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Digital Minimalism in Everyday Life: Overcome Technology Addiction, Declutter Your Mind, and Reclaim Your Freedom

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Do you feel like you are wasting too much time on your smartphone? Do you feel like your digital technology use is becoming too habitual?

Don’t worry. You’re not alone.

If you feel like your gadgets are stealing a lot of your time, focus, and energy, then this book, Digital Minimalism in Everyday Life, may have the solution for you.

Do you recognize any of these situations?

Your computer screen is cluttered with dozens of iconsYour phone has so many apps that you don’t even useYou spend so much time cleaning up your email inboxYour children rarely go out to play with their friendsYour office is a messYou get notification after notification after notificationYou notice that you tend to spend so many hours each day on social mediaYou are required to use a dozen apps at work just to get one task doneA huge portion of your time is spent answering the phoneYou can’t remember the last time you had a meaningful conversation with your loved onesIf this is you and you get lost in a maze of gadgets, apps, and digital technology, then the concepts, tools, and tips you will learn from this book, Digital Minimalism in Everyday Life, will help you set things straight.

Who knows, you may even find that life is easier and so much better with less, not with more.

What You Will Discover in This

This book focuses more on how to apply digital minimalism in our daily livesTips and strategies that you can do now. You don’t need to be an expert to become a digital minimalist, and you can start right awayA lot of actionable steps that you can do to help yourself out of digital addictionThe signs of digital addiction and why technology is so appealing to the human mindStep-by-step procedures on how you can declutter your phone, computer, internet use, email inbox, and free yourself from the many distractions that reduce productivityThe most useful tools—including digital tools—that you can do to practice digital minimalismSteps on how to do a digital How you can start slowly and then do a full disconnect from the internet and technology to renew your mind and regain your power to chooseDigital minimalism exercises taught by experts and professionalsHow you can protect your kids from the negative effects of digital technology dependenceHow to prevent a relapse from happeningAnd so much more…Is this practical guidebook for you? If you have felt that there is something wrong about your smartphone habits—you’re losing sleep, feeling stressed, and not getting things done at work or in your personal life—then maybe the solutions here are the very things you need right now.

The tips and strategies described in this book are easy to understand and follow, and they are well-rounded, covering all the details on what to do. They have been drawn from the author’s personal experience and mentoring by experts and coaches.

Scroll up and click “BUY NOW” to reclaim your freedom from digital technology!

232 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 7, 2020

76 people are currently reading
169 people want to read

About the author

James W. Williams

53 books74 followers

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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
Profile Image for Jamie Bee.
Author 1 book122 followers
September 4, 2020
Some Good Food for Thought, But...

This book certainly does have some food for thought, getting us to think about our reliance on technology and social media. Does it really benefit us? He does have some straightforward strategies to approach digital decluttering on your devices and embracing digital minimalism on a broader scale. Some of what he talks about, though, seems like they are simply applications of contemporary self-help buzzwords to the idea of digital media. Of course, even decluttering and minimalism are such words, but others included in this book are the idea of a digital detox, habits, and mindfulness. After a certain point, I found myself wondering what the next buzzword would be!

But I found more serious issues with this book. I was somewhat alarmed by the introduction where the author stated that he is basing this book's ideas on someone else's book, Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism. I don't know the extent to which he simply used this man's work and ideas, but the fact that he brought this up so quickly is disturbing. You might want to read the original work rather than a watered-down and filtered version by this author!

I found the structure of the book a little shaky in places. For instance, in the first chapter, he goes back and forth between talking about general minimalism and digital minimalism. I think he just should have started broadly and worked his way down instead of going back and forth.

This book certainly had issues with repetitiveness, errors, and contradictions. Sometimes the repetition was literally right next to each other, while other times the author stated and restated the same thing in different chapters. I also found his writing to be wordy; “why say something in 5 words if you can say them in 20?” seems to be his motto. His writing style is certainly a little convoluted at times. The book certainly had errors with grammar, punctuation, spelling, and usage—enough to be distracting at times. Some spelling errors actually made it hard to figure out what the author was trying to say—that's bad! In one sentence, he started with “we” but then flipped to “you” by the end of the sentence.

I also thought that he didn't explain certain things well. For instance, I was wondering at the purpose of the cuddle or hug curtains that he mentioned. Only by looking at the references in the back did I realize that this was because of our current pandemic. That should have been mentioned or explained within the book itself. The author sometimes contradicts himself. The biggest one was when he said that he wasn't going to talk about technology addiction specifically—leaving that to Cal Newport’s book on the topic—but there's actually an entire chapter on it! Because of all these issues, I do not feel like I can recommend this book.
Profile Image for Ocean.
778 reviews46 followers
June 22, 2023
Possibly useful for older people who fall into the traps of social media but I feel like if you're young you're already familiar with fomo, digital detox and all the other buzzwords this book is filled with.
We all know that working out or meditating is a healthier activity than mindlessly scrolling our phones for an hour it doesn't really make it easier to stop though.

The tone felt paternalistic which I did not enjoy either. Do not recommend there are better, more useful books on the subject out there!
Profile Image for Joseph Tang.
59 reviews
November 4, 2021

先是心态上得调整,并不是每次提醒都那么重要。
然后行动上调整,鸡肋弃之,保留最小资源够用即可的原则。
最后是用上用搜索式而非浏览式,并做现实生活中的实际良好行为或习惯适当替换。


◆ Chapter 1: What Is Digital Minimalism?

>> make purposeful and well-intentioned use of your digital devices instead of impulsive usage


◆ Chapter 2: The Trap of Technology Addiction

长期一贯的行为形成习惯了之后,自然会造成生理及脑部结构变化的。
>> Internet addiction has been found to create structural changes to the brain and also cause chemical alterations [25]. The structural changes affect a person’s ability to connect with attention, cognitive control, emotional processing, and decision-making [26].


◆ Chapter 3: How to Do a Digital Inventory and Declutter

这一点还是很重要,最小投入原则。防止自己陷入为了使用而使用的境地。
>> Don’t buy your digital media—rent it as much as possible

低频使用的就让它们别那么触手可及。
>> Use the web/mobile version for apps you don’t use frequently

每个领域方向保留一个必备的应用即可,减少使用成本。但这个领域最好是结构化拆分好。
>> Choose only one or two social media channels


◆ Chapter 4: The Why and How of a Digital Detox

这种思维和习惯需要改掉才行,特别是避免对应的职业或岗位。
>> FOMO is short for fear of missing out.

>> Try a new thing. For you to completely quit an old habit, you must replace it with a new one.

This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Gummih.
323 reviews8 followers
February 21, 2025
I read this book for a book club. On the day of the book club, having finished the book, I was feeling a bit conflicted about showing up because I didn’t have much positive to say about the book, checking in at around 2,5 stars for me. That’s when it dawned on me that this was the wrong book, I had managed to read the wrong book!

The assigned book was Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World and from what I’ve heard (I attended the book club!) it is a very good book, you should probably go read that book. I know I’m going to.
1 review
January 30, 2022
Many of us have faced the challenge to keep ourselves away from a smart phone. It is very difficult to practice digital detox or digital minimalism . James W. Williams and Amy White give provide practical ideas to practice digital minimalism in their book "Digital Minimalism in everyday life"
I liked the way the book takes the reader from the concept of minimalism to how to know if we need digital detox or not to finally ways to practice digital minimalism .
The book is not only to be read but practiced in real life.
I recommend the book to those who wish to control their social media , use of technology or practice digital detox.
Profile Image for Manisha Patil.
1 review1 follower
January 30, 2022
I started feeling guilty for overuse of smartphone at the end of 2021. While searching for books on Amazon I saw the title Digital Minimalism in Everyday by James W. Williams and Amy White. In fact we all are facing the problem of digital addiction and its impact on our health and career.
I liked the book because it is written in a very lucid manner and easy style. It starts with the concept of Minimalism and then discusses about the the need and ways to practice digital minimalism.
It inspires to practice the simple techniques in real life to make our life more productive and happy.
Profile Image for Claire.
471 reviews2 followers
August 2, 2024
The idea about writing about digital minimalism in a book is a good one but the execution could have been better. I found certain things quite contradictory… telling you not to use your phone too much etc, but then saying that it’s ok to use apps to help you minimise your phone usage! The book was littered with things like that. Certain hobbies the author said was a better thing for you to do is not the case for some people. So, the sentiment in this book was a good one, I just didn’t always agree with the alternatives given.
2 reviews
May 4, 2022
informative

This was Very informative. It covered all the bases Of a digital Detox and although it did not apply to every aspect of my life, I found enough skills I believe I can use to successfully digitally deacons
3 reviews1 follower
January 12, 2021
Good Resource

A really good resource to help us digitally declutter our lives and live more fully and mindfully... found it quite helpful.
17 reviews
May 22, 2021
Very short read. Gives great tips on how to do digital minimalism. I loved the tips it gave to help ease anxiety and stress induced by computers and phones.
Profile Image for Derek.
Author 6 books92 followers
December 14, 2021
Helpful but somewhat simplistic guide to addressing the deluge of infotainment that social media and digital content providers are sending your way.
1 review1 follower
February 18, 2022
This book is so insightful and Prescriptive, offers ways to get rid of Digital Technology Addiction.
3 reviews
August 31, 2025
the book was written before the lockdown and the rise of AI, which makes it slightly dated. Good tips about meditation and declutter regardless
Profile Image for Rachel Plant.
39 reviews1 follower
September 26, 2025
This was a 3 star for me. Some bits were useful but a lot of the book focused around mindfulness techniques which wasn’t what I was looking for.
163 reviews1 follower
October 21, 2025
the whole book looks like a blog / long form article converted into book; lot of ideas are impractical
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews

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