Buzz
Many of us seek to reduce our screen time and spend more time in the real world. However, this becomes complicated when you realize that navigating that world often requires a map, meeting someone demands prior communication, and using an app for parking payment is far easier than dealing with loose change.
Whether we like it or not, engaging with the world often involves a digital interface.
That doesn't mean you can't disconnect. You can still use your smartphone for daily tasks while removing the apps and features that trap you into endless screen-staring sessions.
Cal Newport, a computer science professor and author of Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World, recently shared a valuable piece of advice he gave to his students:
Reserve your smartphone
exclusively
for these tasks: phone calls, text messaging, navigation, and audio (music/podcasts/audiobooks).
In simpler terms: avoid letting your smartphone plunge you into the vast abyss of the internet. Remove your browser, social media apps, and ideally your email. (If you can’t fully detach from email, at least turn off the notifications so you can check it on your own terms.)
Newport advocates that digital minimalism with smartphones is achievable if we transform a device capable of almost anything into a tool limited to three essential functions: a phone, a map/GPS, and—if you’re old enough to recall this— a Walkman.
If I were giving similar advice, I’d allow a few more apps on the smartphone. A weather app can be handy, and so are apps for paying parking, taking public transport, hailing rides, or renting vehicles. I’d also permit ebook apps like Kindle and Libby, mostly because my smartphone offers superior ebook features compared to my aging Kindle, and naturally, you can keep your camera app.
Digital detoxing on smartphones isn’t about which apps you hold onto—it’s about which ones you let go. If you're daring enough to delete your web browser, social media apps, RSS reader, and all the other apps that constantly urge you to check, like, share, or ‘just one more’, you'll be left with a device capable of doing many things—but it won’t be able to pull you in.
This is exactly what most of us crave when we talk about reducing screen time. It’s not about giving up the apps that simplify our lives. It’s about escaping the ones that drain us, bit by bit.
So why not try deleting those apps from your phone and see how long it takes before you feel the urge to reinstall them?
