Digital Minimalism - Reclaiming Precious Time, Attention Span & Mental Health
The early days
It has been almost a year since I’ve made some huge changes in my digital habits.
I grew up without the internet, without mobile phones and no smartphone till I was in my late 20's. I miss the simplicity of it! I have been trying to get back to something like that (albeit near impossible without removing myself from modern life!) for almost a year now.
I was totally addicted to Reels on IG, skimming through my feed on Facebook too. Totally pointless time-wasting, most of it. The short form video addiction certainly was developed during lockdown when I’d downloaded TikTok (which I later deleted in Jan ‘25). That along with my needing to use it for work, made me even more susceptible to the deliberately addictive format.
I heard on the radio this week that the average time a Brit spent on a mobile phone in 2025 was 4 hours. That is more than a whole day lost on the phone every single week.
Back in late January ‘25 I had tried to install an app on my old iPhone which promised to block apps for me, and it logged into my screen time and then told me how much time I was going to spend (if I continued with my current habits) on my phone for the next year. YIKES. It was REALLY bad, so bad that I am too ashamed to share. Screen time is not something I've ever really paid attention to - but I should have - and so should you! This app then said that for it to restrict my usage I had to pay £84 a YEAR for the privilege!! EIGHTY FOUR POUNDS!
No thanks.
And at that moment I deleted all my social media from my phone. Well, all but Youtube at that point, then a couple of weeks later found myself getting sucked into Shorts and so that got deleted too! I was excited about all the extra time I'd free up from staring into the 'magic window' (which is what Matt calls it).
Initially the change really worked and I found myself reading more (something I hadn't done for years - I had just listened to audiobooks while I worked instead), which was great, and had way more time for my hobbies - sewing clothes and gardening. Fast forward to around 4 months in and I'd got sucked in to using my browser, the portal of doom! I was using it to access reddit and also to watch youtube vids as well as read articles, news etc. It got to July ‘25 where I had removed everything possible, unfortunately iPhone doesn’t let you remove a browser, it insists there must be ONE. So I just deleted it off my home screen and switched the phone to black and white, which makes it a lot less exciting. I also added an app that when I clicked on any addictive app (at this point just the browser), it made me wait 20 seconds before looking at it - you can set it for any time, but I figured 20 seconds was a good deterrent, and it worked. It's called ScreenZen and it's free (but you can pay if you'd like).
I then began to read Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport. Which is very interesting. It was written in 2019, so it is still relevant, although since then of course there are even MORE 'digital trinkets' as he calls them, to distract us. He talks about intentional use of digital tools and to only use them if the payoff is good. So for me, I HAVE to be on social media due to my business, I want to be able to reach people that I wouldn't be able to reach in one-on-one situations in the area I live in. I have put in place 'news feed eradicator' which has taken news feeds off Facebook, Instagram and Youtube and the difference in not being fed loads of 'news' is really blissful. The only downside to this is that I can't like and share my fellow artist's and friend's work - so I do disable it occasionally and do some sharing, but the longer I go without the distraction, the less I find myself drawn to using it and the less I interact.
Saying goodbye to my Smartphone
There is a problem with going smartphone free and that is that very slowly and insidiously, it has transformed how we do everything in the real world, not just how we live in an online space. Many shops now need QR codes, and some people can only get around public transport with digital tickets - and also to get into their work buildings. Anyone with a smartphone has an amazing map in their hand to make sure they never get lost, but at what cost have we given in to these things? EVERYTHING is tracked. And it tracks what we spend our money on so that it can suggest things that we are almost guaranteed to click on and buy. It’s a huge funnel.
I was frustrated now to have a phone which didn’t let me control what I had on it so I started to search for an alternative. They’re calling them ‘dumb’ phones, or also minimalist phones.
There are still old style flip phones out there, but I didn’t fancy having to learn to text again with the keypad. Then there are the more fancy minimalist phones like Lightphone III, or Mudita Kompakt (with an e-ink screen) and other more basic looking devices and devices with e-ink (some of which are still very much smartphones with the only difference being the e-ink). Some of these are also 'de-googled' - so you don’t have to hook up a google account to use them.
I think it's common knowledge now that all the social apps we use are designed (well most of them) to keep us on our phones/logged in/online as LONG as possible so we're more likely to see ads etc. They have purposely made it addictive. The people who say 'well, just don't use it, don't log in' - aren't addicted, or don't understand the nature of addiction and compulsive behaviour. I mean you'd not expect an alcoholic to succeed in kicking the habit if he had access to alcohol 247 would you? I hadn’t really appreciated HOW much I picked up my phone until I took everything off it that was making me check.
So my phone choice was based on that, something REALLY boring that didn’t want my attention all the time. I chose the Mudita Kompakt with the e-ink screen. Made by a company in Poland, they wanted to make a phone which was the opposite of the modern smart phone. You can upload some apps onto it (even Whatsapp if you wanted), but the only thing I’ve uploaded to mine is a different OS (InkOS) so I can make my own background and choose a font.
Unfortunately it seems that it's only small companies that are making less addictive devices (which often have unstable software) and the main flagship phones are all still just huge slabs, there's not even a choice to have a smaller compact size these days. Obviously the flagship folks don't want us to stop using our phones, they want us glued and to buy a new device every year. I think I saw one advert from Apple that said something like ‘now you can spend even more time on your phone’ - or something to that effect. The fact that this is in the marketing and that it would be appealing to anyone is astonishing, you’d think this sort of line would put anyone off!
Am I succeeding with digital minimalism?
It seems to be very much a process and it's a bit wobbly, much like any other big change from compulsive behaviour, but I'm definitely on the right track. I have noticed a truly massive change in my mental health as I was obsessed with following every terrible horror going on in the world on IG and now being without that daily has been transformative. Now instead of scrolling on my phone I read a book instead.
I’d like to restrict my desktop usage now even more than I have. The little e-ink phone has been great as it is so brilliantly boring. I am aware that I’m fortunate that my lifestyle allows me to use such a phone (I do have to plan ahead more with it, I can’t just move money about in my bank account when out and about, I have to do this before I go out, stuff like that), and still at the moment here in the UK, it is possible to go without one. For now.
Options if you want to reduce your screen time.
Some of you will need to have a smartphone for work, but you might be sick of the addictive quality of it too. Fortunately there are companies providing solutions to this. Here are a few.
Sleke - One that I was looking at, they modify Google Pixel phones to remove all addictive nonsense off it.
Mudita Kompakt - The one I chose, if you look around on Youtube for reviews, you’ll find quite a few 15% off discount codes! They often do sales so it’s worth signing up to the newsletter. Their forum is really useful too to ask questions.
Lightphone - I was toying with the idea of the Lightphone III but it is very expensive, but they have a cheaper Lightphone II, but that’s not available for the UK anymore, so you might like to look for that in your country!
Unihertz Jellystar - I used this for a short while after my iPhone turned into a brick during this whole process. It’s TINY (the size of a credit card). It’s also android based so easy to modify compared to iPhone. It is also not easy to use due to its small size so that bit of friction really helps. Not any use for those of you with poor eyesight or MASSIVE hands.
Flip Phones - There are so many available now. In the US there is the Sunbeam brand which seems great (gets v good reviews), but not here in the UK. Have a good old look around, you’ll find plenty.
Minimal Launchers - For android, more restrictive/boring launchers are everywhere now which make your screen way less exciting. I loved O launcher when I was using the Jelly.
Books I Can Recommend
I’ve got into some good books lately since having all this lovely time for my brain and I want to share them with you! Not all to do with digital minimalism, but books that have helped me through it.
Digital Minimalism - Cal Newport
Deep Work - Rules for focused success in a distracted world - Cal Newport
The 12 Week Year - Brian P. Moran & Michael Lennington (this is GREAT if you struggle with long term planning and are easily distracted).
The Power Of Habit - Charles Duhigg - really fascinating book, did you know it takes on average 66 days to form a habit? But it can take up to 254! Useful stats when trying to develop new habits or replace old bad ones with good ones. It also goes into why giving up bad habits can fail (& why it succeeded for various people).
So, there we have it. A wee ramble to start 2026. If you’ve been feeling strung out by all the social media distraction I really do recommend removing it from your phone if you do nothing else. It is brilliant!
