Afterpage · week card
Digital Minimalism
Cal Newport
Key ideas
- Less tech, chosen on purpose.
- The 30-day digital declutter.
- Protect time alone with your thoughts.
- Conversation beats connection.
- Reclaim real leisure.
The week
| Day 1 | Read the summary. Five key ideas and where the book overreaches. |
| Day 2 | Sort your apps into two lists. List every app, site, and service you use outside of work, and mark each one as critical or optional. Bad day: Check today's screen-time report and write down the three apps with the most minutes. |
| Day 3 | Take one app off your phone. Delete the optional app that ate the most time from your phone for the rest of the week, and write one rule for when you may use it on a computer. Bad day: Move the app off your home screen into a folder on the last page. |
| Day 4 | Walk 20 minutes without your phone. Take a 20-minute walk alone today and leave your phone at home. Bad day: Step outside for two minutes with your phone left inside. |
| Day 5 | Fix or make one thing by hand. Spend 20 minutes fixing or making something physical, in the time you'd usually spend scrolling. Bad day: Write down one thing at home you'll fix or make this weekend, and put the tools where you'll see them. |
| Day 6 | Call instead of liking. Choose one person whose posts you usually like or comment on, and call them or meet them for at least ten minutes. Bad day: Send one person a voice note instead of a like. |
| Day 7 | Decide what comes back, and how. Decide whether the app you removed on day 3 comes back, and if it does, write its exact operating rules. Bad day: Write one sentence: “It comes back on [device], at [time], for [minutes]” or “It stays off.” |
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