Buy new:

S$30.66

In stock

US imports may differ from local products. Additional terms apply. Learn More.

[{"displayPrice":"S$30.66","priceAmount":30.66,"currencySymbol":"S$","integerValue":"30","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"66","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"dhQ3nGgNTb3OsyLJQb7eZd2BBKM8ATvxxrZ19WlAhWbhGkEOf%2FEFy5KPdoUPRZnrJybY6RA13A1lwrwEm%2F5OWXeNOPgqJx8YvEfeVVxyb9w4NHZuVP29nM%2Fw%2FnZ5dTCNrKpi2Cba%2FERinvowbVFXRnyufuVrNli7MIM2dK%2Bs1iQc7ebh67%2Fzs1fwOPXvog58","locale":"en-SG","buyingOptionType":"NEW"}]

S$S$30.66 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from and sold by Amazon US.

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

S$40.33
& FREE Delivery

Sold by: Book Reach (USA)

See this image

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World Hardcover – 5 February 2019

by Cal Newport (Author)

1,897 ratings

See all formats and editions

Amazon Price

New from

Used from

Hardcover

""

S$30.66

S$39.94

Paperback

""

—

S$134.00

S$113.00

Enhance your purchase

A New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, and USA Today bestseller

"Newport is making a bid to be the Marie Kondo of technology: someone with an actual plan for helping you realize the digital pursuits that do, and don't, bring value to your life."--Ezra Klein, Vox

Minimalism is the art of knowing how much is just enough. Digital minimalism applies this idea to our personal technology. It's the key to living a focused life in an increasingly noisy world.

In this timely and enlightening book, the bestselling author of Deep Work introduces a philosophy for technology use that has already improved countless lives.

Digital minimalists are all around us. They're the calm, happy people who can hold long conversations without furtive glances at their phones. They can get lost in a good book, a woodworking project, or a leisurely morning run. They can have fun with friends and family without the obsessive urge to document the experience. They stay informed about the news of the day, but don't feel overwhelmed by it. They don't experience "fear of missing out" because they already know which activities provide them meaning and satisfaction.

Now, Newport gives us a name for this quiet movement, and makes a persuasive case for its urgency in our tech-saturated world. Common sense tips, like turning off notifications, or occasional rituals like observing a digital sabbath, don't go far enough in helping us take back control of our technological lives, and attempts to unplug completely are complicated by the demands of family, friends and work. What we need instead is a thoughtful method to decide what tools to use, for what purposes, and under what conditions.

Drawing on a diverse array of real-life examples, from Amish farmers to harried parents to Silicon Valley programmers, Newport identifies the common practices of digital minimalists and the ideas that underpin them. He shows how digital minimalists are rethinking their relationship to social media, rediscovering the pleasures of the offline world, and reconnecting with their inner selves through regular periods of solitude. He then shares strategies for integrating these practices into your life, starting with a thirty-day "digital declutter" process that has already helped thousands feel less overwhelmed and more in control.

Technology is intrinsically neither good nor bad. The key is using it to support your goals and values, rather than letting it use you. This book shows the way.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publication date

5 February 2019
ISBN-10

0525536515
ISBN-13

978-0525536512
See all details

Frequently bought together

+

Total Price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

One of these items is shipped sooner than the other.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

by Cal Newport Hardcover
S$30.66
In stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon US.
Get it Apr 10 - 11
by Cal Newport Paperback
S$23.83
Only 4 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon SG.

Cal Newport
11,833
Paperback
10 offers from S$20.00
Cal Newport
1,920
Hardcover
12 offers from S$30.63
Vaclav Smil
188
Paperback
in Materials & Gases
16 offers from S$19.00
Morgan Housel
10,203
Paperback
in Professional Investments & Securities
20 offers from S$14.38

Special offers and product promotions

Buy 3 to save 10%. Click here to see qualifying products . Enter code NNZAQPGCKMIM at checkout. Offered by Amazon US Shop items
Buy 2 to save 5%. Click here to see qualifying products . Enter code YBUUEHWGUXJM at checkout. Offered by Amazon US Shop items

Product description

Review

“Cal Newport’s Digital Minimalism is the best book I’ve read in some time about our fraught relationship with technology... If you’re looking for a blueprint to guide you as you liberate yourself from the shackles of email, social networks, smartphones, and screens, let this book be your guide." —Adam Alter, author of Irresistible

“I challenge you not to devour this wonderful book in one sitting. I certainly did, and I started applying Cal’s ideas to my own life immediately.” —Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism

“You’re not the user, you’re the product. Hang up, log off, and tune in to a different way to be in the world. Bravo, Cal. Smart advice for good people.” —Seth Godin, author of This is Marketing

“This book is an urgent call to action for anyone serious about being in command of their own life.” –Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle is the Way

“Cal Newport has discovered a cure for the techno-exhaustion that plagues our always-on, digitally caffeinated culture.” —Joshua Fields Millburn, The Minimalists

“I hope that everyone who owns a mobile phone and has been wondering where their time goes gets a chance to absorb the ideas in this book. It’s amazing how the same strategy can work for both financial success and mental well-being: Put more energy into what makes you happy, and ruthlessly strip away the things that don’t.” —Peter Adeney, aka Mr. Money Mustache

“Cal’s call for meaningful and engaged interactions is just what the world needs right now.” —Daniel Levitin, author of The Organized Mind

"What a timely and useful book! It's neither hysterical nor complacent - a workable guide to being thoughtful about digital media. It's already made me rethink some of my media use in a considered way. " —Naomi Alderman, New York Times bestselling author of The Power

“Digital Minimalism is a welcome invitation to reconsider how we want to use our screens rather than letting the screens (and the billionaires behind them) make the call.” –KJ Dell'Antonia, author of How to be a Happier Parent

"Simple, insightful, and actionable, this philosophy provides a sorely needed framework for thriving in the digital age. It will transform many lives for the better, including my own." —Ryder Carroll, New York Times bestselling author of The Bullet Journal Method

About the Author

Cal Newport is an associate professor of computer science at Georgetown University and the author of six books, including Deep Work and So Good They Can't Ignore You. You won't find him on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, but you can often find him at home with his family in Washington, DC, or writing essays for his popular website calnewport.com.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction

In September 2016, the influential blogger and commentator Andrew Sullivan wrote a 7,000-word essay for New York magazine titled, “I Used to be a Human Being.” Its subtitle was alarming: “An endless bombardment of news and gossip and images has rendered us manic information addicts. It broke me. It might break you, too.”

The article was widely shared. I’ll admit, however, that when I first read it, I didn’t fully comprehend Sullivan’s warning. I’m one of the few members of my generation to never have a social media account, and tend not to spend much time web surfing. As a result, my phone plays a relatively minor role in my life—a fact that places me outside the mainstream experience this article addressed. In other words, I knew that the innovations of the Internet Age were playing an increasingly intrusive role in many people’s lives, but I didn’t have a visceral understanding of what this meant. That is, until everything changed.

Earlier in 2016, I published a book titled Deep Work. It was about the underappreciated value of intense focus and how the professional world’s emphasis on distracting communication tools was holding people back from producing their best work. As my book found an audience, I began to hear from more and more of my readers. Some sent me messages, while others cornered me after public appearances—but many of them asked the same question: What about their personal lives? They agreed with my arguments about office distractions, but as they then explained, they were arguably even more distressed by the way new technologies seemed to be draining meaning and satisfaction from their time spent outside of work. This caught my attention and tumbled me unexpectedly into a crash course on the promises and perils of modern digital life.

Almost everyone I spoke to believed in the power of the internet, and recognized that it can and should be a force that improves their lives. They didn’t necessarily want to give up Google Maps, or abandon Instagram, but they also felt as though their current relationship with technology was unsustainable—to the point that if something doesn’t change soon, they’d break, too.

A common term I heard in these conversations about modern digital life was exhaustion. It’s not that any one app or website was particularly bad when considered in isolation. The issue was the overall impact of having so many different shiny baubles pulling so insistently at their attention and manipulating their mood. Their problem with this frenzied activity is less about its details than the fact that it’s increasingly beyond peoples’ control. Few want to spend so much time online, but these tools have a way of cultivating behavioral addictions. The urge to check Twitter or refresh Reddit becomes a nervous twitch that shatters uninterrupted time into shards too small to support the presence necessary for an intentional life.

As I discovered in my subsequent research, and will argue in the next chapter, some of these addictive properties are accidental (few predicted the extent to which text messaging could command your attention), while many are quite purposeful (compulsive use is the foundation for many social media business plans). But whatever its source, this irresistible attraction to screens is leading people to feel as though they’re ceding more and more of their autonomy when it comes to deciding how they direct their attention. No one, of course, signed up for this loss of control.

They downloaded the apps and signed up for the networks for good reasons, only to discover, with grim irony, that these services were beginning to undermine the very values that made them appealing in the first place: They joined Facebook to stay in touch with friends across the country, and then end up unable to maintain an uninterrupted conversation with the friend sitting across the table.

I also learned about the negative impact of unrestricted online activity on psychological well-being. Many people I spoke to underscored social media’s ability to manipulate their mood. The constant exposure to their friends’ carefully curated portrayals of their lives generates feelings of inadequacy—especially during periods when they’re already feeling low—and for teenagers, it provides a cruelly effective way to be publicly excluded.

In addition, as demonstrated during the 2016 presidential election, online discussion seems to accelerate peoples’ shift toward emotionally-charged and draining extremes. The techno-philosopher Jaron Lanier convincingly argues that the primacy of anger and outrage online is, in some sense, an unavoidable feature of the medium: In an open marketplace for attention, darker emotions attract more eyeballs than positive and constructive thoughts. For heavy internet users, the constant exposure to this darkness can become a source of draining negativity—a steep price that many don’t even realize they’re paying to support their compulsive connectivity.

Encountering this distressing collection of concerns—from the exhausting and addictive overuse of these tools, to their ability to reduce autonomy, decrease happiness, stoke darker instincts and distract from more valuable activities—opened my eyes to the fraught relationship so many now maintain with the technologies that dominate our culture. It provided me, in other words, a much better understanding of what Andrew Sullivan meant when he lamented: “I used to be a human being.”

Product details

Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0525536515
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0525536512

Best Sellers Rank: 10,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 52 in Technology
- 111 in Graphics & Multimedia Software
- 155 in Personal Finance

Customer reviews:
1,897 ratings

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5

1,897 global ratings

5 star		76%
4 star		14%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		2%

How are ratings calculated?

Review this product

Write a customer review

Top reviews from other countries

JM

Digital addict? Perfect book for you! Analogue addict? There's nothing new for you here.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 5 March 2019

Verified Purchase

If you're constantly distracted by your phone as it eats away at your productivity and sense of the "present", then this book offers you an antidote. Like Newport's previous books, he delivers a simple message with insight and clarity. This message, to use technology purposefully and within limits so that it promote your values, is a noble one.

My fault with the book, however, is that Newport is increasingly focusing on the niche. "So Good They Can't Ignore You" and "Deep Work" had a wide application. Anyone who wanted to improve at something, whether it's their job or writing poetry, could benefit from reading them. "Digital Minimalism" is more narrowly focused on those, essentially, with digital addiction.

Perhaps because my phone use is very limited as it is, I didn't find the text was very relevant to me. Where I was hoping for a thorough philosophical evaluation of technology's role in our lives - instead Newport offers a very practical and utilitarian manual for minimising using your phone use. Good for many, I expect, but I felt it wouldn't have the impact on my habits as much as his previous work.

There were sections I really enjoyed, especially on Thoreau and relating some classical philosophers' work for modern life. But even here, I felt the book was under-researched and lacked the academic punch of his previous work. It struck me as more blog-like. In many respects, this book seemed to be a departure from the world of MIT and into those of Ryan Holiday and Greg McKeown - whose quotes adorned the front page. That isn't a slight, just a discernible change of tack.

So buy the book if you're a digital addict looking for a way to stop staring at your phone - but otherwise, the book might prove a bit light weight and irrelevant.

66 people found this helpful

Mayank Mishra

good book for students who want to focus in their studies

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 14 December 2020

Verified Purchase

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport.
Cal Newport is already Professor and has done lots of research work. His job requires him to do do. Like mine (Faculty in Indian Institute of Technology). We need to have undivided attention on research and other works. It has become my main point to know the background of the author before reading any book (it helps)!!
I read this book in March 2019, when I was struggling to reduce my time spent on social media and wanted to focus on my research work. Things are liked out this book:
- It exposes our addiction on social media by means from the point of evolution.
- Ignorance is truly bliss sometimes, means if we use social media in a controlled way it helps us to focus on tasks which will help in our growth.
- It is not our fault we are glued to screens, engineers and behaviour scientists are paid lots of money to keep our eyeballs glued to their app. There are machine learning algorithms running behind the screen to push us towards targeted ads and stickier content.
- How come our ancestors didn’t have Instagram, Wassapp and Facebook and they lead a happy life ! Now we have become slaves of someone else approval on digital media.
- The point is to focus on few things which we value instead of being online all time in social media. It drains our energy.
- In the end “Your time = Their Money“ and Social media is the new smoking
- There are so many apps available in AppStore, it does not mean we need to use every app to find some meaning in life.
- My rating: 5/5 and good book for students.
Regards
Mayank Mishra (Author of Diary of a PhD Student)

46 people found this helpful

Kate Hopkins

An Invaluable Book For Our Times

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 20 April 2021

Verified Purchase

In early 2018, I began to struggle with anxiety and to have periodic trouble concentrating. I knew the trouble was psychological, not the result of physical illness, but couldn't work out quite what it was until I went on furlough during the March 2020 lockdown and quite quickly began to feel a lot better. I realized that I'd been struggling with digital overload for months. My then job had seemed to require one to deal with more and more software (content management systems, project management systems etc etc, digital asset management systems etc etc). At the same time, although I've never had a Twitter account, I'd got hooked on reading Twitter posts by politicians, journalists and novelists, and also on reading the comments sections following newspaper articles, and on 'binging' on Guardian articles. It all felt too much. And then, on furlough, I came across a talk by Cal Newport about the bad effect of social media on concentration which led me to this book.

It's a very, very useful read, and enjoyable, too. Newport is not a traditional Luddite - he's a computer science academic - but he is very well aware of the dangers that smartphones, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pose to our concentration at work, our quality leisure time and even our relationships. In seven chapters, he suggests ways of dealing with this and streamlining digital usage. His suggestions include trying a 'digital detox' for 30 days (to prove that social media and smartphone usage is not essential), taking regular exercise (particularly long walks), contacting friends and family personally rather than simply 'liking' their posts on social media, making time for quality leisure activities - reading, arts and crafts, music, DIY and others - and learning to spend time alone without being 'plugged in' to technology and to spending periods without a smartphone (or perhaps, replacing the smartphone with an old-fashioned mobile). At the same time, Newport sensibly doesn't damn technology altogether, and is well aware that certain aspects of social media are necessary in certain jobs (for example, journalists in certain fields might need to look at Twitter). His view is balanced, and sensible, and having tried out some of his suggestions I can confidently say that they work.

The book's a delight in terms of style as well - the prose is beautifully lucid and elegant, there are lots of fascinating references to other writers (I now want to read Henry David Thoreau, Soren Kierkegaard and Anthony Storr), and Newport includes some valuable reminders of what really matters in life: quality time with family and close friends, music-making, practical tasks, walks in attractive surroundings, reading with real focus.

My only quibble is that Newport perhaps skates over some of the personal nastiness on social media, particularly Twitter, which appears to bring out the worst in people, and can be quite psychologically traumatic (I find I either end up feeling extremely inadequate reading about people's amazing achievements, or horrified at the amount of spite and aggression I come across). But behavioural patterns on social media wasn't really the book's remit, and anyone who wants to read about that can turn to Jaron Lanier's superb 'Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now' - or some of Newport's own talks on YouTube.

This book is essential reading for our crowded and generally rather unhappy times - and very enjoyable as well. Thank you Cal Newport - you've increased my focus and productivity considerably through your writing!

10 people found this helpful

Ian Howlett

A page-turner that held my interest throughout

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on 20 February 2019

Verified Purchase

An interesting book, and very readable. The stories and anecdotes had me fascinated. Cal Newport writes in a way that's very enjoyable and draws you in.
I give this book five stars because it was a page-turner that held my interest throughout. However, there were a couple of points that I felt could be improved upon:
The only section that was clunky was "Use social media like a professional". It discusses a social media expert who "prefers the pronoun they/their to she/her". Fair enough, but the confusion between singular and plural made it very difficult to understand who was being referred to, and I found it hard to read. This section should have been rewritten to use more direct quotes from the expert, to get around this.
Also, the summary of key points for this book would be quite short, and I wonder if it was a bit longer than it really needed to be.
Still, great work, and well worth a read.

12 people found this helpful

Uday Reddy

A Must for the present Smartphone-addicted GENERATION!

Reviewed in India 🇮🇳 on 11 June 2021

Verified Purchase

Why everyone should read this book –
1. It talks about the need to reduce smartphone usage.
2. It talks about how smartphones are turning into an addiction. (Phone addiction is a thing.)
3. It exposes how social media companies are deliberately making their apps more addictive.
4. It stresses the need for purposeful smartphone usage.
5. It offers great strategies to reduce screen time and enjoy your life outside the screen.
6. It may even change the way you use your phone.
The long Version -

There's an old saying, "You must be using the tool, the tool mustn’t be using you". The same thing applies to a smartphone. It must be used just as a tool, but if you find yourself reaching for it every minute, you must realize that that it is using you. We must recognize that this smartphone usage is turning into an addiction and take steps to prevent it from becoming dire. If you spend more than 4 hours a day on your smartphone, you must realize that you're addicted to it and it's bad.

As with every Cal Newport book, he divides the book into parts. In the first part he argues the need for digital minimalism and what makes smartphones so addicting. In the second part he offers various strategies and steps to reduce compulsive smartphone usage and how to use your smartphone in a purposeful way. The book was successful in explaining the ill effects of smartphones. It talks about how an entire generation got ruined because of social media. We must realize that phones are getting addictive year by year with constant new apps buzzing for our attention. The strategies in the book are easy to apply and have the potential to change the way you look at smartphones.

Digital minimalism is a book that should be read by everyone living in this present world. In a world where social media companies are earning billions, and a common person is wasting away his life looking at a screen, we must realize the need for "Digital Minimalism” and strive to adopt it. This book will help you with that.

24 people found this helpful

See all reviews

Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services	Amazon Fresh Groceries & More Right To Your Door	Goodreads Book reviews & recommendations

Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	AbeBooks Books, art & collectables	Alexa Actionable Analytics for the Web

Book Depository Books With Free Delivery Worldwide	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities	DPReview Digital Photography

Buy new:

S$30.66

Amazon International Store

Other Sellers on Amazon

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World Hardcover – 5 February 2019

Enhance your purchase

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Special offers and product promotions

Product description

Review

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Product details

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from Singapore

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new: S$30.66

Amazon International Store

Other Sellers on Amazon

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World Hardcover – 5 February 2019

Enhance your purchase

Frequently bought together

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Special offers and product promotions

Product description

Review

About the Author

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Product details

Customer reviews

Review this product

Top reviews from Singapore

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

S$30.66