June 1, 2019
Cal Newport on Digital Minimalism – The Moment with Brian Koppelman
Key Takeaways
- Instead of looking for the one thing that you’re passionate about, look for something that’s interesting, well-suited for your skills, and can open up options for you in the future
- Most technology isn’t purely good or bad, it all depends on how it’s used
- Even when a service is free, you still have to think about the cost (time) and value you get from it
- For every online activity you perform, weigh the time and energy input vs. the value output you recieve
- Technology companies engineer their apps to be as addicting as possible
Intro
- Cal Newport is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University
- He is the author of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism
A Little Bit About Cal
- Cal signed his first book deal at 21-years-old
- Cal tends to write about things that interest him in different stages of life
- His first book was about getting better grades in school while his most recent book was about how to apply the principle of minimalism to technology
- Cal loved to read books as a kid and developed his interest in writing during college
Finding Your Passion
- Both Brian and Cal don’t really agree with the commonly stated advice – “Find a your passion”
- Instead of looking for the one thing that you’re passionate about, look for something that’s interesting, well-suited for your skills, and can open up options for you in the future
- Keep an eye out for the thing you have the potential to become so good at, that people can’t possibly ignore you
- Be curious and try many different things to discover what interests you
- Once you find something, then go all in
- Instead of looking for the one thing that you’re passionate about, look for something that’s interesting, well-suited for your skills, and can open up options for you in the future
Digital Minimalism
- This is Cal’s new book which teaches people how to properly use smartphones and social media
- Even though Cal himself doesn’t use social media, he makes the point that sometimes it’s good to get an outsider’s perspective on a topic
- Digital minimalism is all about removing “optionable technology,” identifying which tech adds value to your life, and then slowly adding it back in
- Most technology isn’t purely good or bad, it all depends on how it’s used
- Cal ran a digital minimalism experiment with several hundred people
- About 50% of people in the experiment quit using social media altogether
- The other 50% of people who kept their social media accounts all changed how they used it (for example – many of the people deleted the social media apps on their phone and began only using it on their laptops)
- Younger generations tend to have a harder time doing a digital detox because they grew up turning to technology whenever they had free time
- Brian says deleting the Facebook app from his phone was a huge plus in his life – he now checks Facebook just once a week or so to catch up with important notifications instead of spending time on it every day
- Even when a service is free, you still have to think about the cost (time) and value you get from it
- Just as food companies engineer their food, technology companies try to do the same with their apps in order to make them as addicting as possible
- Minimalism is an ancient idea that goes all the way back to the Stoics
- It’s all about taking your time and energy and focusing it on the things that you know are highly valuable
- For every online activity you perform, weigh the time and energy input vs. the value output you receive
- It’s all about taking your time and energy and focusing it on the things that you know are highly valuable
