My latest digital declutter ended back in March 31st of this year. I’ve resumed posting on my other blogs, but for a variety of reasons, I haven’t gone back to posting on this one. However, the past few days I’ve had this nagging feeling that I need to post an update on this blog. So, here's an update on why I haven't been publishing new posts and what I’ve been up to since my last post.
First off, what have I been doing since my last post?
Well as I noted in my Digital Declutter 2024 post, my focus was to read more books. And that’s what I have been doing.
During my digital declutter, I finished reading one book. That book was Outlive by Dr. Peter Attia. Great book if you’re interested in how to live longer, while maintaining a high quality of living.
A little after my digital declutter ended, I finished reading The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel. Excellent book if you’re trying to understand how/why we make the decisions we do with our money.
Yep, it's that time of the year again. Ash Wednesday is tomorrow, which signifies the start of Lent. And that means it's time for me to go through another Digital Declutter exercise.
And honestly, I really need one. I've recently fallen into the trap of reading comments on social media and it has not been good for my mental health. Yes, I know I should be using social media as a tool. But sometimes I cannot resist viewing a specific post and it goes downhill from there. So, yes I need a reset.
The main reason for this post though, apart from telling you that I'll be offline for a bit and not writing blog posts, is to invite anyone who reads this to give the Digital Declutter exercise a try. Take a break from living life online and start your own Digital Declutter.
You can follow this link for an explanation of what a Digital Declutter is, as well as what rules I'll be following for my own Digital Declutter.
Last year, I kinda went through a Digital Declutter without a specific focus in mind. For this year, I'm going to focus on reading more books.
Anyway, I hope you guys decide to give it a try. If you have any questions regarding this, you can find ways to contact me on this page, but sending an email is the best option.
Peace be with you and see y'all online on Easter Sunday.
It's that time of the year again. Ash Wednesday is tomorrow, which signifies the start of Lent. And that means it's time for me to go through another Digital Declutter exercise. I would like to invite anyone who reads this to take a break from living life online and start their own Digital Declutter.
Follow this link for an explanation of what a Digital Declutter is, as well as what rules I'll be following for my own Digital Declutter.
I hope you guys decide to give it a try. If you have any questions regarding this, you can find ways to contact me on this page, but sending an email is the best option.
Peace be with you and see y'all online on Easter Sunday.
This is a list of rules that will guide me during my Digital Declutter phase.
Changelog:
The only change I've made for Version 3.01, is removing restrictions for Crunchy Roll when viewing something with my family, especially my kids who've shown an interest in anime.
The notable rule additions/changes I've made for Version 3.0 are removing restrictions when doing an activity with other people. For instance, playing video games and streaming videos are no longer restricted if I'm doing the activity with my family.
What is a Digital Declutter?
A Digital Declutter is an exercise I read about in Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism book. It's almost like a Digital Detox or a Digital Sabbath. The main differences are that you do it for at least 30 days, and that you are replacing addictive digital activities with analog activities. For instance, instead of browsing social media at night, you read books, or learn a new craft like cooking, or you learn how to play a musical instrument like the guitar, etc...
The easiest way to understand it is to look at the rules listed below. But of course you don't have to follow the same rules I made for myself. You can create your own set of rules and do it at your own time. My main motivation for sharing these rules online, was to invite people to give the Digital Declutter exercise a try. If you have any questions regarding this, you can find ways to contact me on this page, but sending an email is the best option.
It's that time of the year again. Ash Wednesday is tomorrow, which signifies the start of Lent. And that means it's time to go through another Digital Declutter phase. I would like to invite anyone who reads this to start their own Digital Declutter.
If you don't know what a Digital Declutter is, it is an exercise I read about in Cal Newport's Digital Minimalism book. It's almost like a Digital Detox or a Digital Sabbath. The main differences are that you do it for at least 30 days, and that you are replacing addictive digital activities with analog activities. For instance, instead of browsing social media at night, you read books, or learn a new craft like cooking, or learning to play a musical instrument like the guitar, etc...
I suppose the easiest way to understand it is to look at the Digital Declutter rules I'll be using to guide me this year. I'm using the same rules from last year. The main highlights are that in addition to not using social media at all, there will be no blogging done as well.
Of course you don't have to follow the same rules I made for myself. You can create your own set of rules and do it at your own time. My main motivation for this post was to invite people to give Digital Declutter a try. If you have any questions regarding this, you can find ways to contact me on this page, but sending an email is the best option.
Have fun going offline, I know I will. Peace be with you and see y'all online on Easter Sunday.
This is a list of rules that I'm going to follow for the remainder of Lent. In hindsight I should have started this as soon as Lent started, but oh well. Better late than never.
These rules are based off v2.0. There's not much modifications from the previous rules I had. The biggest change in this set of rules, is that I'm not allowing myself to do any blogging whatsoever. I already feel anxious and excited about that one. It will be a good challenge.
And so without further ado, my Lent digital declutter starts now. You can find the rules below. See y'all online on Easter Sunday.
There it is again. That feeling of dread. Or anxiety. That feeling of a burn out that doesn’t want to go away. Like there’s a hole in my chest that I can’t fill. I can’t quite describe it. It comes when I’m not distracted. When I’m alone with my thoughts. And it lingers unless I push it out of my mind with prayer.
I was fine during my digital declutter. But as soon as it ended, it came back slowly. Whenever I think about what to write next, I get overwhelmed. And I can’t explain it. I’m making my online activities a scapegoat here, but I have no other explanation for it. The only thing that significantly changed for me this week, was me coming off my digital declutter.
And so I’m going into digital declutter mode indefinitely. I’ll probably keep posting entries to this journal. But I’m going dark on the rest of my blogs and websites. I don’t know when this new digital declutter will end. Maybe it will become my new normal. Maybe not. Either way, I once again need a break from all the stuff I do online.
Update 10/26/2020:
I know I said I'm going dark on the rest of my blogs. But I might make an exception for my music blog.
Before we get to the new set of rules, here are some notes on the additions and changes I've made for this new version.
I'm allowing the use of Facebook Messenger
This is the main app that my friends and I use to communicate with each other. I don't see a need to cut myself off from my friends this time around.
I'm allowing the use of Safari and Feedly
One of my goals in this second digital declutter is to catch up on my readings of articles and blog posts. I have so many open tabs of articles and posts I want to read in Safari right now, it is not even funny. So, I'm allowing the use of Safari this time around to help me get through all those tabs. That also means catching up on my unread items in Feedly.
Not allowing Micro.blog and Sunlit apps
I signed up for a Micro.blog account just last month. Great service. I love what they are doing for blogging and personal websites. I use the official Micro.blog app and the accompanying Sunlit app on my phone. However, I will not be using those apps during this digital declutter to see what effect they have on me.
I bought the Digital Minimalism book to try and find more ways to curb my smartphone addiction. It is an attempt to regain control of my attention and time.
Okay so here are my notes, findings, revelations, thoughts, etc... on how it went:
I had so much extra time to read books during this phase; I finished reading 3 books and I wasn't even trying to finish books. Finishing 3 books in a 30 day period is amazing to me, I never thought I could do that. Here are the list of books I finished reading during the digital declutter phase:
These are a list of rules that I'm going to be following during the 30-day digital declutter phase. I'm already trying to follow some of the rules on here, but I think I will officially start it on the 20th for a good round number.
Messaging Apps:
Text Messages/iMessage: Allowed
Facebook Messenger: Not allowed
Groupme: Not allowed
Emails:
Mobile Phone Apps:
Outlook: Allowed (needed for work) but can only be used during daytime, except on support calls.
Yahoomail: Allowed (needed for two factor authentication) but can only be used during daytime.