Digital Minimalism, Social Media
How to Simplify Your Digital Life
Because digital life makes everything simple but also brings us to a noisy world
Have you ever felt so noisy in your digital life? In plain view, technology does simplify everything. But in it is hectic and crowded it’s still there.
It’s just that the owner of life knows and feels it. Let’s start your digital minimalism planning in the simplest way
Email is a very essential thing as a digital user. Moreover, the account that is now integrated with Google makes it easier for us to sign up on various platforms easier.
Not to mention the integration into other features such as a calendar that makes it easier for us to manage schedules.
But precisely because of this convenience, without realizing it, too many inboxes go to our emails. Some events are also added to our calendar automatically which actually makes our schedule look more hectic than it should be.
So these are some ways I do for my email management:
1. Account
If you work full-time at a particular company, having a separate email with your personal email is very helpful. There are a lot of inboxes and company files that are shared with us even though they are not directly related to what we do.
I understand because we should have a harmonious understanding of the company even outside the field we do. And make it a habit to always use company email in business matters. Besides making it look more professional, it also makes tracking your work neater and it will be easier to transfer knowledge if one day you resign.
But if you are a freelancer, I suggest you only have one main email because you have the authority to manage which ones are important to you and which are not so. In addition, having an email that is integrated with other platforms makes it easier for us to manage databases and other work.
2. Inbox
Don’t be lazy to manage these three categories in your Gmail account. Emails that are personally addressed to you will go directly to the primary group.
Some emails that use a special platform for blasting may go to group promotions and social. Even so, some blasting platforms have been able to make formulas so that messages enter the primary category even though they use an automated platform.
I personally include all email newsletters in the category of social or promotions. So the messages that enter the primary email are already filtered, they are directly addressed to me.
Every now and then I still read the promotions and social column but it’s no longer a priority. In addition to filtering, this feature is also useful because based on my experience the number of unread messages that appear is based on the number of primary emails that we haven’t read. Meanwhile, social groups and promotions are not counted even though we have not opened hundreds of messages.
3. Subscription
Some platforms immediately activate the email newsletter feature right after we sign up on their platform.
So if we don’t intentionally unsubscribe, they will send out newsletters regularly. For me, this is quite chaotic, that’s why I always check the unsubscribe feature every time I finish registering on a new platform.
Not because the information provided is not useful, but as someone who is easily distracted, it helps me determine priorities.
4. Unread Message
Click the box menu at the top left, then select all unread messages then mark them as read. Reducing the number in the inbox makes me feel less chaotic and overwhelmed.
Social Media
Ask yourself what your purpose using social media. Is it for work? entertainment? networking? Gain knowledge or probably just for fun in your free time?
Don’t be afraid of FOMO then you install all trending social media. You also don’t have to have an account at all. Just choose which one you need, and which filter you really use and need to install on your device. Some you just check occasionally from your browser when you need to.
1. Single account vs multiple accounts
I have several Instagram accounts with different purposes while my other social media such as Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and YouTube only have one primary account. Besides Instagram, I only use other accounts for fun. It’s different from Instagram because I have a personal account, an account for my hobby portfolio media, and other accounts specifically to follow things related to work or a particular field that I’m working on.
I usually avoid using personal accounts because I know it affects my other social media algorithms to bring up the same thing. Moreover, I also hold several company accounts.
2. Following List
What you follow is the most frequent content that will appear on your home page the first time. Be wise to follow, There’s no need for pressure to follow back if you don’t like it or don’t feel the need to see the content your friends make even though you’re close. But you can use the mute feature if you still feel guilty for unfollowing or not following back.
I personally only follow people I’ve interacted with. If you only know but there is no communication, I don’t follow. Besides, I’m not someone who usually follows someone just because they’re a public figure. I just follow some for someone that I feel I into them and I like the content.
3. Like button
Pressing a like button seems trivial but actually, this influences a lot to the algorithm to determine which ads need to appear on your page. Various similar content will appear on the explore page and it’s not only on the related platform but also integrated with the accounts of all your other social media accounts. It’s sophisticated but scary at times. It feels like our life has no privacy.
I myself use the “like button” with different functions on each platform. On Instagram, I give alike as a form of support and I am happy about what they are doing. Because Instagram already has a “save” feature to save the interesting content. Whereas on youtube, it’s a form of appreciation for my favorite creators and they deserve to get it, especially if I really enjoy the videos they make. I also avoid the “unlike” button because I know how hard they worked for it. Another thing with TikTok, I use the “love” feature to save content that I want to watch again later. Just make your own version that fits you.
4. Notification
I’m currently deactivating all notifications on social media except Whatsapp and email. Besides, I check regularly enough so I’m less likely to miss something important. It helps me to be more focused and less distracting.
Contact
saving someone’s contact might not be a big deal but indirectly that also affects at least these 2 things
1. People you may know
Many applications can read contacts on your phone. Because everything is integrated, Instagram may notify you when they post, TikTok will notify you when they just joined, Facebook will notify you when it’s their birthday, and LinkedIn will also notify you when they get promoted. Actually, this is not an annoying thing, but if it keeps repeating too much it still makes it overwhelming.
2. Story WhatsApp
Whatsapp is no longer private, especially since the story features. At first, I was happy with this feature, I even updated on WhatsApp more often than on Instagram because I felt in the WhatsApp circle the people who were closer to me. Over time, there are several client numbers that must be saved, there are potential partners who also need to be saved, and the number of the boarding house owner is also important. And who saw our WhatsApp story finally widen. Someone who doesn’t even have emotional closeness can see our WhatsApp story. Indeed, there are privacy features that we can set, but for me, it is quite inconvenient so now I choose not to make WhatsApp stories at all. I occasionally update on Instagram, but my account is private too. Maybe separating work and personal numbers can be a solution, but for me having two numbers is still messy.
Personal App
In this digital era, there are many digital platforms that really make our lives easier. Even so, try to categorize them as follows
1. Frequently Used
This is an additional application that you use regularly. For me, for example, tracking app money, favorite marketplace, local transportation, and other applications that I really need to check frequently, which I install on my phone.
2. Specific Moment
The second category is essential applications that are quite important but are only used at certain moments. For me, it’s like the pack king application to make it easier to pack a list of items when traveling, online doctors, an e-commerce that is only used occasionally, etc. For this, I usually only install when necessary and immediately uninstall when finished. Less storage usage, less notification, less chaotic menu make me more comfortable.
3. Device management
For design applications, video editing, blogs, and watching movies, I only install them on my PC although they are also available on my phone too.
Apart from that, the laptop screen is more convenient, but the phone is with me more often in various places so I don’t want my cellphone to be sluggish and “too heavy”.
Bottom Line
I love technology so much, but sometimes I miss moments when our life still has so much privation. Apart from making life easier, for me, digital minimalism is a way to keep me mentally healthy.
There are much better things we don’t know. There are many things that make us insecure. There are many things that make us always feel lacking. Makes us able to assume even though we only see the surface.
Makes us feel we have to hurry otherwise we could fall behind. I personally believe my mentality is one of the most important assets that I should take care of.
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