2024-07-13
Published in 2019, this book became instantaneously famous.
Much of this fame seems to be rooted in the COVID pandemic, as the contents of the book touch on subjects of work burnout, anxiety, and social media. All of which were in constant debate during the pandemic.
This book quickly got stuck in my inner-loop of Youtube video recommendations as life-style youtubers tell you how productive they have become after reading this book. They have now quit social media, bought a flip-flop cellphone, started waking up at 5 am to do their best work, and have truly become real "digital minimalists".
Of course, I can't tell if these youtubers actually read the book, or if the reality just didn't sink in. Otherwise, they would have realised that they are profiting from a Google-owned platform that is heavily criticised by the book author via many anecdotes.
Youtube perpetuates all the concerns around anxiety, addiction, and otiosity that are discussed in the book. The irony is quite obvious: "Learn how to quit youtube by following the advise of our famous youtuber, don't forget to like and subscribe ;-)".
More about the book itself…
The book is written as a discourse, and does not provide a thorough scientific backing on the speculative subjects of quality of life pre and post becoming a digital minimalist. The author relies instead on anecdotes and empirical evidence from himself, his friends, and people on social media responding to him.
Despite this, I don't think the main ideas in the book are incorrect. Quitting social media does provide improved life quality, and using technology conscientiously, that is, with intent and purpose, can benefit one's life immensely.
The is anti social-media feeling is normalised discourse nowadays (2024) but I would argue that this has been the case since much longer. I recall this narrative being promoted when I was at university (circa 2013). The idea isn't new, but the book helps to pin it down using accessible language. The author also hopped on the "minimalism" bandwagon that has been high on internet trends for at least the past decade.
Again, the idea of minimalism isn't new. We can trace it back to the cold war and the "anti-consumerism" soviet propaganda or even further back during the Chinese revolution. Though many see both nations and their past regimes with bad eyes, it took many decades for the western world to finally realise "consumerism bad".
I digressed… back to the book.
I don't think the author goes far enough into his advice about quitting social media and becoming more attentive to the use of technology. In many cases there's much to be desired, especially after coming strong on his treatment of the social concerns against social-media obsession. I would have expected an equally strong recommendation on how to deal with it.
This wasn't the case. The author prefers a milquetoast take: "please quit social media. Buuut, if it is really hard for you… just don't worry too much… maybe spend a little less time". I don't think this drives the right message, but this is also painted as a reasonable compromised way of getting started slowly.
This is not a good advice line when you are arguing that there are ethical concerns of participating and promoting such services when they are responsible for such bad social outcomes. It is similar to saying "It's unethical to spank your children or promote cultural behaviour that induces it. But… one slap here and there is alright". See? It does not fly. Making concessions for unethical services because they are ubiquitous and commonly acceptable at the time isn't a good enough justification for the concession itself.
It only feels more acceptable on the book because social media issues are "not quite in the same category" as spanking your child. Even when social media is strongly correlated in the raise of young suicide and youth depression.
My recommendation would be slightly different and more direct. Stop using unethical services. They are not good for the individual nor for the group. There is nothing to gain from infinite scrolls and the waterfall of ads they present. Especially worse if the "ads are really good" because it implies that the company now has your data at their service.
The hard bit, and where change needs to happen quickly, is on proprietary hardware. We are losing control of our devices day by day.
A trend initiate by Apple is to give as little control back to the user on the device they bought themselves. Motherboards, memory slots, and other important (and easy to fix) components of a computer are now all soldered and coupled in ways that make maintenance for an ageing computer impossible. This is a feature, not a bug. Apple knows how to maximise profit.
With more companies following trend, even in the beloved thinkpad series, we can't be "minimalists" if the maximum absolute of "throwing your computer in the rubbish entirely once a faulty component shows up after barely 5 years of use" has become the acceptable behaviour.
I derailed again… It is hard to read this book and not think about the current state of digital technology (and society). We have in so many ways progressed to build the most amazing engineering feats. Yet, the web and its negative effects feel worse than they did 10 years ago.
I think this book is a step on the right direction of adding volume to the debate against digital maximisation(?) but don't expect any hard science nor deep insights from it. Perhaps now is not the best time for another book providing the hard take I feel necessary.