When technology supports minimalist living
Subtraction, rather than addition is often the answer when something doesn't feel right anymore. Here are a few ways I let technology have a place in my life as a minimalist...
1. Keep my phone on silent / vibrate: no noisy interruptions keep my home peaceful and calm. It suppresses the 'it’s urgent, respond now' anxiety of modern communication. When visitors come and their alerts sound, my two year old son will stop whatever he’s doing to listen and ask: ‘What (sic) that sound?’
2. Turn off all notifications: no, I will not hit the bell icon - I will enjoy content on my own terms. I will not have the 'fear of missing out'. When I am working, I am working, and check my messages accordingly. But I will continue to fiercley protect my family time.
3. Refrain from checking my phone around the kids, and no scrolling in front of them: if I can not explain to my young children what I am doing, I won't do it. I also want to show them, through my example, that real, loving, generous relationships are not played out over social media.
4. Choose television channels with no adverts. (Or, I mute the adverts whilst I go make a cuppa.) I, nor my children, do not need to be directly sold to when we are choosing to watch a show.
5. Use a subscription music service (no adverts!) We play music every single day and the option to chose what we listen to based on our mood and energy, free from advertisements (and the news) is worth every penny, in my eyes (and ears).
6. Have a separate email address for any online shopping: good for signing up for discounts, then ignoring the spam. I do not need to know about new collections, mid-season sales or that MUST-HAVE purchase. I will buy something when I need it, not because someone tells me to.
7. Use a 'sunrise' light alarm instead of my phone as an alarm clock: dark mornings in an English winter make getting up early a challenge. I have been amazed by how much our 'sun light clock' has improved our mornings - better than any dulcet ring tone my phone chose to wake me up with, with the added bonus of no late-night scrolling.
8. Use SMART plugs to switch off any electricals where you can't easily reach the plug socket:SMART plugs help us tackle electricity waste for some of our items, such as the TV, which we can not reach the wallplug without moving furniture. With an app on our phones, and a timer option, SMART plugs reduce waste and ensures we remain mindful of our consumption.
9. Do not have any shopping apps installed on my phone: With one swipe, one click, saved bank details and access to credit, armchair shopping is the considered ‘norm’, it feels. By removing apps it removes the urge to ‘have a browse’ as a way of passing the time. I don’t have them on my phone as I want shopping to be mindful, even if it’s just for socks. Make a list instead. Add items and check back in after a few weeks, or longer. If you’d forgotten it was on your list, you probably didn’t need it.
10. Only have one television and one tablet for the whole family: when I first considered this, I thought it wasn’t very noteworthy. And yet I find myself seeing, through the eyes of my childrens’ peers, this is a countercultural choice. This is only compounded by the fact our TV screen measures 32”. (I’m not sure if you can even buy a screen that small anymore?) We didn’t even buy it: we inherited it from my late Grandfather when he passed away. Prior to that, my husband and I spent a year with no TV at all. And as for a tablet, we succumbed to schooling pressures from the pandemic. The children each have a profile that we tailor for their age. They have no choice but to take turns, or share. Nine times out of ten, if they are using the tablet, they are doing something together.
I believe so much of our natural inquisitiveness and intuition is being lost because of our high levels of consumption. It is very hard to be bored. Without boredom, we lose the quietness that grows creativity and problem solving. Reducing our interaction with technology through these choices we make is our way of showing our children that it is not the most important thing in life: that there is something more important to be guided by. Some may call this burying their head in the sand from the whole wide world; I call it tuning in to something else - me.
Do you do any of these things? Would you be willing to try something here you haven't tried before? Leave a comment below.
(And just a note to say the only reason we have the Google WiFi point, (as seen in the first photo) in our bedroom is because, almost two years on from the start of ‘you-know-what’, my husband still works from home, upstairs squashed next to our bed. But I don't mind because it means he's here, and that is worth a bit of extra tech in our life anyday.)