Digital Minimalism

Digital minimalism means choosing deliberately how to use technology instead of being drawn into it by default. The writer describes stepping away from X’s recommended feed after finding its increasingly toxic arguments engaging but neither informative nor emotionally healthy. Rather than leaving the platform, they used Firefly, which combines X with Bluesky, Farcaster, and Lens but omits X’s recommendation algorithm. This made it easier to keep posting and follow others without being pulled into outrage-driven content. The experience also reduced interest in daily online culture-war disputes. The recommendation is to limit or reshape social-media access - through alternative clients, scheduled use, or other boundaries - to retain useful information while avoiding the platform’s attention trap.

A second experiment kept the phone in airplane mode for 100 days, with Wi-Fi available, to improve location privacy and create more time offline. The writer found the arrangement worthwhile and largely maintained it afterward, despite practical obstacles such as being unable to receive SMS codes to use Singapore’s Grab service. Offline maps worked well for trails but were less useful than Google Maps for businesses and opening hours; they could also show nonexistent trails. Experiments with offline knowledge apps suggested that local information tools are becoming practical, especially when they retrieve results quickly through semantic search and use a small language model to explain them. Going without cell service still requires planning: public Wi-Fi can help with coordination, but access varies widely and may depend on SMS verification.