Becoming a Digital Minimalist

(Public Domain Image)

In my last post, I wrote about the benefits of going minimalist based upon my own experience and my study of Fumio Sasaki’s 2017 minimalist work “Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism”. In that post, I focused mostly on the freedom to be found in reducing your physical possessions. Today I’d like to discuss three ways to find minimalism in your virtual world.

1. Limit your social media presence. Examine the apps on your phone and the bookmarks on your web browser. How many social media accounts do you have? If you have many, many accounts it may be time to consolidate. Do you need to have a presence on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, and TikTok? Is your ability to connect and communicate with friends helped or hindered by spreading yourself across so many platforms? Would it be better to focus on one or two applications that you particularly enjoy? And finally, what impact does it have on your mental health to consume so much content from so many sources? By reducing the number of applications we use, we can become more focused on enjoying the few outlets we have and creating thoughtful, meaningful connections and content. I once thought that by leaving Facebook, I would lose my friends. I did lose some virtual connections but I gained peace of mind in reverting to real life connections.
2. Reduce your bank accounts. Several years ago, I had four…