Digital detox

“I’ll just check if I got a text from her”. Twenty minutes on, I’m still on my phone. We all know that feeling of getting lost in the maze of texts and click-bait. You could say there’s no harm in it but minute by minute our lives are getting caught up more in the virtual and less in the physical.

I’ve just read this book Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. Apart from the scary reality of how social media manipulates with your brain, the book is a really good read for understanding how to live with intentionality (as he calls it).

The core idea of digital minimalism is to be more intentional about technology in your life. Digital minimalists carefully curate these technologies to best support things they value.

It’s not about disconnecting from your devices and living in a cave. It’s about choosing freely what you want from technology.

“The sense of meaning comes from acting with intention”

All lives are made up of moments. Specific moments made up of singular experiences: travel, work, friends, eat, sleep and so on. Alot of these moments are repetitive so we don’t remember them, for example, what we ate yesterday or what we were wearing on a given day. We flow from one moment to the next. When we don’t act with intention, then every experience, every moment can feel the same. And life can flow on.

Seize the moment is not just a mantra for jumping into the Forty Foot on a cold day, it’s also for those ordinary moments that make up our day.

I know it’s seems funny to be talking about Digital Minimalism when we have just launched the Beloved website and our Instagram and Facebook page, but from experience and the experience of those around me I know the frustration we all feel and that dull feeling that comes over our senses when we get caught up in distraction on our devices.

There is no single remedy to this. However there are oodles of material to help you understand its impact on your life and how to live with intentionality and get back into the driver seat of your own existence.

Here are a couple of things that I have found helpful and insightful:

Minimalism: A Documentary About the Important Things

Digital Minimalism, Cal Newport

Ted Talk, Cal Newport

The Power of Moments, Heath Brothers

There is something very freeing about living with little and spending the time with friends and family.

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Catherine McMahon