Embracing Digital Minimalism – Live and Work Better with Less Technology

Are you feeling tired, irritable, burnt out? Do you long for a simpler life, free of the stresses and strains of the daily grind? Are you constantly glued to your screen? Do you feel compelled to check your phone every five minutes? Are you addicted to tech? Well, then why not try digital minimalism!*

* Results may vary. Please consult your head of IT before using digital minimalism. Side effects may include increased productivity, better working relationships, increased concentration, better work/life balance, unexpected joy, better time management, a greater sense of freedom and autonomy, effortless focus. 

Minimalism is a big word these days. Whether it’s Marie Kondo sneaking into your apartment to spark joy or the pared-down aesthetic of your favorite cafe—less is most definitely more. So, in our tech-obsessed world, it’s perhaps no surprise that the minimalist movement has slowly worked its way into how we manage our digital lives. In fact, with the Tsunami of digital devices, tools, and platforms flooding our every hour, it’s a wonder that it’s taken this long to make an impact!

But what exactly is minimalism, and how do you apply it to your digital life? What kind of benefits can it bring to your working day? Here, we take a look at minimalism, how to apply it to tech, and how minimalism can help you live and work better with less technology, giving you the chance to build stronger relationships and boost your collaborations through real human contact!

What Are the Core Beliefs of Minimalism?

Before looking at digital minimalism, it’s important to understand minimalism as a movement and a philosophy. Here are ten core principles that will help you understand the concept before applying it to your digital life. That said, it is important to remember that minimalism is a very individual and personal thing, so if you don’t fall in step with everything on this list, that’s OK!

What is Digital Minimalism?

Arguably, the father of digital minimalism is the acclaimed author and computer scientist, Cal Newport. In his book, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, he defines the concept in simple terms:

“Digital minimalism is a philosophy that helps you question what digital communication tools (and behaviors surrounding these tools) add the most value to your life. It is motivated by the belief that intentionally and aggressively clearing away low-value digital noise, and optimizing your use of the tools that really matter, can significantly improve your life.”

So far, so simple.

Anyone looking to embrace digital minimalism only needs to separate the “noise” from the stuff of real value. However, in many cases, that’s much easier said than done.

You might love email’s asynchronous approach to communication, but your clients insist on staying in touch through a team chat app. You could share all your work through the cloud, but your boss wants everything stored on the company server. You might even think about ditching your social media presence, but there’s always that one friend who insists on communicating through Facebook. And only Facebook.

That’s not to say it’s impossible to reduce your reliance on tech, and simply taking yourself through the process of identifying your current usage, focusing on your intentions, and evaluating how to extract the maximum possible value from your devices and apps can be a liberating experience in itself.

What are the Benefits of Digital Minimalism?

Ask any hardcore digital minimalist, and the benefits of ditching an overreliance on tech are clear. On the surface, simply spending less time glued to your smartphone, tablet, or computer screen will ensure you have more time to really connect with people. Whether at work, at home, or while out and about, putting down your devices to speak face-to-face can boost collaboration, understanding, empathy, and comprehension.

Using your devices less also means your downtime is likely to be significantly more regenerative. For instance, the simple act of taking your smartphone to bed has been linked with poor sleep—whether you use it or not. Additionally, there’s already been plenty written about the damaging effects of blue light, the increased stress caused by the always-on mentality, and the breakdown of communications between families and partners.

Now is as good a time as any to point out that digital minimalism is not about ditching technology entirely. Rather, it should be about decluttering your approach to tech usage. When you must use your devices, it’s important to make the experience as straightforward and seamless as possible, with minimal distractions to ensure you remain focused on the task at hand.

Finally, ditching the silos of information and consolidating your everyday tasks into a single app can work wonders. App switching (and the accumulation of apps linked to this practice) is a real drain on productivity—and for anyone juggling multiple tools and platforms, it is extremely frustrating at times. Digital minimalism loves apps that fulfill multiple functions, so combining things such as your email, team, chat, calendar, shared to-do lists, and notes is an instant productivity and collaboration booster.

Digital Minimalism – The Process

We’ve already touched upon the fact that digital minimalism is more of a process than an objective goal, and this process should be something you continually practice to ensure you maintain a healthy relationship with your tech. We began with some general minimalism rules for you to follow each day, and now we will look at how to move to digital minimalism on your computer, cell phone, and communication channels. 

Digital Minimalism While Using the Computer

Computers are essential professional tools for many of us and are an object that falls squarely in the “need” rather than “want” category. That said, while it’s not a thing you should be cutting from your life, there are ways to make it less of a distraction while in use – or even nearby.

Digital Minimalism and Cell Phones

Another piece of a digital kit that is essential to most people is their cell phones. Modern smartphones are a far cry from the landlines of old and put a thousand distractions in the palm of your hand.

Keeping it Simple – Files and Folders

One of the most important parts of digital minimalism across any device is organization. The goal is to save you from endlessly trawling through folders and files. You should be able to search for everything using easily recognizable terms that can be entered quickly and efficiently. Of course, you’ll need an Super Search function to do this, but there are a number of other steps to achieve your minimalist file system.

Digital Minimalism and Emails

Emails are one of the most important communication channels in most people’s work lives, and part of digital minimalism is keeping them organized. This allows you to focus on what’s important without the background noise.

Spike is Aligned with the Digital Minimalism Movement

Spike is designed to help you simplify your digital life, so is perfectly in line with digital minimalism. It takes the core of work communication and email and folds it into a full suite of productivity tools directly into your Inbox. This allows you to have one app that covers Notes, To-Do Lists, email, video and voice calls, and much more, rather than hopping from one program to another.

What’s more, Spike knows how important it is to have downtime, which is why there is the built-in ability to silence it. You can even snooze individual messages and set reminders to keep your mind on track and your digital desk uncluttered. Additionally, with email at its core, Spike has a focus on asynchronous communication, allowing you to read and respond on your time rather than being at the mercy of a notification beep.

Spike also enables you to seamlessly transition to email minimalism with tools like Priority Inbox, which shows you only the messages you need, leaving the clutter behind. Additionally, it offers Conversational Email, which cuts out the old formalities like signatures, leaving you with something more reminiscent of instant messaging – again cutting the background noise and delivering only what’s important – the message.

Stay tuned to the blog for all the latest updates on our 21st-century communication tools or tweet us @SpikeNowHQ and tell us how you’re living better with less technology.

Updated 06/01/2021