I spend most of my day on a computer.
When Im not working I spend my spare time programming or blogging.
When I take a break I spend it looking at my phone.
This post originally appeared on theRescueTime blog.
I dont just mean files cluttering up my desktop or a Facebook account full of friends I barely know.
Spending so much time online every day leads to a cluttered life.
One where you dont stop and think before grabbing your phone during any moment of downtime.
Before we notice anything changing it just feels normal to fill up our timeour liveswith screens.
So when Newport suggestedquitting social media, people took notice.
Newport says one of the key beliefs underlying his digital minimalism philosophy is that missing out isnot bad.
How do we actually clear out the digital clutter thats built up in our lives?
Newport suggeststwo alternatives for making the transition to digital minimalism.
The first is a subtractive approach.
If not, remove it.
The other approach is an additive method.
Its not hard to make an argument for spending time on Facebook or having a Twitter account.
You could even argue the merits of Snapchatno one would begrudge you having fun with friends.
Newport suggests another way of approaching the digital clutter in our lives.
What is it thats important to you?
What do you want to achieve from how you spend your time?
Protect Your Time
One of the inevitable effects of digital clutter is that it makes us busy.
Our lives are taken over by busy work.
Young suggests cutting back on your commitments to leave more room for big projects.
Newport similarly advocates doing fewer things better, rather than spreading yourself too thin.
But Young also suggests being disconnected or hard to reach on purpose.
I had so many streams of information to monitor that keeping up was really draining.
The awkward feeling of being cut off from everything was real, but it passed after a few days.
The best part of it is the quality of my offline time is way up.
