Gavin Slo’s Reviews > Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World > Status Update

Ch5, connection vs conversation. Real conv is meaningful & required for mental health- it involves picking up on rich social cues that our brains were designed to do. Conn is digital, & social media, texts, calls, & even video calls won't fill that void- & it'll replace of the more important conv. Put your phone on dnd so only emergencies go thru, don't like or comment, & set up office hours for ppl to call/meet you

Ch3, end of pt1. The digital declutter: basically take a 30 day break from optional technologies that don't impact your work life. Rediscover what you're truly passionate about, and determine whether or not the technologies serve your values. If they do, ask if they do it in the best way- if they do, optimize them, if they don't, find something better to serve that purpose. Amish

Ch2, looking from the ground up to determine what technologies actually add more benefit than they subtract from your life, like the Amish & the Mennonites. Digital clutter often mitigates any benefits we'd gain from these technologies in isolation, we need to determine & optimize not just what we use but how we use it, & it feels good to use technology intentionally as opposed to automatically. Diminishing returns

Intro & ch1- social media & modern technology weren’t invented to be harmful, & they have their uses- but at this point they’re carefully funded & designed to automate human behavior. They utilize unpredictable rewards in the form of notifications just when you’re losing interest, & our innate desire to maintain social status & have our “tribe” like us. The bit about tags was rly interesting