By decluttering, I’ve made my day longer

The 20th March is officially the first day of Spring! Even though it sometimes seems like only yesterday last year’s Spring brought us lockdown and glorious weather, I can’t wait for it this year: Spring is the perfect opportunity to declutter and start afresh, just like nature does.

This year, my focus is technology. I’m decluttering and removing anything which is not of value to my life.

I wish I’d come up with this great idea by myself, but I didn’t. I came across a book, “Digital Minimalism” by Cal Newport which introduced me to the philosophy of digital minimalism; it’s not a book telling us we should rid ourselves of everything we love, rather it forces us to question what we gain from the technology we use and to make considered decisions about how we can get the most out of it while still living our human lives.

I didn’t come across it by accident. During lockdown my screen time has gradually increased and last week’s screen report was a shock to my system. It would seem I’m averaging 5 hours per day – on my phone! If that was doing productive stuff – like using my timer when in the darkroom, or listening to music while out exercising, talking to friends on the phone – I wouldn’t mind so much but that’s not the case. While some of it was posting to my business pages, the majority was made from incessant checking of emails and social media and monotonous scrolling and responding to questions which I’m neither expert nor particularly interested in…