Book Review: Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

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Season: Q5 2025

Reflection + Celebration

Book Review by Megan Hughes, PhD

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport

Book Review by Megan Hughes, PhD

I recently read Cal Newport’s Book, Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. I’ve been wanting to pare down my tech use for a while now, and this was the perfect opportunity. Below I’ll share a review of the book and an update on how my personal digital declutter went. 

Newport describes Digital Minimalism as, “a philosophy of technology use in which you focus your online time on a small number of carefully selected and optimized activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else” (Newport, Digital Minimalism, p. 28). I appreciated Newport’s focus on values, which we discussed elsewhere this month. Tying any change in behavior to values makes it more meaningful, and more likely that you’ll follow through. 

In the book, Newport shares anecdotes of historical figures (e.g., Henry David Thoreau, Benjamin Franklin, Abraham Lincoln) whose approach to the world demonstrates elements of Newport’s current philosophy. These examples not only ground Newport’s thinking in history but also make for a more interesting read. He also uses contemporary examples from individuals who beta tested his digital declutter process. 

Newport asks us to calculate the high costs and minimal benefits of nonintentional tech use, noting that we can waste our most valuable resource, our time, on things that don’t align with our values. He asks us to consider how much time we waste when we pick up our phone to check the weather and then accidentally get sucked into doom scrolling. 

Digital Declutter Overview

The main idea of a digital declutter is to take a month to sharply reduce your optional tech usage. Note here that Newport is not giving you permission to stop checking your work email or team slack channels. During the month that you are less engaged with optional tech, you focus on adding in interesting and meaningful non-tech activities. At the end of the month, you can select tech that you want to add back in intentionally, but only what is meaningful for you, and with restrictions that are clear and help you from spending too much time on too many things. When deciding what optional tech to add back in, Newport suggests that you ask yourself, “Does this technology directly support something that I deeply value?”

Newport also highlights our need for time in solitude, that is, time without
“input from other minds” (p. 93). By this definition solitude doesn’t require being physically alone, but it does require that you aren’t reading, watching videos, talking, or listening to podcasts. Solitude is being alone in your thoughts. 

My Digital Declutter

Sharply reduce optional tech for a month

For my tech declutter, I fully eliminated Netflix, Facebook, and YouTube. I already didn’t use Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Pinterest, or LinkedIn much, but made sure to avoid those apps as well. I set parameters to limit my use of non-optional tech. I checked email only on my computer, I set time limits for duolingo and my news app. I checked WhatsApp less.  

Do more (non-tech) valued activities

I added in physical puzzles, walks in a park without my phone, crafting, and sessions with a Spanish tutor. I printed out an analog habit tracker from Etsy that was beautiful and fun to fill out at night to record my non-tech activities of the day.   

Carefully reintroduce valued optional tech with specific guidelines

At the end of the month when I was ready to add more technology back in, I instituted the following intentional guidelines: 

• Up to five minutes of Facebook a day on my computer to check FB groups for work or my children’s activities. I deleted the FB app on my phone and logged out of the website so I couldn’t get on it from my phone without looking up the password.

• Watch Netflix on a TV (not my phone) with someone else when we plan ahead to watch a movie or show.

• Read full articles on my news app instead of scrolling headlines. I had an app timer that shut the app down after 20 minutes.

• I removed all non-essential app notifications on my phone, including email.

Next Steps

Although I did significantly cut my screen time during my declutter month, I was surprised to see that I still used my phone A LOT, between 3 and 4 hours per day. It was generally for listening to podcasts, messaging, google searches, and maps. For my second month, I want to focus on two seemingly opposite goals: more time alone with my thoughts and more time in high-quality connection with others. To do this, I need to set additional parameters around podcasts and messaging.

• Increase my capacity for time without input from tech: I want to spend more of my downtime alone with my thoughts, instead of filling free moments with podcasts or other “approved” apps. I’ll do that by leaving my personal phone charging instead of bringing it with me when I’m getting ready in the morning or going to pick up the kids. I can be reachable with my work phone, which I only use for calls. 

• Increase meaningful connection (and decrease low-quality connection): Instead of a steady stream of messaging throughout the day, my goal will be to call out-of-town friends and family for higher quality connection. I’ll set up walks with local friends. 

Newport concludes his book with this: “In my experience, the key to sustained success with this philosophy is accepting that it’s not really about technology, but is instead more about the quality of your life. The more you experiment with the ideas and practices on the preceding pages, the more you’ll come to realize that digital minimalism is much more than a set of rules, it’s about cultivating a life worth living in our current age of alluring devices” (p. 253). 

I’m pleased with the changes that I made through my month-long tech declutter. Newport’s book was a useful guide for the process. I look forward to turning to it again in my second month, where I will focus on finding a middle path between solitude and connection. 

Resources:

Book:   Digital Minimalism, Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World. Cal Newport https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Minimalism-Choosing-Focused-Noisy/dp/0525536515

Course: Life of Focus. https://join.ingeniumcourses.com/lifeoffocus/  (this course has asynchronous guided videos and worksheets to cover 3 separate topics, one of which is a digital declutter).