Mindset & Productivity

How the digital minimalism can win back two hours a day

Discover how digital minimalism helps reclaim two hours daily by reducing infinite scroll habits and building healthier, more intentional technology use.

Kulshreshth Chaturvedi

Jan 11, 2026 - 23:23

Jan 7, 2026 - 16:36

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How the digital minimalism can win back two hours a day

While an always-connected lifestyle has led to the most overvalued and underutilised resource in time, endless social feeds designed to keep users engaged longer than they intended, constant notifications, and infinite scroll interfaces are all vying for more. What was often intended as casual browsing turns into hours, then is lost without notice. Digital minimalism is fast shaping up as the most effective counter to this growing challenge.

Digital minimalism does not imply utter rejection. Instead, it presupposes the intentional and meaningful use of digital tools. When correctly implemented, it reduces diversion, enables better focus, and makes time valuable without becoming disconnected from critical information.

What Is Digital Minimalism? This approach addresses the overwhelming nature of today's digital landscape.

The infinite scroll feature has been widely adopted on many social media, news articles, and sites that use content as their primary means of communication. The constant flux of content being added to your feed makes it difficult for users to know when it's a good time to stop, which can result in them spending way more time on their device than originally intended.

Users frequently misjudge the amount of time they are actually spending online as a result of the notification feature, auto-played videos, and suggested posts based on the user's previous posts. As these features continue to evolve and increase, the amount of screen time increases, resulting in decreased productivity, increased mental exhaustion, and feelings that time continues to speed by.

Digital minimalism was created to reverse this behaviour by providing the user with the ability to consciously choose where they direct their attention and how much time they want to spend attempting to engage with what interests them.

Set Clear Digital Boundaries

One of the best digital minimalist practices is boundary-setting. Some digital minimalist boundary-setting practices are:

Determining set times for social networking usage.
The disablement of notifications that aren’t.
Restricting impulsive app checks on all devices.

The smallest changes will make a tremendous impact. Research and feedback from users indicate that silencing unwanted notifications will result in the saving of 30 to 45 minutes a day.

Replace Scrolling With Purposeful Reading

When done intentionally, screen time can have many benefits; it’s when we use screens casually and haphazardly that we see harm take place. Instead of wasting hours mindlessly scrolling, for example, spend that same amount of time reading valuable content: articles of varying lengths, verified news sources, and/or in-depth analyses.

By choosing to read for intention, the reader becomes well-informed and avoids cognitive overload either through distraction or constant interruptions.

Use Time-Tracking Awareness

It often surprises individuals when they look at their actual screen time. It is often the awareness that sparks change. It also enables individuals to assess which applications consume the most screen time while offering less utility.

Once detected, these applications can then be limited or even uninstalled altogether. Numerous digital minimalists have reported gaining back up to two hours of their time each day by simply changing these options.

Create Offline Anchors in Your Day

Reducing the amount of time we spend on our devices is only part of the equation of digital minimalism; we need to replace that time with more meaningful activities while also creating, through offline anchors, balance and mental clarity in an individual.

A few examples of offline anchors are:

walking without being connected to a mobile device.
reading a traditional (physical) book.
writing down in a diary/planner.
talking face-to-face with another person.

Through their advantages of providing a mental break and helping individuals develop a feeling of control over their time, these activities can help to diminish the effects of excessive technology use.

Reclaim Idle Moments

Infinite scrolling is designed for idle time, like waiting in lines at the store or coffee shop, during commutes to work or school, and other brief periods when people have nothing going on. Digital minimalists can learn the art of pausing, rather than filling every little bit of space with content.

By allowing yourself some “downtime” between tasks, you can create greater opportunities for creativity, contemplation, and clearer thinking, which will, over time, lessen the tendency to reach for your phone during every moment of free time.

Why Digital Minimalism Works Long-Term

Digital minimalism is consistent with natural human attention patterns. It does not compete against technology but reshuffles it in use.

Digital minimalists who adopt these habits usually find:

Enhanced concentration and productivity.
Less stress and digital fatigue.
More time for meaningful activities.
Increased awareness of information consumption.

The implication here for readers and information consumers is that value is placed on quality as opposed to simply being stimulated all the time.

A Smarter Way to Stay Informed

Staying informed might not necessarily require constant updates on information. Staying informed clearly needs quality information. Digital minimalism thus advocates for quality rather than focusing on the number of data points.

To filter out the unnecessary digital noise, readers can then engage more meaningfully with the information of true importance.

Final Thoughts

Start today by selecting one digital minimalist habit and putting it into action. Notice the changes, track your extra time, and build on small wins. Commit to applying these practices daily to successfully reclaim extra hours for yourself.