Introducing the Digital Declutter

And the need for rapid immersion

The Digital Declutter Process

1. Put aside a thirty-day period during which you will take a break from optional technologies in your life.
2. During this thirty-day break, explore and rediscover activities and behaviors that you find satisfying and meaningful.
3. 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.

Step #1

Define your rules for technology

Step #2

Take a 30-day break

Step #3

Reintroduce technology

The Minimalist Technology Screen

To allow an optional technology back into your life at the end of the digital declutter, it must:

1. Serve something you deeply value (offering some benefit is not enough).
2. Be the best way to use technology to serve this value (if it’s not, replace it with something better).
3. Have a role in your life that is constrained with a standard operating procedure that specifies when and how you use it.

Credit

This presentation drew upon Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. Photos by Bart Everson.