When I wrote about Cal Newport’s book Deep Work I said, “Sometimes the right book comes along at the right time.” For me, at least, Digital Minimalism is not that book.
For one thing, it’s pretty heavily focused on social media, which is not something that attracts a lot of my attention (I frequent two online forums on a regular basis and that’s about it). Some of it’s advice is more broadly applicable to other digital distractions that I definitely do suffer from. However, in many cases, I found either the advice wasn’t for me, or I was already moving in a similar direction and the book didn’t really advance the process. The one exception is that I do think it has inspired me to explicitly include a goal related to what Newport calls “high quality leisure” at my next quarterly personal retreat.
I don’t mean to run down the book too much. I think the message of being more intentional with how we use this technology is a good one. I just didn’t find it did a good job of addressing my particular issues in a way that worked for me. Someone who uses social media more might get a lot out of it.