What is “Digital Minimalism”?

There are a very small handful of articles that define this phrase as the use of digital as a medium to reduce the physical clutter in our lives. One example of this might be the use of a scanner to scan all the stacks of paper and receipts cluttering our desk and put it all into the cloud in a searchable format using a program like Evernote; or getting rid of our CD collection by ripping them to MP3 files stored on a hard drive.

While I may cover tips like those here from time to time, the core focus of this blog and of what Digital Minimalism means to me on a personal level is based on these Three Premises:

1. Digital (web, internet, email, mobile) is truly a wonderful and beneficial medium that has changed (is changing) how we interact as a global society.
2. Like anything else in life, too much of a good thing can be bad and often overwhelming, much like trying to drink water from a fire hose.
3. At its core, Digital Minimalism is about learning how to minimize the amount of time that we spend in the digital medium and learning how to regain the focus that we’ve somehow lost along the way. It’s about understanding why it’s unhealthy and counterproductive to remain “ON” and “Plugged-In” 24/7.

It’s about rediscovering life.

For some, this may be as cumbersome and complex a challenge as changing careers – particularly for those who work in the internet industry daily.

For others, Digital Minimalism is about finding ways to drink from the fire hose without being blasted against the wall.

To be clear, I am far from a Luddite. This is not a blog about a bashing technology. I’ve been online since 1994 and gone through all iterations of Palm devices, Blackberry devices, iPhones and now the Droid X. This is a blog about finding balance.

I love technology and I find great value in the benefits that it continues to bring to our society. But I also believe there is a more ominous side of technology lurking in the shadows, of being “plugged-in”, or “Connected” for 10+ hours a day, every day, as I’ve had to do for my jobs and career for the past 17 years. We’ll explore that dark side here as well, and find ways to turn the light back on.

One starts to realize that where digital is concerned (and many other parts of life), that Less really is More.

Digital Minimalism is about:

• Reducing the flow
• Finding focus
• Managing information and communicating more effectively
• Unplugging
• Living life to its fullest

This is one of the most difficult problems you may ever face as an information worker in the 21st century. Executive leadership has mandated “More, Better, Faster, Cheaper” as the de facto mantra in the workplace; and in doing so, they’ve unknowingly created a productivity time bomb that is both ticking and growing exponentially.

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@AdamBoettiger