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As discussed in the video Digital Minimalism: Two Camps by Techlore, there are two main approaches to digital minimalism. One is spreading all your online activities out over separate, dedicated devices, while the other approach is doing everything on one device. While I prefer the first approach, my vacation abroad last month provided an opportunity to try out the single device approach for a few weeks.
With the first method, you assign your digital activities over different different pieces of hardware. You might play games on a console, read on an e-reader, listen on a digital radio, and so on. These then become your dedicated devices, the way a calculator has one main purpose.
The positive effect of the first method is that you use digital tools in a more considered and deliberate way, rather than mindlessly jumping from app to app in order to kill time or deal with boredom. You may even discover you don't need a digital hardware at all for certain activities, such as reading or journal writing.
A few years ago, I wrote about leaving my smartphone in the living room overnight. Doing so presented a practical problem, as I'd been using my smartphone as my alarm clock up until then. So I bought an alarm clock, another example of a single-purpose device. A better solution came later, when I purchased a Light Phone 2, which doesn't have smartphone-like apps. I now charge that next to my bed and use it as an alarm clock, while I can still be contacted by phone at night in case of emergency.
