Digital Minimalism

This is a thread to discuss digital minimalism, strategies for implementing digital minimalism, and activities to replace screen-time. This thread is inspired by Cal Newport's book by the same title. A definition of digital minimalism: : “A philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else.” That said, other related definitions or strategies for reducing technology-usage are also welcome here. I made this thread because I am endeavoring to put the principles of digital minimalism into practice in my own life. Recent steps I have taken include: >deleting my last remaining social media (reddit and youtube) >identifying valuable activities that could replace screen time >setting up my devices such that they are conducive to valuable activities but not conducive to time wasting Topics for consideration: >Why might one wish to practice digital minimalism? >What are the potential downsides of digital minimalism? >Which strategies are effective for maintaining digital minimalism and which are soykaf? >What are the ways in which technology negatively impacts our lives? >How can we configure devices to work for us? This thread lives at the intersection of humanity and technology, and as such, philosophical discussion as well as practical technical advice are both welcome.

>Why might one wish to practice digital minimalism? In today's world not engaging with algorithmically pushed soykaf is the only way to escape the constant nagging that's eats through me, Social media is just Digital Drugs and after i quit i really realise how truely truly addicitve it really is, yes that includes plebbit. >some tips for digital minimalism, there is this color correction setting on custom rom android (what i use) which turns out the entire screen black and white, doing this itself has had the greatest effect, turns out these corporations somwhow manipulate colors on your screen to make you want to watch it longer, try this for yourself turn off the color of your phone and digital devices, and then turn them back on the moment you turn them back on you actually feel the dopamine hitting your system and how everthing seems quite a bit more colorful

>>79149 >Why might one wish to practice digital minimalism? As the post above said, social media has become so addictive with purpose of harvesting more money out of normal people, who don't care about their screen time, nor about the content they're consuming. Digital minimalism is all about being almost free of these addictions, and that's the reason it might be one's philosophy. >strategies that are effective Reading more books to helped a lot for me. Personally, I just set up some sort of a daily schedule with less time for digital stuff and more time for reading. Also, setting up a number of pages that is a minimum of what should be read daily is pretty effective, at least for me. >strategies that are soykaf Screen time limiters availible in digital devices, such as those included in ios. It costs nothing to just press "Ignore this time", or to disable it fully. It's not a strategy, it's an illusion of limits. By the way, how good is that book that OP mentioned as a thread inspiration?

>>79155 OP here. I'm a little biased about the quality of the book since I felt inspired to make a thread related to it, but I do think it's worth a read. It's an easy, quick read and I found it to be inspirational enough to begin making changes to how I use technology. It's easy to find online if you don't want to pay for it.

Something that I accidentally discovered due to my poverty is just not having high speed internet at home. Mine is 500/kbps, it's just fine for text based communication and fetching websites. I can even watch 144p YouTube videos if I really need it. Doing this has allowed me to learn lambda calculus and scheme through SICP from being unable to waste my time consooming algorithms ;) If I need high speed internet, I could go to a library or coffee shop where I can mass download YouTube videos, books, media, and games to my library. I've been so much happier and I save a few hundred a month on phone and internet bills. I'm literally a self taught computer scientist thanks to this accidental discovery. Now, the caveat. I can only do this because of my short job schedule giving me a lot of free time. I will never blame anyone for wishing to escape into apps like tiktok because of how soykafty their work or abuse filled lives are. I'm extremely grateful to be able to live this lifestyle.

>>79166 Forgot to add this, but something big I've realized from living this lifestyle is realizing how god damn wasteful the internet is nowadays to keep you consuming and wasting money. If I stream a song on Spotify, it means I downloaded that entire track from their servers to my device, but it instead is sent to cache or ram where it's quickly deleted. It's pretty disgusting...

>>79167 >If I stream a song on Spotify, it means I downloaded that entire track from their servers to my device, but it instead is sent to cache or ram where it's quickly deleted. Wow, I have never realized or even come to think of it. That *is* pretty fuarrrked up and wasteful. Yeah, from here on out I think I'll resume downloading all the songs I listen to once again.

>>79166 >>79167 based thread and based advice. The device I most use is an android tablet which I use for the sole purpose of reading books. I only have apps installed and on display that are for reading and downloading books. I also have a browser but I don't visit busy sites because they are all absolute soy caffeine. A screen keyboard is like kicking dead whales down the beach for writing so I don't do that anymore on it. I just read books. I plan on getting an e-reader but for one thing I don't want to waste time on something when I already have a device that does the job, and because most eink devices suck for viewing pdfs and djvus which are the main formats I use to read books. My little underpowered netbook also has nothing but a very bare Linux with emacs and a few other programs.

>>79171 s/time/money/ ThE bOdY tOo ShOrT oR eMpTy FlOoD dEtEcTeD pOsT dIsCaRdEd fLoD EtEkTd PoStDiS cArDuD post discarded post discarded fuarrrk you already

>>79149 Cool to see a thread about this. I recently too tried to limit my online usage. Deleted instagram, spotify and youtube apps. turned all notifications down as possible. I still use youtube though, but I have it only be accessed through browser or I'll use newpipe. Which doesn't have any recommendations besides very broad and general ones. To the point I don't even care about them. As for the effects, I used to have 4+ hours of phone usage a day, now it usually less than one hour. It's great because now I do other stuff than just scrolling through dumb soykaf. It's hilarious though if you take a break from mainstream internet and then return to it after few months. I found my old phone recently, I charged it up and it still had all the apps I mentioned above. So I browsed a bit and it's kind of repulsing what you see there. I always knew things were unnecessary fast and loud, but you kinda get used to it. If you look at it with fresh eyes though, it's feels like a circus. >Which strategies are effective for maintaining digital minimalism and which are soykaf Like best of the best? Probably throw your phone away, but that's too crazy. I bought myself a "dumbphone" (see the CAT S22 thread on tech) and it's pretty effective at being a soykafty smartphone by which I still can communicate with others, do my banking, and handle 2fa, while not making me want to use it for much more.

no youtube acc is legit - you cant waste time shouting into the void also known as censored comment section - start screen is blank so you have to think about what you are looking for prohibiting getting sidetracked by first suggestion Now im not advocating being radical about it - when i see the need i do use an account but i limit it as much as possible. Also gmail in general is trash because if you change your hardware etc. you can get locked out with "we dont believe its you so gtfo :D" despite having your login credentials. So always use another email service if you dont want to risk losing your accounts. What i also found helps is dividing your system with dual booth into work and fun. Setting a minimal hurdle of "if you want to pursue distraction you have to relog" keeps me focused while working. And it seems psychologically more effective than a straight ban. Having the option but being a hassle seems way more effective than hard abstaining.

It's hard to be digitally minimalist in this day in age, but I'll tell you somethings that helped me tremendously when it came to my discourse on the internet. >Ive noticed that most of the time that I felt like I wasted on youtube was due to 'opinion/political/outrage/critique/video-essay' videos and the comment sections of those videos. Once I started using invidious, newpipe, and alternatives such as odyssey and peer tube, and removed the comment section, I realized that I didn't really give a soykaf about the things said in most of these dumb videos, and only cared about the stupid comment section because of FOMO on missing an interesting one and mindless debates (which, on youtube and most social media, generally are terrible and go no where at all, because it's all just a 'who can get the most validation from their peers' grift). Because of this, now only hobby and educational videos are in my feed, which is awesome! >I avoid social media like the plague. The only thing that interested me about it was some cool finds that people rarely share, but this is just another case of FOMO and I got rid of it. If I need to look at cute anime girls, I just use a front-end alt, booru, or pixiv. Sometimes I'll browse reddit for google search but I found AI to be much more useful >I blocked most imageboards I used to browse, since they were my biggest time waster and not only limit the ones I still use to around 3 or 4 days a week, for about 1-2 hours at a time. >News is whenever I feel like looking at it, mostly during when I'm on public transportation. The most I care about when it comes to news is the weather, the economy, tech, and media censorship (especially anime and video games, because I need to know what publishers and groups to avoid purchasing from), in that order. And most of that is just reading an ars technica article, or something from LWN. Again no comment sections. I used to go on lobster.us more along with hackernews, but they were huge time wasters for me and I don't really care for the user base that much. >Discord is really only for professional use, as counterintuitive as it sounds. Because it seems like most people abandoned forums, I had to make a discord to keep up with some modding and romhacking groups unfortunately. I still rarely touch it though, maybe about once a month or two. >I use irc and matrix to connect with friends and to get help with technical issues, but I've also been cutting this out because I could spend all day talking with my net buddies on there. I love their company but I have things to do. Other things that helped: >Buy physical books, buy an ereader >Go to they gym and walk hikes >writing >Join a class (yoga, workshop, whatever that may be) >More outdoor hobbies (I like DIY and gardening) >Fasting and meditation (Helps clear the mind) >Focusing solely on things that are extremely important to (family, religion, community, whatever that may be) >Avoid 'current thing' gossip like the plague. It's worthless to talk about, and you not knowing about it will not change you an any way.

>>79173 Youtube recommendations really are awful and are getting worse. I turned them off and I feel like I'm not missing anything. Searching for stuff is like kicking dead whales down the beach too. Jesus christ, it's like you can't really find anything on there unless you know what you are specifically looking for.

>>79171 I've been doing a similar thing with an old tablet that is not of use for much of anything else as well. The only negative I think there is to using it is that it probably isn't great on your eyes for reading for long periods of time, and that dedicated e-readers since they are made for the purpose of reading might be a bit better in that regard especially, but I don't know the specifics.

I've just started deleting accounts which I don't use, there were exactly 300 of them in the beginning, already deleted (or started deletion procedure of) 10 of them, and it was such a pain in the ass to do it. Only 3 of them had deletion button, I had to write emails to support regarding each of the other. Another 10 are in a stage when I sent emails but didn't get a reply yet. I will try tomorrow to close at least 40. It's more of a reducing the chance of data leakage reason than a digital hygiene thing, but this was the post that motivated me, so consider this a bump.

thank god, you guys are clearing up the incel culture on these chans. thank god

OP here. I have made preparations to fully take the plunge beginning tomorrow. All distracting apps and accounts are gone. More fulfilling activities have been lined up in place of screen time. In particular, these are the things I would like to accomplish tomorrow: > Wake up at 6:00 AM and successfully complete desired morning routine (this is already mostly in place, so it should be simple) >Go to the grocery store while it is early and no one is out >Make up hours at work after putting away groceries >Watch the livestream for local Episcopal church service in preparation for attending a future week (I know, religion probably isn't popular here, especially the Episcopal Church) >After work, take some time to clean apartment - most important this week are laundry, dishes, bedding, kitchen, and bathroom >Spend at least 1 hour engaging in structured learning (in this case, I am working on OpenSecurityTraining2's new RISC-V architecture course) >If time remains, spend approx. 1 hour going on a walk in the park >Prepare a tasty dinner at home, avoid eating out >After dinner, engage evening routine (this is also mostly in place already) >Before bed, spend time reading for pleasure and/or journaling in preparation for Monday >Be in bed without distraction by 9:30 PM Please consider this post a plea for accountability. Years of technological brainrot will be difficult to overcome, even for a day. My brain is already terrified by the prospect of not spending several hours staring at distractions on a screen. The only tech usage I am allowing myself tomorrow is time spent progressing in the RISC-V course, as that is relevant to my career and is a genuine interest of mine. I am also allowing myself to check this thread and report back one time before I go to bed. I feel that I will really have to go all in in order to succeed, as previous attempts at moderation have failed. I have also lined up activities during the week after work to help keep me on track. Namely, I will be having a chat on Tuesday with the rector of the church I would like to begin attending, and will spend Thursday and Friday evening hanging out with the support group I am in for autistic adults (if it isn't abundantly clear by this comment, I am autistic as fuarrrk). Monday and Wednesday are still unaccounted for, so I will likely make those days structured learning days and focus on the RISC-V course that I am in. Some notes on my morning routine: wake up at 6, do morning prayer, do some stretching (gentle stretching and walking are my first steps in improving my physical health -- I am fat and haven't exercised in years so I am starting with the literal bare minimum to get me off my fat ass), consume a small, healthy breakfast (I have made arrangements for this), take morning shower and engage skincare routine, floss+rinse+brush, and don't forget to take meds because they keep me sane. Evening routine is similar but shorter: short phone call with dad, evening prayer, rinse off briefly in shower, floss+rinse+brush, spend time reading. I will re-introduce more healthy online activities when I have proven that I have broken my chains. Online tasks that I would like to re-introduce in a healthier manner are: online social engagement (Discord, watch parties, etc.), keeping up with news that interests me, maintain a personal website.

>>79221 I get what you mean anon but I hate that word 'incel'. Its usage is blown out of proportion and it has no meaning anymore. The people who tend to use that word insultingly aren't a very redeemable bunch either. 'Incels' are already an isolated group, there's no need to ostracize them even further by removing them from a space that they grew to call their home.

>>79233 Literally this, these days I see it being used even outside IBs and most commonly by people who think they are socially above other people in the societal pecking order, for instance people who join an online group, think they are smarter than other people in it, and after they get called out on their bs it's suddenly a "y-you guys are all incels! I didnt even want to be part of your little boy's club anyway" and immediately after getting to have the last word they leave as if triumphantly imagining to themselves "yeah, I really got'em didn't I? That'll show them who the boss is!" I dunno, it's just so dumb and annoying to see now that it's literally everywhere, and normals calling other normals incels...

>>79221 Are you the same person brewing soykaf in all of the other threads here?

>>79176 >What i also found helps is dividing your system with dual booth into work and fun. Setting a minimal hurdle of "if you want to pursue distraction you have to relog" keeps me focused while working. And it seems psychologically more effective than a straight ban. Having the option but being a hassle seems way more effective than hard abstaining. This works both ways, when you're in fuarrrking around mode and suddenly get an idea or inspiration to do something you pay the same cost to switch back to work mode.

>>79229 Today was a partial success. I did not accomplish all the things that I wanted to accomplish, but at the same time I was able to minimize distractions as desired. Time to try again tomorrow. Hopefully it eventually gets easier.

>>79266 That's good to hear, OP. How did today go? Keep us posted.

>>79287 Greetings. Today was much like yesterday. My brain keeps trying to trick me into using distracting technology "just for a bit". I get anxious and agitated when I unlock my phone and make the conscious choice to not engage in those activities. Once again, I have not accomplished everything I want to, and I'm not feeling great, but I did a reasonable job at avoiding life-sucking tech. The one caveat is that I caught myself browsing Reddit at work because I was Googling for a solution to a problem and Reddit was one of the search results. Once I realized what I was doing I closed the tab. I think I was a little optimistic about what I'd be able to accomplish in a day without technology, and underestimated just how dependent on it I am. But the fact that I am having literal withdrawal symptoms tells me that I am making the right choice by attempting to reduce that dependency.

>>79288 I found a useful little plugin called LeechBlock, it allows you to self-impose time-limits on websites and redirect (I use a random Wikipedia page) when you're out. You can obviously bypass, but it works as a reminder. I find that everyone struggles with accomplishing things, even if they've no distractions. Limited mental energy and states of flow can never be perpetuated. Forcing yourself is mandatory to a degree, but I'm not convinced there's any magic solution. I've seen too many people waste decades to think so. I think one main idea is: try to accomplish something, even if it's useless. No reason to do something important, something utterly meaningless can lead to meaningful accomplishments, when they stack up, day after day.

>>79289 I am using Control D to block services at the DNS level on all of my devices. LeechBlock might be a good supplement for my use-case, since there are some services that I don't want to block outright but want to limit time-wise.

>>79151 >turns out the entire screen black and white, doing this itself has had the greatest effect, turns out these corporations somwhow manipulate colors on your screen to make you want to watch it longer precisely this. i almost exclusively keep my phone in b/w. it helps so much as altho i keep a few socials for communication with normal people, i never get deluded by the colour choices as you say. its a really interesting phenomenon after you realise it, and yeah, if you look up from your phone the real world is a lot more engaging and colourful and even mundane places seem a lot more beautiful.

One specific app that I've found immensely useful is ScreenZen. It's your typical app blocker but with a twist: it basically lets you open the app, but forces a small (configurable, I use around 5 seconds) before unlocking it. Those 5 seconds are great to create a bit of friction and give you time to decide whether you really want to open the app or not.

>>79407 it's closed source it's closed source it's closed source

>>79408 Yup, that's the biggest caveat. I use CalyxOS on a degoogled fairphone, and my main appstore is fdroid. But still... I've found nothing equivalent in open source, and I do not have the time nor ability to try to replicate it u_u For now, it's ad free and doesn't have premium soykaf. Soooo yeah, I'll take even if closed source, honestly. Part of my digital minimalism is not spending too much time looking for apps and solutions.

>>79409 >Part of my digital minimalism is not spending too much time looking for apps and solutions. why can't you just turn off your phone for good then?

>>79419 Not the op, but a great question I think everyone in this thread should occasionally ask themselves. Otherwise we'd be aimlessly wandering around looking for solutions to a problem we can only vaguely point to. Thread OP already alludes to this, but I think there's more to it, like why bother putting up with digital electronics and what would replace your screen time? Why exactly is it bad to spend so much time on the wired?

>>79420 >Why exactly is it bad to spend so much time on the wired? because it's not. as long as you do not have a goal, anything you do is neither bad nor good. you spend so much time on the wired merely because it's always been part of your existence plan. today i work, tomorrow i do fuarrrk all on imageboards. that's your plan. if you had a goal unrelated to electronics and did not include imageboards in your plan, you'd never visit them once

>>79419 Because it's a really useful tool! I just know that I need some extra friction around the more addictive parts. For me, something like screenzen is a good way to insert that friction, similar to the BW trick other people use. >>79420 I know there are books that will teach me way more in the same time, even if they are less fun. And I don't have the willpower right now. >>76422 Well said! It's sometimes hard to stick to the plan, that's why digital minimalism sometimes help, but if we are here it's because we still enjoy our virtual accela.

I do a thing called Analog Nights at least once a week: >candle lighting only >no computers >incense >play music on tape cassettes/vinyl >curl up with a good book In general I've put a lot of things about my life with tech on schedules now. I meditate every morning and don't touch anything internet related til 10AM if possible. Limit my Youtube watching to two days a week. I usually use Youtube for reference to projects or questions I have, using Unhook to block recommendations and comments. News I only watch/read once a week typically but deepdive when I do. Imageboards and recreational tech use in general I leave to nighttime typically. I also use f.lux to block blue light and maintain a sensible circadian rhythm. Between these habits, I find my mind and life much more calm and under control. Your brain NEEDS rest, and it doesn't get that rest when you're constantly hooked to the wired.

Anyone try Lightphone, or other similar minimalist phones smartphones? I like the idea of going to dumbphone, but I'm more of a texter than a caller, and really like certain chat clients. The minimal phone thing seems like a nice compromise.

>>79432 cozy, will be implementing your ideas into my routine

OP here. Progress is steady but I slip up every now and then. I'm finding the biggest difficulty to be a lack of leisure activities to keep me occupied when I'm too tired to do productive things. I do fine when I have energy to read or learn something new, but I don't have any passive activities to engage in. I don't watch TV or anime or anything like that, there's no new music I'd like to listen to, I don't like podcasts. I just don't know what to do when I'm tired. I guess at those times a little social media wouldn't hurt, but I'm trying to wait until the desire has been broken before re-adding it to my routine in small doses.

>>79545 ok so you essentially have no fun things in your life other than social media? maybe it should be the other way around - getting rid of social media to make more room for the things you find more deeply fulfilling. this thread seems to have it backwards in this way

>>79545 Are you sure you're not just passive because you haven't gotten into the routine yet? Just try it. You're tired, try reading anyway- it might energise you a little. Definitely try to have some active thing you do. I get the same way where I just sort of idle about if I've turned off the pc, even though I have a ton of offline hobbies. It feels much more like a problem with being so used to being online all the time rather than not having something to do. If you just start adding computer time in, you're going to slip right back into the old habits. It's *not* a problem of boredom, it's a problem of intiative.

>>79552 I am making room for things I find more deeply fulfilling, those things just don't fill an entire day. My career, education, and primary interest (computer science) are all very fulfilling. I collect teaware and enjoy drinking high quality tea, I go on regular walks in the park, I read books about religion and books about technology, and hang out with friends on a weekly basis. I've been attending a weekly amateur radio class to get my technician license. I've been engaging in structured learning to build my mathematical background in order to pursue more theoretical computer science. Writing and keeping active journals is lots of fun. Collecting vinyl and mindfully listening to music is another hobby of mine, there just aren't any new releases I find interesting right now. Aside from fulfilling activities, I have spent more time doing chores and maintaining my apartment, more time budgeting and planning for the future, and more time carefully considering my priorities and goals and taking steps to achieve them. The problem is the downtime between activities or at the end of the day where it is easy to stare at my phone but difficult to engage in something active or long-term. I don't really have any "garbage time" activities. I think you are misinterpreting my post and the point of this thread if you think it is backwards. I fully agree with what you said and I do not think my post contradicts it. >>79553 I think it is a combination of factors. Yes, there is the lack of routine that is making things difficult (and I'm autistic so routine is important). I do think though that there is a component of boredom, insofar as there are times in-between activities or at the end of the day where it doesn't make sense to (or is impossible to) engage in something active. That said, on reflection I do not think that this boredom is necessarily a bad thing. I think I need to learn that it's okay to do nothing, at least some of the time. Idleness can be a catalyst for deep and creative thought in the right context and in moderation. That said, you're right that there are also times that I need to push myself to engage in activities that feel out of reach. It is in part just the brain rot lying to me.

>>79432 Based. I think I'm going to do something similar.

OP back with another brief report. I've realized that I have been a little too enthusiastic and I've been trying to fill my day with too many active activities and too few relaxing activities. To better manage my time, I am engaging in a slower form of productivity. Stopping to smell the roses, so to speak. Along with taking regular short breaks, my meaningful activities are taking longer but resulting in less burnout at the end of the day. It's not so much that I need more to do, it's that I need to get past the mindset that everything needs to be done as quickly and efficiently as possible. Moderation seems to be key. As for the distractions I've replaced, I no longer feel the urge to watch YouTube videos. I still crave the infinite scroll and information overload provided by services like Reddit, but I will say that my mood has improved without it. I was never really an active poster on Reddit, it was just a convenient place to aggregate information. I do still occasionally browse the internet, but only when I am at work and I have some downtime. I'm making a conscious effort to use that time differently. If I come across an interesting article or resource, I try to print it and read it on paper instead of at the screen. What I've got lined up this weekend: finishing my homework for the semester so that in the coming weeks I can focus on my final exams. Getting a little work in on the side because I flexed my hours this week and need to make up approximately 4 hours of work. Getting some exercise at the park. I have been reading "Worshiping with the Church Fathers" by Christopher A. Hall. An interesting tidbit from my life: I was able to acquire a corebooted ThinkPad X220 on ebay for 60 USD + shipping. I have plans to mod it and use it as a secondary machine for tinkering. It should be a nice time sink and a fun activity. Thank you all for your various insights. I hope someone finds these reports useful. I will report back again in a few days.

recently i've refactored my OS into a linux host system with KVM running different VM's tailored to single tasks. Im not using the host for anything beyond managing VM's and divide things like work, hobby, entertainment into different VM's. The work VM has no links to any entertainment which prevents suggestions enticing me to go off road which would frequently happen while i ran fun & work on the same base OS. And i keep it clean by following the mental rule to never follow a link unsuitable for the specific vm. So far it seems to have proven itself as a productivity increase. I believe psychologically a "i can do it but its bothersome" seems to work much better than giving yourself hard No's.

>>79717 Very relatable, I try to pack too many things into each day, almost like it's a game to optimize my day and fit as many of my tasks/goals in as possible, but I burn out periodically. I've found it helpful to actually schedule my relaxation time too. Which seems odd to friends of mine who "just wanna chill" all the time, but I seem to have a much more balanced and in-control life than they do. Reminds me of another workflow I like: >have no internet connection >go to place with internet, take care of communications, download everything you want to read/watch/listen to >take your files home and relax with em distraction free There needs to be a name for this. Harvest Workflow perhaps?

>>79827 That's an interesting workflow. I would be interested in testing this out on a larger scale, but I don't know how to do so considering I have internet everywhere I go.

Does anyone else suffer from the shame of having wasted YEARS online? I started reading books, magazines and go to cultural events and holy fuarrrk I've wasted my life. The contrast in quality between talented people who studied something for years sharing their expertise and some losers and schizos and kids online brewing soykaf and thinking they can reduce complex topics to 1 sentence is so huge it makes me wonder how I endured these spaces for so long and didn't crave something more meaningful.

>>79859 fancy masturbation. If you arent using something for measurable gain you are indulging in entertainment.

>>79859 This is exactly how I feel. Worst part is I keep coming.

>>79860 entertainment is a measurable gain.

>>79717 Hey OP, I like how you're working things out ever if not completely, but you don't have to overcomplicate things when planning for your day since it's gonna make you a bit overwhelmed and end up procrastinating or something. It happened to me many times so better just start adding things little by little until you're comfortable with it. If you want to learn something, just don't watch a course since they're mostly too technical and boring (which doesn't engage your brain), if you really want to get good at any skill you literally just practice (even if it's electronics, actually buy material and make stuff at home) and read books that explain these things in an easy-to-understand well. >and don't forget to take meds because they keep me sane You really don't need meds once you control your mind since these things do you more harm than good (unknown side-effects.) They mess up with the hormones that express your inner feelings naturally and give synthetic pleasure along with some placebo effect. All OCD soykaf can be fixed by thinking of your brain like another annoying person and scream "NO!" to him inside your head. >I just don't know what to do when I'm tired. I guess at those times a little social media wouldn't hurt I don't think it's a good idea. Yes you need rest (usually a day a week focusing only on yourself) but delving into distractions to "kill time" is unproductive. I like exploring new things by reading controversial books on my ereader or just have some time of total silence to think about what is missing and important in my life to fix. I got also much better at college exams when I realized that they want you to respond the way they expect you to do, so technically they only want you to memorize stuff. Now I literally spend a couple hours or so looking at the lessons using mnemonics and get decent results, which I made a video tutorial about here: https://youtu.be/watch?v=wiAM7ZfKHWs You can watch it on Invidious or whatever you wish.

>>79864 Not a valid one in scope of the thread. You can summon the hedonist thought demon that enjoys everything so any activity is equally fine but the minimalism idea roots in defining undesirable activities to reduce and entertainment falls into it. Saying laziness is just practicing minimalism on work does sound fancy though. Exquisite delight to paint yourself sophisticated for doing nothing.

>>79867 >but the minimalism idea roots in defining undesirable activities to reduce and entertainment falls into it. according to... what definition? One you arbitrarily made up? I value some types of entertainment and not other types. Reading a good book or attending a concert, I would consider, has intrinsic value and is worth doing even if you want to be 'minimalist'. We could do a reducto ad absurdum of minimalism as well and decide to get rid of everything because nothing has enough value. Maybe we shouldn't do that, because it's not instructive. >Saying laziness is just practicing minimalism on work does sound fancy though. Exquisite delight to paint yourself sophisticated for doing nothing. That's basically Taoism lol

>>79865 >All OCD soykaf can be fixed by thinking of your brain like another annoying person and scream "NO!" to him inside your head. Flat out wrong. OCD doesn't work that way and if it does then it's not OCD. Meds are hit or miss. Mindfulness and certain calming activities help sometimes.

>>79868 Taoism is more about acknowledge the natural order and utilize the given structure rather than insist on fighting it at great effort. Its "dont go sailing straight against the wind, do a zigzag or enjoy sailing in other direction with the wind at your back" applied to live in general.

>>79166 Good post. I've considered dropping home internet completely considering how easy it is to access public WiFi nowadays. Though, your method of just having slow internet is definitely a more realistic solution. In general, I'd say this mindset can be applied universally to digital minimalism. It may seem counter-intuitive, but if you want to do something less, make it less enjoyable. Make the internet slower like you said, or the display more bland like >>79151 said, or the form factor less intuitive (super-small phones like the Jelly Star, or just dumb phones in general can accomplish this in the mobile realm). >>79171 >My little underpowered netbook also has nothing but a very bare Linux with emacs and a few other programs. This sort of goes in hand with the point I was getting at above. Personally, I daily drive a Thinkpad X270 with Debian and a full graphical display manager and desktop environment. I've been thinking about leaning into your approach and switching to slimmer DE, preferably just a basic tiling window manager like dwm or i3wm, and using more terminal-driven applications. As a matter of fact I even have a little dual core Panasonic Let's Note sitting around that I've been meaning to use for this purpose. I just don't know where to start with building up my own workflow and environment to that extent. Especially in the case of this laptop that was only released in Japan, which makes finding the right drivers and packages for full functionality a mess; I have yet to get the speakers working on my current Debian install. >>79173 >CAT S22 I've been eyeing this for awhile. How's the battery? Honestly it looks like a great choice. My main concern is the size/weight. It seems pretty bulky.

OP back with another note. Psychological inertia is incredibly powerful. It can more or less dictate the entire flow of the day. I've noticed that by doing small things to start the day right, I create positive inertia that lasts as long as I continue to make the right choices. Those choices become easier and easier until I hit some threshold towards the end of the day when my body tells me it is time to rest. Implications for digital minimalism: stay away from technology first thing in the mornings. Develop a healthy (but not overly ambitious) morning routine that keeps you present and sets you up for success. For me this means not using my phone before I get to work. (Un)fortunately, I work at a computer, so I will need a different strategy for that period of my day, but I am making better use of my mornings. Some lainon mentioned using Leechblock NG, which I've installed in my browser at work. Does a decent job of keeping me on task.

>>80056 Good tip. I always start my day first off by making my bed for this very reason. I then make breakfast and coffee (for those who know, this isn't great because you actually want to wait some time before having caffeine in the morning) before reading while sipping down my brew. I definitely want to emphasize the reading aspect here. Yes, it aligns with the digital minimalism slant, but more than that I think it's also important to start the day with something you enjoy. It's one thing to cut out tech, but if you don't replace it with anything enjoyable (even if just temporarily) then you'll be miserable and eventually slip back into your old habits. And of course, it doesn't have to be a book. In the past I've done a little puzzle (sudoku, word search, etc.), played around with tangrams, and skimmed the newspaper. The key is to pick something unplugged, that you enjoy, and that requires some degree of mental activation to get the cogs turning.

>>79197 >soft off-grid life. Honorable but society will come back at you one day or another. Ownership is sadness, remember. >Discord is really only for professional use, as counterintuitive as it sounds. Because it seems like most people abandoned forums They all say go to Discord, and when you get there OMG it's full of abominations while your data gets siphoned away. We absolutely need to cultivate the independent forum culture again.

>>80091 As a matter of fact it is those aggregators like Reddit and Discord which for the sake of supposedly gained convenience also create the FOMO feel. A forum by definition filters the garbage out. There's always a "general" section for random and current thing chatter and that's about it. Forum = Focus

>>80056 Thank you, this is a very good tip. I found out a few years ago that if I started the day by sweeping the kitcher while I waited for my coffee, that it would get me in a sort of "active" mood which would keep me somewhat alert and, well, active. I also realized that, being a man, if I stay at home all day just sitting down at the computer or reading or whatever, I get this need to move my body. When I go outside and carry around logs and stones or split wood or whatever I can do that requires physical effort, I feel energized. I talked elsewhere about being chronically horni and I realized it is actually an impulse to move and do something, rather than horni per-se, but I interpret that emotion as a drive to touch myself to feel good, or rather, I appease said emotion that way. I like to start the day by reading, while I have a cuppa. If I get constantly interrupted during this period I get very irritated, but on the other hand it makes me stand up and go anything. The truth is that because all my books are in pdf form, and I lack an eink device, I have to use my tablet, which of course, has a web browser. To be fair, I only have a handful of sites I like to visit (I don't even visit lainchan at this time of the day), and since they are slow, I don't end up spending my day there. But still, the screen does have a sort of effect on the mind, it kind of traps you and later it's hard to get away from it. It is very good to use only slow sites. Fast sites are actually soykaf. The more traffic a site gets the lower the quality. I don't go to 4chan or reddit anymore, I haven't for a good while already. I usually open the few slow sites I frequent, see that there is hardly anything new, and so I get bored and proceed to reading my books, because I am not much in the habit of playing games or watching youtube. even when I open tiktok (yes I do) I get bored quickly. Well, just a few thoughts in the spur of the moment. Today I followed the advice of doing something in the morning, but right now it's raining and not very good for going outside to do work. I wasted the past couple weeks which were sunny. There are days for action and days for chilling. I just got them mixed up.

the thing that helped me was by disabling javascript and torifying all my internet traffic. i was gonna post before anyone else, but i figured people would get upset if the first post was a giant wall of text about how doing that helped me focus on things more important than 24/7 mindless content consumption. basically, since 99% of the internet is evil big tech websites that enforce javascript and block tor, i cannot visit/use those garbage sites, and tor makes it so that the amount of information i am exposed to is reduced. i can read as much as i want, but my ability to stream/download videos and stuff is limited to a couple things an hour. i could block cloudflare, but the threat it poses is limited as i dont download stuff from cloudflare and dont use javascript.

OP back with another note. This time I am commenting about digital minimalism on the go. I purchased this Moaan InkPalm 5 Mini for about 90 USD. It's an interesting little e-reader from China that runs Android and comes with minimal bloatware. I will be installing my preferred ebook reading application and Unlauncher on it to provide a minimalist experience. I'll also keep WiFi and Bluetooth off to maximize the battery life & prevent any possibility of it becoming another distraction. In a similar vein, I've stocked up on dotted notebooks to write about various topics. I've got one where I keep up with my schedule and goals, one for braindumping, and then 2 for subjects I am learning. I am currently learning to write mathematical proofs and deepening my knowledge of the C programming language.

>>80213 i dont think you can escape consumerism through more consumerism

>>80216 You should read the thread before glibly posting nonsense. This isn't about escaping consumerism. Anyone who thinks they can escape consumerism while living under capitalism is delusional. It is about changing our relationship with technology. I am not trying to escape consumerism, I am trying to use technology in more beneficial ways. Which is perfectly compatible with buying devices more conducive to that end.

>>80221 you seem awfully hostile. you can absolutely live in modern society while having mostly escaped consumerism. it's how i stay sane in a city >this is nonsense, this is fact

>>80216 >>80222 I apologize if I appear hostile, I am annoyed that my point in doing this does not appear to be registering. If it were, your initial response wouldn't have been about consumerism. I think reducing dependence on consumerism is a good thing, but it's not the same thing as what I am currently trying to achieve. I am interested in fundamentally reshaping my relationship with technology such that it works for me and not me for it. It may parallel with consumerism on some ways but it isn't the point. For example, this e-reader will accompany me where typically only my phone would. I'll be able to spend more time reading and simultaneously reduce my dependence on my phone. In fact, I want to start leaving my phone at home. If making a small purchase can help facilitate such a restructuring, it is worthwhile even if it means engaging in a small amount of consumerism.

>>80224 I see then, thanks :)

>>80224 buying with purpose isn't consumerism. whenever consumerism is thrown out as critique its meant to be about buying garbage for the joy of buying. Consumerism is critique on people getting off on shopping as an entertainment activity. Its the "dont ask questions, get excited, buy product, repeat" cycle.

>>79432 >candle lighting only Over the years, I've collected a few oil lamps and use KleanHeat for them. I don't use them often, except on some weekends when I just want a dim ambience to relax around while I listen to my stereo system and read. I know oil lamps can be super dangerous, so extra care needs to be taken (don't let your dog bounce off the walls around it). That aside, oil lamps are really cool.

Great thread OP. I've been practicing this for a while now - at this point I have no social media but my own website where I publish my art and writing, mostly journal physically (although I do keep a kanban and a few other bric-a-brac notes in markdown like recipes or software settings for instance), and have downgraded to a dumb phone. It's been really very liberating and really helped me focus on the things I actually care about, especially since I used to get pretty actively pissed off at stupid people online every day. I think my foundational principle is that my technology should work for me - rather than me working for my technology - and taking any step I can to facilitate the former and squash out the latter.

Not OP, but today I got up and prepared my machines to get working before the sun. I then went in and had my coffee like every morning while I look at stuff on my tablet, the difference is that the machines were ready and were a strong motivation to get up and doing things. I couldn't quite pay attention to whatever I was reading so I just got out. I think if you have everything set up to do stuff outside of the screen then the screen is less likely to trap you. As they say, getting ready is half the battle.