{"id":22243,"date":"2019-03-14T17:00:02","date_gmt":"2019-03-15T00:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=22243"},"modified":"2019-03-14T17:00:40","modified_gmt":"2019-03-15T00:00:40","slug":"challenge-accepted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/challenge-accepted\/","title":{"rendered":"Challenge Accepted"},"content":{"rendered":"

The digital declutter has been a real struggle in the Davis house this year. With jobs that seem to demand constant connection and three sons ages 14, 13 and 7 years old, my husband and I have been searching for ways to simplify our lives. We long to be more present in a world that is full of so much pseudo-connection. As I read through the posts of my cohort-mates this week, it seems I am not alone. Many of us seem to be struggling to find peace in the chaos. Cal Newport\u2019s Digital Minimalism<\/em> seems like a clarion call at just the right time.<\/p>\n

As I read through his suggested practices toward living a minimalist lifestyle, I am convicted by the hubris my digital life has displayed. Why do I feel that I am so important that people would need constant access to me? Why do I feel compelled to respond to everyone immediately, as if my input is so necessary? I wonder if I have made it easy for the teams I lead to depend on me for solutions they would naturally find themselves if I wasn\u2019t so easily accessible. Perhaps my immediate relationships would be richer if I stopped trying to maintain thousands of them from far away.<\/p>\n

Newport gave me permission I didn\u2019t know I needed. He offered the life raft when I didn\u2019t even realize I was drowning. As I read, I reflected on the things I did before I became email-obsessed. I found I have been neglecting the high-quality leisure activities that offered me space to think and create. I have unknowingly developed a Pavlovian response to boredom that involves mindless scroll-and-swipe rather than leaning into deep connections. I have allowed my days to be fragmented rather than full and focused.<\/p>\n

I accept Newport’s 30-day digital declutter challenge. So far, on day 3, I am ashamed by my level of mobile addiction but amazed by the hours I have found. Though I may add in a few applications, I have a feeling I will not miss most of them. I already feel less anxiety since I am not ruled by the little red notification dot on my phone. I wonder what I will be able to produce in the hours I have gained\u2026what will I learn about my family\u2026what will I see with my eyes up that I couldn\u2019t see before?<\/p>\n

Thanks, Newport. I owe you.<\/p>\n

_________________________<\/p>\n

Cal Newport,\u00a0Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World\u201d\u00a0<\/em>(New York: Portfolio\/Penguin, 2019).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The digital declutter has been a real struggle in the Davis house this year. With jobs that seem to demand constant connection and three sons ages 14, 13 and 7 years old, my husband and I have been searching for ways to simplify our lives. We long to be more present in a world that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22243","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22243"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22244,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22243\/revisions\/22244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}