False economy What’s in it for me? Understand what makes the

party apps and gaming.
As for Facebook, it’s well known that in 2004 
Facebook was considered a clever novelty – a 
way to find out more about a friend of a friend – 
not a major source of news or even a popular 
time waster. For most college students in 2004, 
the computer strategy game Snood was far 
more popular than Facebook.
So, when people first brought iPhones and 
Facebook into their lives, they weren’t signing up 
for something they would spend hours every day 
looking at. This dangerous and addictive side to 
technology is something that’s crept up on us, 
thanks to the very intentional work of social 
media engineers. In a 2017 episode of the HBO 
talk show Real Time, Bill Maher referred to the 
“social media tycoons” as being the new big 
tobacco, selling products designed to be as 
addictive as possible.
Indeed, much has been written about the tactics 
used to get and keep our attention, including the 
way some tech companies take advantage of 
the natural human desire for social approval. 
One of the most significant developments took 
place in 2009 when Facebook introduced the 
thumbs up button, a variant of FriendFeed’s 
“like” button. Now, when someone posted 
something, it became a deeply interactive 
experience. How many people in my tribe would 
like what I posted? There was a primal urge to 
keep checking in and we have become finely 
attuned to the notification sounds accompanying 
these responses.
Digital minimalism is based on the 
philosophy that less can be more.
If we hope to protect ourselves against the bright 
minds of Silicon Valley, eager to exploit our 
vulnerabilities, we need a strong defense. This is 
why the author, Cal Newport, proposes a 
lifestyle he calls digital minimalism.

---

There are plenty of people recommending quick 
fixes like simply disabling the notifications on 
your smartphone, but Newport doesn’t trust 
these little adjustments to make much difference 
in the long run. After all, the author of one such 
article said he disabled the notifications on 112 
apps, which begs the question, do you really 
need that many apps in the first place?
Cue digital minimalism, which is about the time-
honored philosophy that better living can come 
from less. The name is purposefully similar to 
the minimalist lifestyle promoted by people like 
author Marie Kondo, who propose only letting 
things into your life that bring joy. Newport is 
applying this to the apps and digital media you 
take in, suggesting that you ask: Does this 
website, app or service really support what I 
value in a way that nothing else can?
Digital minimalism takes a further step in asking 
you to optimize this technology in a way to 
maximize the value while reducing the cost to 
your time and energy. So, if Twitter is something 
that your career clearly benefits from, you can 
use it wisely by setting purposeful rules around it 
that allow you to go in, do what needs to be 
done and get out.
Tyler was one of the 1,600 people that signed up 
for the author’s experiment with digital 
minimalism. He’d signed up to a few social 
media platforms because he valued staying 
connected to friends, entertainment and 
networking. But following the principles of digital 
minimalism, he realized that the benefits of 
social media were actually small compared to 
the time it cost him. Tyler closed his social 
media accounts, and a year later, he’s still 
thrilled with the change digital minimalism has 
brought to his life. He’s getting more exercise, 
reading more books, volunteering and learning 
to play music. Even with all this, he has more 
time to spend with his family and feels more 
focused at work. Tyler knows people who say 
they can’t quit social media, but at this point, he 
can’t see any reason to continue using it.