Digital Minimalism

[Warning: I'm not going to painstakingly edit this review, as I would normally.]

I read this close on the heels (2+ weeks) of "How to Break Up with Your Phone" by Catherine Price, which I read to be companionable in an online reading group. I rated it 3-minus. I'm not really the target for either book—I'm already pretty mindful of how I use my tools and spend my precious resources.

The Price book was brief and mainly instructional. I took a couple tips from it, but hardly followed the 30-day process.

Reading this book made me think of how much I dislike Charles Dickens' writing. There's clearly merit; but, Newport (like Dickens) takes forever and a day to say something that could have been handled admirably in much less time.

I was irritated (to put it kindly) at Newport's inability to recognize that people have different communication styles. [Comment inspired by this: “When someone instigates a low-quality connection—say a text message conversation or social media ping—suggest they call or meet you during your office hours sometime when it is convenient for them.”] If you want to share discussion on this topic, I'd be happy to . . . but don't call me!

I can agree with this conclusion (maybe I should have skipped to the last page at the start): "Digital minimalists see new technologies as tools to be used to support things they deeply value, not as sources of value themselves. They don't accept the idea that offering some small benefit is justification for allowing an attention-gobbling service into their lives, and are instead interested in applying new technology in highly selective and intentional ways that yield big wins."

Overall, the book is long on extended anecdotes about famous historical figures' habits of solitude and judgment on what constitutes meaningful experiences and communication, and short on substantive advice on how to use new technologies as useful tools vs. mindless time-sucks.