize its value and minimize its harms?
Set up rules and boundaries as you reintroduce technologies.
I’ve created a spreadsheet to help you identify and manage your Optional Technologies list.
I will send you a copy of this spreadsheet once you fill out the form below.
If you have any questions about any of this, please contact me.
Email. Send.it.amor@gmail.com
WhatsApp. +17202572157