1. Clutter is costly – Cal Newport is not just talking about physical clutter. You want to avoid cluttering your time and attention with too many devices, apps and services. If you do not reduce this clutter, your small benefits will diminish.
2. Optimization is essential – To extract maxi...

To fully tap into solitude while walking, you should regularly take long walks. If you can, aim to walk in areas that are scenic and go on these walks alone. To Cal Newport, alone means without people, but also without your phone. Do not let the weather put you off going on a long walk. It does n...

Follow Your Leisure Plans

Your free time should be as well planned as your productive time. So, planning out quarterly & weekly leisure plan objectives, Just like any objective, should be specific & measurable. Plus, identify habits you should develop to ...

Writing in and of itself has many benefits. The same parts of the brain are used while writing as when going about your social life. The loss of social connection in our lives can also trigger the same brain systems like those seen when you are in physical pain. This is why research has found pai...

Take Long Walks

To highlight the importance of walking, Cal Newport talks about Nietzsche’s view. Nietzsche outlined that all great thoughts are produced while walking. Subsequently, the famous philosopher would walk up to eight hours a day. These walks were accompanied by ...

Three crucial benefits of mastering solitude:

1. You will realize you are better able to establish new ideas
2. You will develop a better understanding of the self
3. You will obtain closeness with others that you previously were unable to obtain.

Another benefit is ...

Cal Newport encourages readers to consider the importance of solitude in their lives. Solitude isn't about being alone in your environment but about what's happening in your brain. If you have mastered solitude in your life, you can even engage with solitude on the busiest train. 

Avoiding ...

Step-by-step processes:

1. Put aside 30 days to take a break from technologies that are not essential.
2. Use these 30 days to learn new skills, activities, and behaviors that you find meaningful.
3. At the end of the break, you can start reintroducing technologies by starting w...

Digital minimalism is an uncommon approach to technology. Minimalists do not just use technology whenever it provides any potential benefit, no matter how small. Minimalists are more concerned with protecting the large certainties in their lives. Sometimes technology might provide minor benefits ...

Digital media has warped what healthy conversations look like and reduced our ability to form true connections. Cal Newport describes connections in the modern world as low-bandwidth interactions that define our online social lives. Many people view conversations and connections as two separate a...

Texting should not be something you slip in and out of during the day. By default, Cal Newport recommends keeping your phone in Do Not Disturb mode. You should also schedule specific times for texting. 

As well as offering unwanted distractions, replying throughout the day to text messages ...

He identifies several things you can do to start making this change and adopt digital minimalism:

• Only keep the technologies that you require
• Spend time alone away from friends/family and your technology
• Take long walks to help clear your head
• Stop viewing virtu...

Digital Minimalism is not what standard technology articles suggest. Instead of a quick fix approach, digital minimalism should be a philosophy you live by. Specifically, a technology philosophy whereby you focus your online time on only a few crucial digital tools. Digital tools should not be us...

Leave Your Phone at Home

Cal Newport emphasizes the importance of losing the notion that not having your phone is a crisis. Once you lose this feeling, you can start spending some time away from your phone on most days. Cal Newport doesn’t recommend ditching your phone alto...

Cal Newport provides one of the Amish community’s principles as a justification for his third principle. You want to start with the technologies that you value the most. Then, declutter by working backward and asking yourself whether this next technology performs more harm than good.

2. Prioritize demanding activity over passive consumption – Cal Newport encourages people to engage more in crafts. He introduces the idea of crafts as any activity where you apply the skill to something valuable. So, crafts are a good source of high-quality leisure. Crafts also help build your s...

You should be thinking about what you have to exchange for new technology rather than the value you can gain. More often than not, people consider how specific digital tools can bring further value to their lives. So, balance the value you gain from new technology against the costs measured in te...

Fix or Build Something Every Week

One way to create meaningful leisure that utilizes touch is by fixing or building something weekly. This might be changing your car oil, installing a new light fixture, or building your first shed. 

Cal Newport explains that the same law of diminishing returns seen in economics can be applied to technology. Most people’s personal technology relationships are on the early part of the return curve. This means that initial additions of technology will yield massive returns. That said, the value...

Cal Newport provides arguments for each principle of digital minimalism. The first principle is supported by Thoreau’s New Economics theory and is based on one of his quotes: 

To provide a simple outline of how you can start to reclaim leisure, Cal Newport provides three leisure lessons:

1. Prioritize demanding activity over passive consumption – Cal Newport encourages people to engage more in crafts. He introduces the idea of crafts as any activity where you a...

High-quality leisure is crucial for human happiness. Despite this, more and more people are struggling to claim this all-important leisure. We forget about the insufficient high-quality leisure we have because we fill this time with digital noise. That said, this digital noise does not have the s...

The digital world has a significant impact on all of our lives. That said, this doesn’t mean its impact is entirely positive. Cal Newport argues that technology is here to stay, so we must learn how to extract its best qualities and remove its bad ones. 

3. Seek activities that require real-world social interactions – Cal Newport describes the interaction between the internet and leisure as a renaissance. Every individual has more leisure options at their disposal than ever before. The internet can be a positive thing if used to find genuine soci...

Cal Newport suggests you avoid clicking like or commenting on social media posts. Engaging with these behaviors will only teach your mind that these interactions are a reasonable alternative to proper conversations. On the flip side, completely removing these behaviors from your life will force y...