Digital Minimalism

Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World

By: Cal Newport

Narrated by: Will Damron, Cal Newport

Length: 6 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's Summary

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today best seller

"Newport is making a bid to be the Marie Kondo of technology: someone with an actual plan for helping you realize the digital pursuits that do, and don't, bring value to your life." (Ezra Klein, Vox) 

Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our personal technology. It's the key to living a focused life in an increasingly noisy world.

In this timely and enlightening book, the best-selling author of Deep Work introduces a philosophy for technology use that has already improved countless lives. 

Digital minimalists are all around us. They're the calm, happy people who can hold long conversations without furtive glances at their phones. They can get lost in a good book, a woodworking project, or a leisurely morning run. They can have fun with friends and family without the obsessive urge to document the experience. They stay informed about the news of the day, but don't feel overwhelmed by it. They don't experience "fear of missing out" because they already know which activities provide them meaning and satisfaction. 

Now, Newport gives us a name for this quiet movement and makes a persuasive case for its urgency in our tech-saturated world. Common sense tips, like turning off notifications, or occasional rituals, like observing a digital sabbath, don't go far enough in helping us take back control of our technological lives, and attempts to unplug completely are complicated by the demands of family, friends, and work. What we need instead is a thoughtful method to decide what tools to use, for what purposes, and under what conditions. 

Drawing on a diverse array of real-life examples, from Amish farmers to harried parents to Silicon Valley programmers, Newport identifies the common practices of digital minimalists and the ideas that underpin them. He shows how digital minimalists are rethinking their relationship to social media, rediscovering the pleasures of the offline world, and reconnecting with their inner selves through regular periods of solitude. He then shares strategies for integrating these practices into your life, starting with a 30-day "digital declutter" process that has already helped thousands feel less overwhelmed and more in control. 

Technology is intrinsically neither good nor bad. The key is using it to support your goals and values, rather than letting it use you. This book shows the way.

©2019 Cal Newport (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic Reviews

"Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism is the best book I’ve read in some time about our fraught relationship with technology.... If you’re looking for a blueprint to guide you as you liberate yourself from the shackles of email, social networks, smartphones, and screens, let this book be your guide." (Adam Alter, author of Irresistible)

“I challenge you not to devour this wonderful book in one sitting. I certainly did, and I started applying Cal’s ideas to my own life immediately.” (Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism)

“You’re not the user, you’re the product. Hang up, log off, and tune in to a different way to be in the world. Bravo, Cal. Smart advice for good people.” (Seth Godin, author of This Is Marketing)

How To Live The Good Life

I was expecting a mere guide on how to use less technology, but I was extremely and pleasantly surprised to find that Cal Newport actually developed a much deeper philosophy of how to live the good life in the technological era. This book has the potential to radically improve many people's lives.

The best book ever!

Digital Minimalism could perhaps be the best book I’ve ever read! Sure, social media is just a tool, but it’s been designed to possess us! It’s addictive, and Cal Newport, slam dunks the message in this book! Even if you think you have social media under control, read this book. It’s a game changer, it can literally give you your freaking mind back! I love all Cal Newport’s books, but this one made its way to one of the best books ever read! And that I read one book a week, that’s saying a lot!

Well Crap

This was an amazing book but now I have to change!

It’s amazing how comfortable we have become with companies leeching our time away, especially in the digital sector. This book really gets you thinking and reflecting on yourself and how you use technology.

The nice thing is that it isn’t cramming an agenda down your throat, it’s just asking you to think and make up your own mind. I needed that and appreciate it too.

A great book that I will certainly be sharing. Thank you.

Deep Work is much better book

This books in the end represents just two prolonged chapters of Deep Work. If you haven’t read Deep Work and you spent significant amount of time on social media, then it is great book to read, otherwise it’s average book. The author imo should also more discussed YouTube which seem to me as undervalued issue.

Disappointing

I really liked deep work and I had high expectations for this book too. Those expectations were not met. The book has a few good points but it is very light on "new" information. Yeah, social media companies are out to maximize usage. Yeah, the best thing to do is to ditch it. Done. It felt like 80% of the book is how companies like facebook manipulate users and what you can do about it. What about everything else "digital" that there is to minimize? Lastly, the narrator was really a poor fit. He sounded like Android 17. Very monotone and robotic.

great book, could have been a little shorter

I have read all of Dr. Newport's books and they are always excellent and interesting. He makes a compelling argument and makes it very thoroughly.

There were a few parts, like when he was describing the particulars of CrossFit, that I felt made the book bloated. Do readers really need to be given example Workouts of the Day (WOD) to understand that CrossFit is good for social relationships?

Overall, great premise and great book, but you might want to keep the skip button handy for a few parts.

i deleted all social media apps

this book is an important reminder on why we need to reclaim control of our time. i deleted all sociql media apps and downloaded Moments to track my time on my phone.

Life changing

excellent narrator and vital subject matter if you want to regain control of your mind and attention

The book is better than the audible version

I have the printed and audible versions and the later is so difficult to listen to.

He sounds so monotonous that I cannot listen to him for more than 30 mins without feeling so low and down.
Interestingly the book is a different story.
It is nice to read and structured very well.. The Audible version should have the same layout yes, but his voice makes it sounds so dull.
I wonder how his students can stay awake during his talk/lecture.

Stay away from all his audible versions

Could have been a blog post

Summary: Try to use your phone less than you do and you'll probably be happier, and there has been research to prove it.

Everything else in this book is kind of a derivative of that.