The Power of Digital Detox with Cal Newport

The Power of Digital Detox

How much time do you spend on your phone every day?

Statistics show us that most people spend about 50 minutes every day on Facebook or other social media sites like Twitter and Instagram. As a culture, we’re constantly hungry for the next “like,” the next retweet, the next comment. Our technology is like processed food — it tastes sugary and sweet in the moment, but in the long run, it’s terrible for our ability to grow, perform, and succeed.

But that addiction can have some pretty serious consequences. We experience this constant flow of information and stimulus, and as a result, we don’t know how to be alone with our thoughts. We forget how to engage in authentic relationships with other people. We lose our ability to focus and be creative.

It’s time for a digital detox.

My guest today famously has never had a social media account. His name is Cal Newport, and he’s an expert on digital media and how it affects us. He’s in the studio with me today to share some of his research about how our phones affect us. He’s also bringing the wisdom to teach us how to detox from our addiction to social media and learn how to be more focused, intentional, and confident in every area of our lives.

In our interview, Cal and I discuss some specifics of our addiction to our phones. We talk about the power of actually turning off your phone and being alone with your thoughts. Cal even gives us a 30-day detox plan we can follow to reevaluate our relationships with our phones and turn off the digital content that turns out to be more harmful than helpful.

And for you business owners and entrepreneurs who use social media to reach your audience and grow your impact — don’t worry, Cal’s got some excellent advice for you too! He’s going to help us all learn how to use social media as a tool without letting it stifle our creativity and happiness.

This episode is fantastic, guys. Cal’s insight and advice were super helpful for me, and I know he’ll help you too! Let’s dive in!

Who Is Cal Newport?

Cal Newport is a Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University and the author of the Study Hacks blog, which receives more than 3 million visits a year. He’s an expert in the ways technology has shaped and changed the way we think, and he’s passionate about sharing his knowledge with the world and helping people to be more focused and efficient.

He’s also a New York Times bestselling author. His most recent book, Digital Minimalism, is full of brilliant insight into ways we can all turn off the digital noise and choose to live more focused lives. Cal is all about using digital technology in a minimalist way — it’s about knowing how much is too much and using it just enough. Digital Minimalism teaches readers how to develop that awareness and treat technology with more intention.

Cal’s work has been translated into 25 different languages and features in publications like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the New Yorker. He’s also made several appearances on NPR, and he hosts his own podcast called Deep Questions. Cal is truly dedicated to sharing his wisdom and message with as many people as possible.

I’m so happy I got the opportunity to have him on The School of Greatness. Cal is an incredibly smart guy, and I learned a lot from him! I know you will as well, so let’s dive in and see just how we can take control of our digital lives.

The Problem: We Need to Digitally Declutter

One of the main ideas in Cal’s book Deep Work is that focus is the new IQ in the modern workplace. With all our abundance of digital technology and social media, we’re more distracted than ever, and that’s a real problem in our professional lives.

“Well, there are two forces going on. So focus is becoming more valuable just because our economy is shifting to high-level work. We sort of automate the low-level work, and [we can’t automate] the stuff that really requires some creativity or … original thought. So if you can focus, it really helps you produce this type of value, but at the same time — sort of unrelated to that trend — we’re getting worse at concentrating because we’ve got [social media] going on all the time. … We’ve forgotten how valuable focus is, and we’ve forgotten what it takes to be good at it.” – Cal Newport

And not only do all our digital devices affect our ability to focus at work, they seriously impair our relationships. Cal explained that many of his readers say that “something is going on with our personal life with tech.” Psychologists and therapists are seeing dramatic increases in depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and it all started just a few years ago when smartphones and social media became huge.

So how can we digitally declutter our lives? How can we learn how to focus again? How can we take back our ability to focus and be creative? And how can we develop real, fulfilling relationships with other people? Stay tuned, because Cal’s got the answers!

“Less mental clutter means more mental resources available for deep thinking.” – Cal Newport

Get Comfortable Being Bored

Cal says we have to develop “cognitive fitness.”

“So cognitive fitness means, among other things, [that] your brain needs to be comfortable with being bored. I mean, if it’s been trained [that] every time you get bored, you get a treat stimuli … when it actually comes time to focus, which is boring in a technical sense, … your brain is going to say, ‘no way.’ I’ve learned when I’m bored, I’m going to get a treat.” – Cal Newport

How many times a day do you grab your phone and quickly check Twitter while you’re at work? As soon as you feel a little bit bored, do you check your texts and spend a few minutes messaging with your friends?

We’ve got to get better about letting our minds experience boredom without needing to reach for our phones. Cal suggests doing what he calls “productive meditation.” Instead of sitting still and meditating, he suggests going for a long walk and making an effort to stay focused on one productive thought the whole time. Maybe you think about your presentation in the next board meeting or on your upcoming campaign launch. Whatever you choose to think about, focus only on that, and push away all other distractions. If you do this regularly, your brain will eventually get used to the feeling of boredom, and you’ll find yourself much more able to focus for longer periods of time.

Cal says this kind of productive meditation is “essentially cognitive push-ups.” It’s so healthy for our brains to get away from social media stimuli and remember how to focus again! Take a few minutes today to walk around your office or neighborhood and focus on one particular thing. Isn’t that a more productive use of your time than scrolling through your Facebook again?

How to Engage Socially and Grow Your Confidence

Many of us use social media simply as a way to be social. We connect with old friends, and we engage with other like-minded people. But here’s the problem: likes, follows, and retweets are not real forms of friendship. Our brains don’t process those things the way they process real interactions with other people. In fact, using social media to feel less lonely actually makes us feel worse in the long run.

“So it’s this irony that you’re doing this because I want to feel accepted and connected to people, but by doing this all the time, you’re actually feeling less connected and less accepted because our social brain … doesn’t really know what to make of a number next to a thumbs up icon. … What makes people feel connected — it’s the strong relationships with sacrifice and time and attention for taking out responsibility on behalf of family, close friends, [and] community.” – Cal Newport

Think about ways you can engage with your family, close friends, and community that don’t involve using a phone. Could you grab coffee with your mom? Could you ask a friend to come over and cook dinner with you? Why not see if there’s a local rec league you could play your favorite sport with? The relationships you build face-to-face are going to be so much more fulfilling than ones built on social media.

Build Skills to Build Confidence

And don’t underestimate the power of the digital detox to grow your self-confidence, too. Remember what we talked about earlier about the relationship between digital distraction and creativity? When you’re constantly scrolling through social media, your brain forgets how to focus, and you end up losing a lot of time that would otherwise be spent productively.

It turns out, our digital consumption has implications for our self-confidence outside the professional world. Just as we find it harder and harder to focus at work, we’re also unable to focus on developing the skills we want to have. And beyond that, when we spend all our time on social media, we don’t have enough time for anything else.

“When you’re doing something like learning how to play a guitar … it’s completely unyielding. … But we used to be more comfortable doing these things because what else are you going to do [with your spare time]?” – Cal Newport

Think of what you could do with the extra time you’d have if you decluttered your digital life and retrained your brain to focus. What new skills would you pick up? Would you learn to play the guitar? That’s something I’ve been working on, and it’s a lot of fun!

When you choose to do a digital detox, you take control of your time. And when you do that, you get to fill each day with the activities and relationships you find truly fulfilling. When you feel fulfilled, you feel confident and happy — and who doesn’t want that?

What About Using Social Media As a Business Tool?

For those of you who are entrepreneurs, influencers, and business owners who use social media — don’t worry! As I promised, Cal’s got some great advice for you too. For people who use social media as a tool for their business, Cal says you need to focus on using those platforms in just that way — as tools.

“And so what I typically advise is if you think social media is very important for your business, treat it as something important. Actually get after it and understand, ‘Where am I really getting the value?’ Treat it like any other tool. Then, once you really figure it out — ‘These are ways that social media is helping me professionally’ — then use it as a professional, so there’s no reason to be on your phone.” – Cal Newport

If you’re running a business through social media, it’s essential to think of social media as a business tool. See exactly what value you’re getting out of it, and then set boundaries for yourself.

If you find that you bring in viewers or clients on Instagram, that’s great! Keep using Instagram for that purpose. But don’t allow that tool to consume your personal life, because it will start to eat away at your time and make you less effective as a business person.

The 30-Day Detox Plan

If this wisdom is resonating with you and you’re ready to take the leap and do a digital detox, Cal has outlined a plan to help you! He recommends a 30-day detox that you can do at any time to reset your digital consumption habits and start rebuilding your focus and fulfillment.

“So, one, it takes about seven to ten days just to sort of detox from the need to compulsively use the phone. Until you get rid of that feeling … it’s very hard to make decisions about what’s important or not.” – Cal Newport

I’m not going to lie, those first few days without a phone are hard. I experienced this myself when I took a trip to Hawaii and intentionally left my phone at home. Eventually, it was amazing, and I didn’t miss the constant distraction. But in the beginning, it was stressful! I remember having to stop at a gas station and ask for directions like it was 1995 because I couldn’t just pull up a GPS in the car. But it was so worth it!

“… But more importantly, 30 days is enough time to actually do the hard self-reflection on this key question: ‘What am I all about? What do I care about?’ You can experiment and try things out and can talk to mentors and read inspiring books. It takes quite a bit of self-work to figure out, ‘What do I really care about?’ And once you know that, when you get to the end of 30 days, you have a foundation.” – Cal Newport

So step one is to get away from your devices. Step two is to start asking yourself the tough questions. Who are you? What do you really want to do? How can you get the maximum value from your time in this life? You only have one life to live, so it’s important to consider how you want to spend it.

Once you’ve taken a few weeks to consider those questions and work on yourself, you’ve got a pretty good foundation. You’re clearer on the way you want to live your life, and you’re ready to decide what aspects of digital and social media you want to bring back in and which you want to leave out.

Why You Should Listen to This Cal Newport Podcast Episode Right Now…

Cal Newport is here to help humans learn how to thrive. In our digital culture, we all need some tips and advice to help us use tools like social media so that they benefit us instead of adding to our stress, and Cal is the expert to talk to. I’m so glad I got to have him on the show today!

Here’s Cal’s definition of greatness:

“[Greatness is] rising to your potential. We all have a potential, like what we could be doing. And so fighting … for that, that’s greatness.” – Cal Newport

What potential do you have that you haven’t yet risen to? Do you need to do a digital detox to get there?

Thank you so much for joining me on this episode of The School of Greatness, everybody! If you enjoyed this episode, definitely check out Cal’s website (of course, he’s not on social media!). There, you can check out his Study Hacks blog and his podcast, Deep Questions, to learn more about how to maximize the value of your time and live up to your fullest potential.

I wish I could have talked about more of Cal’s great advice and perspective here, but there was just way too much good stuff! If you’re ready to get even more great advice about the power of digital detox, make sure to listen to Episode 770 with Cal Newport.

To Greatness,

Lewis Howes - Signature

Some Questions I Ask:

What do you recommend for people who are always connected to technology? (10:30)
How can we build stronger connections? (18:00)
What’s the void that we are trying to fill with social media? (24:00)
What’s more addictive: social media or smoking? (32:00)
How can you train your children to work at things (54:00)

In this episode, you will learn:

How to train your focus (2:00)
The three benefits from being alone (8:00)
Why you need “analog” hobbies (30:00)
Why anxiety has risen in younger generations (32:00)
The reason Cal recommends 30 days away from technology (43:00)
Plus much more…

Cal Newport

It’s Time To Digitally Declutter.