Digital Humanities Journal #6: Critiquing Digital Culture

- How do you manage two screens and three windows productively? Image taken by Kelan Amme.

In our ever-changing digital world, the difficulties of new technological advancements, system updates, standards of use, and various other issues cause problems for most of the public regarding how we interact with digital culture. Through this blog post, I hope to outline a few critiques of digital culture that scholars and other digital critics, including Joey MacKay, a writer for the RescueTime website, and Cal Newport, a writer and computer science professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have emphasized. I plan to address the process of digital minimalism and digital clutter to understand better how productivity and efficiency are affected by different kinds of workflow.

As an undergraduate historian, the articles written by MacKay and Newport certainly threw me for a loop. Much of MacKay's publications are formatted like Buzzfeed articles, listing "___ number of ways to do ___" or "that lead to ___" as easy informational readings. Media companies often use these " listicles " to produce quick content, mainly for entertainment. MacKay takes this method to provide solutions "to clear out your digital clutter and find focus and calm in 30 days." This article outlines the basics of digital minimalism, 30-day digital declutter, best practices for maintaining this lifestyle long-term, and why being intentional with technology is essential. One example of a negative impact of digital culture outlined by MacKay is how we constantly manage our different apps, leading to physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion. This includes the average time we check our emails or texts (6 minutes multiple times per day), 56+ apps used daily, up to 4.5+ hours on our phone, and multitasking for at least 40% of the day. A few solutions to these issues include being intentional with the programs we use, allowing which tools best fit into your life, and understanding that you can't be everywhere at once, even if it is on your phone or computer.

Additionally, Cal Newport addresses the association of addiction, precisely the behavioral variety, and how technology influences our dependency. According to research referenced in Newport's book "Digital Minimalism: How to Simplify Your Online Life," the addictions associated with technology are on the same level as some of the chemical dependencies created by drugs or alcohol. Not only do these symptoms connect, but so does what happens during the withdrawal phase, as you are less likely to sneak to a Panera with free wifi compared to an app that is one click away (Newport 16). This form of addiction can be hazardous as technology is much more accessible to the broader population, causing a more significant issue. One way to address these topics could include permanently deleting the application or program. Also, one could further research how a particular program works to understand better where it hooks you and how to manage the alerts and notifications it sends you.

The unbalanced relationship between digital technology and culture will be part of the battle for any digital humanist throughout the foreseeable future. By highlighting a few of the most prominent issues in our current environment, we can work towards a more effective technological communication and adaptation system.

Sources:

1. Jory MacKay. "Digital minimalism 101: How to clear out your digital clutter and find focus and calm in 30 days." December 2020. https://blog.rescuetime.com/digital-minimalism/.

2. Cal Newport. "Digital Minimalism: How to Simplify Your Online Life." February 2019. https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Minimalism-Choosing-Focused-Noisy/dp/0525536515.