Adopting a New Technology
Adopting new technologies in your life require personal technology rules.
#149 · · readThis is merely a reminder—more to myself than to anyone else—what to consider when adopting a new technology (such as an emerging app/social network/software/platform/anything I use that might trigger a new habit or something I'll spend much of my time on):
Does this technology directly support something that I deeply value? This it the only condition on which you should let one of these tools into your life. The fact that it offers some value is irrelevant—the digital minimalist deploys technology to serve the things they find most important in their life, and is happy missing out on everything else.
— Cal Newport, from his book Digital Minimalism.
In the aftermath of my Digital Declutter, I'm still in the process of figuring out how to deal with a lot of my technology use:
- Reading the news.
- Playing video games.
- Reading blogs.
- Listening to podcasts.
- Streaming movies/series.
- Listening to music.
- Writing notes (physical vs. digital).
Oh man, looking at this list, I realise, there's quite a lot to figure out. Right in the middle of this process, a potentially interesting technology has entered my life. It almost caught me off guard. But I'm a Digital Minimalist and it'll take me answering above question before a new technology is set to enter my life.