Saturday, May 11, 2019

Reflection on Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport


               I quit Instagram and Facebook when I started this book, which jumped the gun a little, but I don’t regret it. In the book, Newport lays out the case for a one-month digital detox to get you unhooked from your electronics. I think the book is good and if you are looking for motivation to quit your social networks, this is it. I don’t particularly like the writing style, which was very pop-economicsy if you know what I’m saying. Like Malcolm Gladwell. I’m just kind of sick of that style but whatever. I did learn that Amish people don’t reject all technology though. It’s actually that they try out each new one and decide thumbs-up or thumbs-down on it. For example, they have solar panels but not cars because cars are used to leave the community and solar panels are used to power it. Amish people are pretty successful in building their communities though, with 80-90 percent of young people choosing to stay after Rumspringa, their time away to experience the outside world. However, the author mentions that the Amish communities are pretty sexist in a very “traditional” kind of way. So that’s what I got from this book.

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