3. The Digital Declutter

Question 1

Why does the gradual approach to changing your habits not work well?

Answer 1

The deliberately engineered attention economy and our desire for convenience make it too easy to slide back to where we started.

Question 2

What are the 3 steps of the digital declutter process?

Answer 2

1. Take a 30 day break from optional technologies.
2. In this time, explore and experiment other activities and behaviours that you find satisfying and meaningful.
3. At the end, reintroduce optional technologies from a blank slate, assessing them one by one based on the value they bring to your life, while specifying how you will use them to maximise this value.

Question 3

From Cal’s email trial of 1600 people, did the people who aborted the digital declutter process before the 30 days was up do so due to insufficient willpower?

Answer 3

No; the cohort were self-selected as people who wanted to improve themselves.

The problem was errors of execution/implementation.

Question 4

What were the errors of implementation that the early exiters in Cal’s email declutter trial committed?

Answer 4

• Technology rules that were too vague or too strict
• Not planning how they were going to replace the tech during the declutter period.
• Treating it as a 30 day detox, intending to then go back to business as usual.

Question 5

For step 1 of the digital declutter, how should we define a technology as optional?

What should we do with something that is mostly optional?

Answer 5

• Consider a technology optional unless it’s temporary removal would cause harm or significant disruption to your life.
• Don’t confuse ‘convenient’ with ‘critical’
• Use OPERATING PROCEDURES for technology that is optional in all but some specific circumstances,

Question 6

In the digital declutter, what is an Operating Procedure?

Answer 6

An operating procedure details HOW and WHEN you will use a specific technology (which is mostly optional).

This allows you to do important things without defaulting to unrestricted access.

Question 7

What are some examples of Operating Procedures, in the context of the digital declutter?

Answer 7

• Can only check email on your computer, not your phone
• Can only listen to podcasts on your daily commute
• Only using streaming services with other people present.

Question 8

In the digital declutter trial, what was the general ratio of rules with operating procedures versus blanket bans?

Why was this?

Answer 8

30% operating procedures, 70% blanket bans.

Too many operating procedures become cumbersome, a burden to remember and implement. It can become counterproductive.

Question 9

What are our duties during the digital declutter, besides adhering to our technology rules?

Answer 9

You must use this time to work out what is important to you, and what you enjoy outside of the digital world.

Question 10

Why is it so important to figure out what’s important to you and what you enjoy BEFORE beginning the digital declutter process?

Answer 10

Because if you remove the digital distraction without filling the void, life can become unpleasantly stale.

We want to create the void to cultivate a high quality leisure life that is valuable to us, more so than the digital distractions we are hoping to replace.