Why we need to practice and experiment with digital minimalism
How switching from the iPhone to the Apple Watch (SE) has liberated time, attention, and creative energy
(Since I’m a few days late with the Sunday edition due to an unexpected last-minute trip to San Francisco to deal with the stolen, now recovered car, I’m merging it with the mid-week edition. Apologies for my tardiness.)
In the latest Fewer Better Things, I argued that minimalism is about having – owning or accessing – the essentials to satisfy our true needs to live life on our own terms, and not a chase to the bottom for the fewest things.
And since the bit, together with the atom and gene, was one of the most transformative discoveries, introduced by Claude Shannon in 1948 during the last century, a big part of Fewer Better Things is digital minimalism.
The bit, or the binary digit, is simply the idea that information sans ambiguity can be broken down to one single unit – the choice between two alternatives (ones or zeroes), often referred to as binary.
Think of how a coin toss lacks information when in the air but once it lands it’s either a heads or a tails (a bit). This idea, combined with Alan Turing’s concept of the universal computer, created the digital computer.
Minimalism is often synonymous with atoms, physical things, but since everything is connected and interdisciplinary, we also need to think about minimalism from the perspective of both bits and genes (for a later post).
When people say the future is digital, they are wrong (including Zuckerberg). The future is about using information, turned into knowledge and wisdom, to shape our physical world, both individually and collectively.
Thus, we need to get a handle on how we use our digital tools to free up time for the bigger picture. Just like we don’t buy anything we see, we shouldn’t use digital tools all the time, only when they help us in creating real value.
Ideally, we would design our own tools on top of decentralized platforms, to liberate time, attention, and creative energy for the things that really matters in our lives. But until then, we need to practice digital minimalism.
My life strategy has always been to explore, master, and simplify. It’s when we get good at something, when we master a new tool or idea, that we can confidently and skillfully simplify the usage.
My by now two month experiment replacing the very addictive iPhone with the lesser so Apple Watch is such a project. During this period of time, I’ve successfully winded myself off the addiction of using an iPhone.
As a matter of fact, when I was back in San Francisco, I grabbed the iPhone to sync content from a few applications that only sync directly and not via the cloud, and experienced for the first time the iPhone as very undesirable.
The switch (from iPhone to Apple Watch) has freed up time, attention, and creative energy in a way I didn’t think was possible. I’m no longer pulled – consciously or unconsciously – to check the iPhone every minute.