Digital Minimalism: How to Use Technology Intentionally and Mindfully

Definition of digital minimalism:

Digital minimalism is defined as the way of minimal usage of apps, eliminating those apps which are not in use or used excessively in your life. It shows how you are using your technology, and what it means in your life. It is the act of prioritizing the important things in your life.

Why digital minimalism is essential?

Applying digital minimalism in our life attracts people towards simplicity, spending less time using social media, using it for useful tasks, etc. Digital minimalism helps you to spend time with your family, friends, or close ones to build strong relationships with them. It helps you to focus on your hobbies in your free time, you can do extra work for your household, office work, etc. Digital minimalism keeps your physical and mental health well and reduces eye pain, inflammation, etc. It allows time for self-reflection.

It provides space for your own thoughts, or we can say for self-reflection. It keeps your work life in a balanced state by keep eliminating the trash, by organizing files, pdfs in the right manner which provides better focus on the work, if they are well organized then they can perform complex tasks in an easier manner.      

What to do for digital minimalism?

1. Set the rules for using technology and define the values, what you are exactly using, the purpose of using the app, whether is it giving positive or negative rewards, etc.
2. Declutter your cluttered products from mobile phones, laptops, and any digital device that you use. Clean up your trash, clean up Emails, eliminate the photos, pdfs, files, etc. which are copied double times, and remove the apps from your phone which causes no harm if they are removed. Arrange your files in an organized manner. It saves your time and shows only the important things to do.

Tips to use technology intentionally and mindfully:

We should use technology very carefully in recent times because this digitalization has now become necessary for all aspects of life. Everything is now related to digital usage whether it is about studies, entertainment, learning, etc. And, due to which everybody is busy with their phones, no one is trying to live naturally. Here are some tips, and pros to using the technology intentionally, and mindfully:

1. Do not get too involved in digitalization. Avoid excessive use, if it is not necessary then try to solve your problems from other resources. Nowadays in schools, there are groups on WhatsApp where they sent notifications, on student’s homework, especially after the covid pandemic. We should avoid all these usages, give all the information about holidays, homework, etc., one day before on the school noticeboard only. Do not provide online notes, provide hard copies of the notes to students so that they can easily read or understand the notes. Teach them from books instead of online videos, which affects the eye and causes eye problems like eye inflammation, teary eyes, headache, etc.
2. Until it is not necessary, try to note down something important in the diary, or short notes, stick on the wall, or office desk so that you can remember that.    
3. Instead of only scrolling down which only leads to a wastage of time and money, use technology only for useful purposes, nowadays you can earn from social media like Youtube, Instagram, Facebook, etc. by making videos, creating links, you can do publicity of your product on social media as there are many followers or users.    
4. You can learn dancing, singing, and extra-curricular activities from home from online classes, but if you have time to go out for offline classes, just go for it. Using digital devices for learning something saves time and energy. But affects mental health by staying home all the time.
5. Limit the use of apps on your mobile phones which consumes a lot of time.
6. Charge your phone outside the room because if you keep on charging in your room, you will most probably use the mobile phone during charging. Turn off your notification, or put your smartphone on the do not disturb mode. You can also go out for a walk with your friends, or jog to breathe fresh or to stay connected with nature.
7. Keep your mobile phone, or other digital devices outside the room before sleeping time, if you want to sleep at the right time at night. Because using phones in the night before sleep can cause a lack of sleep, called insomnia, it causes in losing your sleep by decreasing the release of melatonin which is known as a dark hormone due to which you fall asleep which also affects your circadian rhythm and brings too many problems. So, keeping these problems in mind, we should use digital devices very carefully. It emits blue rays from the mobile screen which is harmful to us that causes dark circles and dulls your skin instead of glowing.  
8. Turn off all your non-essential notifications that have been put on notify me option because it distracts you from your focus and attracts you to the usage which is a total waste of time, and energy.
9. You can also go for digital detoxification which is defined as the positive time period when an individual decides not to use the digital devices on which they are addicted. You can go for a weekend by switching off all your digital devices or minimizing the excessive usage of digital devices.