It’s hard for me to believe that we’re finally here, but my new book, Digital Minimalism, comes out on Tuesday.
The early buzz about the book has exceeded my expectations, which helps validate a trend that I’ve been noticing over the past year or so: people seem like they’re finally ready to consider serious changes to their relationship with digital tools.
To help get you as excited as I am, I’ve included below a sampling of some of the early press on the book.
(Also remember, as I detailed last week, if you pre-order a copy by Tuesday, you get some immediate bonuses, and if you pre-order a second copy, you get access to a private Q&A group. More details here…)
Digital Minimalism Buzz
- Steve Jobs Never Wanted Us To Use Our Smartphone Like This. (the New York Times). This is my op-ed from last week’s New York Times. It became their most emailed article of the weekend.
- It’s Not Too Late to Quit Social Media. (the Wall Street Journal). I was the Weekend Interview in last Saturday’s Wall Street Journal.
- Cal Newport on Why We’ll Look Back on Smartphones Like Cigarettes (GQ). A wide-ranging interview with GQ’s Clay Skipper. The marketing team at my publisher told me that this continues to create a stir on social media (ironically).
- How to Be a Digital Minimalist — The Rules (The Times of London). A sharp piece in The Times of London. Calls my new book an: “eloquent, powerful wail of despair against the ‘attention merchants’, but also an enjoyably practical guide to cutting back on screen time.”
- Cal Newport Has an Answer for Digital Burnout (The Ezra Klein Show). My recent interview on the new book with Ezra Klein. For those eager for more podcast content from me, worry not, I am doing a lot of podcast interviews that will begin releasing next week.
- How Behavioral Economics Helped Kick my Phone Addiction (The Financial Times). Writing in the Financial Times, Tim Hartford details his experience implementing the digital declutter recommended in my book.
- In addition: Ryan Holiday included the book on his recent list of the 15 books you need to read in 2019, Melissa Muller called it the “beginning of a digital revolution,” and it was featured in WIRED, Boing Boing and Mike Allen’s Axios AM Newsletter.
The above is just the pre-publication coverage, with a lot more on the way. Stay tuned…
Well done Cal. Definitely going to order the book.
Hey.
In an interview you said you believed in doing something hard every day.
Could you elaborate on that?
It sounds interesting.
Cal,
Is it possible for you to have a section on your blog that keeps track of all the podcast episodes you do? I feel like I learn something different from each one (i.e., different interviewers can pull different bits of information from their guests), and would love to have a one-stop reference to all of the podcast episodes where you are the guest.
Great work, Cal!
I can’t wait to read the book.
Pre-ordered the Apple Books version!
Cal, I am very excited for this book. I believe this book will change my life forever. I am looking forward to the podcast with you and Brian Johnson!
“To live fully is to live with the awareness of the rumble of terror that underlies everything.” – Ernest Becker
Decades ago, Ernest Becker theorized how people distract themselves from their fear of death and dying. I imagine Becker would argue that social media’s addictiveness has provided the ultimate distraction in our denial of death- similar to excessive shopping, wealth accumulation, and obsessions with celebrities.
And to think you got all this attention without your own social media accounts 🙂
I’m enjoying the pre-order bonuses and looking forward to reading the book.
Really looking forward to this book. Deep Work rocked my productivity world, but I have often drifted from implementing what I learned from it, due in no small part to technology bloat. I’m eager to be guided through how to change that.
Also, I would second the above comment about some kind of central location for links/lists of interviews you do. I listened to several of your interviews about Deep Work and felt like they were the type of touch-up work on the book that really sealed some of the lessons into my understanding and memory.
Most of all, thank you for how much your work has helped me. Keep it coming!
Ezra Klein’s podcast was fantastic! Great questions.
Book should arrive at my house on the 5th!
two more days man. two more days.
Hallo Cal, how do I preorder from Canada?
Congrats on the new book. I would assume you’ve seen the new paper by Alcott et al on the Welfare Effects of Social Media, but if not, it’s worth reading.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330416913_The_Welfare_Effects_of_Social_Media
Congratulations. My pre-order is on the way, but already I am deriving a key benefit from the book– it’s title. This morning I told the person who asked for my cell number so as to send me a text, “Sorry, I have a cell but I don’t really use it, I’m a digital minimalist.” I then told him, but I do email, and reasonably well, in fact, because I am a digital minimalist! (Hmm, I think I’ll be using the term digital minimalist quite a bit. It’s sort of like a lovely bit of frosting over a cake of what others might consider rude and/or weird.)
Amazon has already shipped my copy!
Hii Cal,
I’m excited about this book.
I believe this book will be the best.
Thanks for the link!
Skyler Tanner gives Cal a nod in this blog post:
https://skylertanner.com/2019/01/09/what-i-learned-from-a-year-without-facebook/
The media coverage is exciting. I love the detail that the NYT article about your book was their most e-mailed article of the week. Now that I am long off social media, when I want to share articles I found meaningful, I send them to my friends/family via email. Perhaps the aforementioned metric is an authentic sign that real people, (including journalists!) are not just talking about digital detox, but actually doing it.
I am looking forward to ordering the book! I will likely purchase a couple extra copies to give as passive-aggressive gifts! 😉
I am more excited for the book that for my favourite crime series finale 😉
I second the request of gathering podcasts links in one place.
Started reading the book today on my kindle. So far I’m loving it! I, too, recall when an iPhone was simply a way to not carry around a flip phone and an iPod. Simple!
New Cal Newport interview:
Art Of Manliness
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-art-of-manliness/id332516054?mt=2&i=1000429182936
Thanks for the link!
Cal should write a book on how to stop Newportian addiction…
Just listened to your interview with Bret on The Art of Manliness. Super cool stuff. I’m excited to get my hands on the book!
Hey! Cal
Congratulation for your another Great Work!
I have read your book ‘ How to win college’.
Desperately waiting for new work.
Hey Cal!
Thanks for this wonderful article!
Btw Congratulations !
Thanks for sharing the tips of digital revolution.. Really it is era of the digital. People making the payment online in one second…
Congratulations on another great Book! I just finished reading Digital Minimalism and loved it.
I see Digital Minimalism has different subtitles and covers:
DM: Choosing a focused life in a noisy world
DM: How to digital detox and declutter your online life
DM: On living better with less technology
Do they differ in contents in any way? I want to order the book closest to the original and I am having uncertainties.
“Deep Work” with “Digital Minimalism” makes you “So good they can’t ignore you”.
I just finished my copy of Digital Minimalism, and wanted to simply thank you for this great book! I have already begun implementing changes in my life, to cut out some of the noise. The book is informative, interesting, and very well written. Thank you
Thanks for sharing the tips of digital age.. Really it is era of the digital. Digital revolution make easy life..
Thanks for sharing the tips of digital age.. Really it is era of the digital. Digital revolution make easy life..
it’s nice post about the digital revolution and how digital era make our life easy and but it have some drawback, such as people using the mobile phone from day to night without stopping.