This year, I really wanted to focus on digital minimalism. For those of you out there, who don’t know what digital minimalism means, it’s a philosophy that encourages individuals to simplify their technology use to focus on what truly adds value to their lives. It involves reducing distractions from devices and social media to enhance mental well-being and productivity.
Being part of a gen-z cohort, there’s a societal expectation is to live a digital life-to share every experience on instagram, to get news from youtube, to entertain ourselves on tiktok, to purchase everything on amazon, to sink hours into the latest video game. It’s how most of us live, yet do we reflect upon the consequences of such a lifestyle. Besides, given that our family and friends and literally everyone around us are digitally united, we are expected to do the same.
All of us are slaves to our emotional desires. These applications are deliberately designed to keep us engaged for as long as possible, exploiting our needs for novelty and stimulation. I still don’t understand why even a simple music streaming service has reels now. The goal is no longer just to listen to music, it’s to keep the user hooked, mindlessly scrolling.
In search of a better alternative, I stumbled upon using a dedicated music player. No ads, no algorithms, no reels. And what better symbol of this approach than a pioneer of the category, the iPod?
Even though Apple stopped making and supporting these beautiful devices in 2022, there’s still a big community out there using this and appreciating the beauty and legacy of Steve Jobs.
Instantly upon getting one of these, the quality of my music experience completely changed for the better. I no longer scroll while I listening. I’m not interrupted by notifications. The form factor is so great and perfectly suited for this purpose.