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

Advice from the Attention Resistance 
includes downgrading your phone and using 
single-purpose devices.
With so many people glued to their smartphones 
and social media accounts, you may think of 
digital minimalism as an extreme and unusual 
idea. But the truth is, digital minimalism is just 
one part of a growing worldwide movement 
known as the Attention Resistance.
This movement gets its name from the industry 
that many of today’s major tech businesses are 
in – the attention economy. Companies like 
Facebook make their money the same way 

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tabloid newspapers did in the 1800s. They draw 
a big audience and then sell that audience’s 
attention to advertisers who pitch them their 
products and services. The more people they 
attract, and the longer they can keep their 
attention, the more money they get from 
advertisers. These days, getting attention is 
more valuable than getting oil, with Google 
valued at $800 billion, Facebook at $500 billion 
and ExxonMobile at $370 billion.
With this much money at stake, companies in 
the attention economy are serious about 
exploiting human vulnerabilities and doing 
whatever it takes to keep you distracted. This is 
precisely why people have gotten serious about 
retaining their autonomy and resisting these 
tactics. One of the many effective methods used 
by the Attention Resistance is to dumb down 
your phone. So, if you see someone with a circa 
2000 flip phone, this is likely a member of the 
Resistance who’s decided to remove themselves 
from the attention economy.
Another method is to make your computer a 
single-purpose device, just like the earliest 
versions of Macs and PCs. You can do this by 
using popular blocking software like Freedom, 
which author Zadie Smith thanked by name in 
the acknowledgments of her 2012 bestseller 
NW.
Now, some people think it’s heretical to revert 
your computer to a single-function machine like 
early versions of Macs and PCs as if you were 
purposefully making your computer less 
powerful. But whether you make your computer 
run programs simultaneously or not has nothing 
to do with its power. In fact, you could say you’re 
making it more powerful, since you’ll be more 
productive while using it as a single-purpose 
device!
While the bright minds in Silicon Valley may 
have a lot of resources to gain your attention, 
with digital minimalism and the tools of a 
growing resistance, you can maintain your 
autonomy and stay focused on what really 
matters.
Atomic habits
What’s in it for me? Learn how small habits can 
have a big impact on your life.
In these blinks, we’ll look at how to make 
positive change in your lives. It turns out, the 
easiest way to bring about positive change is to 
cultivate the right habits. Listen on, to discover 
all about habits; what they are, how you can 
form them, and crucially, how you can make the 
best ones stick. By following the few simple 
instructions and changing a few small behaviors, 
you can achieve unbelievable results. So, let’s 
get started!