5 ms·

I'm obsessed with minimalism. I want all my possessions to fit inside my backpack. I own one pair of socks. I sleep on the floor. I still struggle with digital

I'm obsessed with minimalism. I want all my possessions to fit inside my backpack. I own one pair of socks. I sleep on the floor. I still struggle with digital minimalism. The current state of software is unbelievably fragmented. I have literally created over 500 accounts in my life. I have more than 100 apps on my phone. This so-called software diversity makes my life miserable. I've been attempting to solve this problem for the past 10 years. I came to the conclusion that we need to create a single app that does 80% of things. Somehow, people still don't believe this is desirable or possible. I can't grasp why.

0xCMP 10y ago
I agree, have been trying to attain this as well for the longest time.
Davidp00 10y ago
Being able to fit all my possessions in a backpack is something I think about. Can you go in to more detail on the stuff you own? In what kind of climate do you live in? It seems a lot easier to not have a lot of stuff when you don't have to have cloths for multiple seasons.
- miguelrochefort 10y ago
  I have not reached that goal yet. I still own more things than I should. If you want inspiration, you can find it there: https://www.reddit.com/r/onebag/ https://www.reddit.com/r/onebag/ Here's a good example: http://tynan.com/gear2017 http://tynan.com/gear2017 I live in Canada, so it's not going to be as easy as if I lived in California.
- throw9383412 10y ago
  I live in western Canada, a pair of long johns, jeans and a coat are enough to spend an hour in -25 °C. I own a few things that I don't mind getting rid of when I move like a snowboard and a mattress, otherwise my clothes + toiletries + laptop/phone is it.
chickenfries 10y ago
I find having substantially less than 100 apps very easy, but I would find living without most of my possessions (the things I cook with, the clothes I wear to work) incredibly difficult. Do you feel like having a second pair of socks would really weigh you down? How is sleeping on the floor acceptable but having less than 100 apps hard?
- miguelrochefort 10y ago
  > I find having substantially less than 100 apps very easy, but I would find living without most of my possessions (the things I cook with, the clothes I wear to work) incredibly difficult. You need to embrace the fact that delegating is ultimately more efficient than the alternative. You can focus a lot more on what matters when you let others cook for you, drive you around, repair your stuff, wash your stuff, etc. Once you realize that, owning a washing machine, a oven, a car, a house, power tools, makes very little sense. Unfortunately, these services tend to be expensive, but hopefully this will change once more people migrate to a similar lifestyle. Regarding apps, you can't avoid them anymore. I have apps for door locks, alarms, parking meters, taxi, food, pressure cooker, time sheets, messaging (10), etc. > Do you feel like having a second pair of socks would really weigh you down? I agree that one pair is extreme, but it taught me that I really don't need more, which is the key here. I will mots likely add a second pair for convenience at some point. > How is sleeping on the floor acceptable but having less than 100 apps hard? I sleep on the floor by choice. I happen to sleep next to my bed.
  - k-mcgrady 10y ago
    >> "Regarding apps, you can't avoid them anymore. I have apps for door locks, alarms, parking meters, taxi, food, pressure cooker, time sheets, messaging (10), etc." How is this minimalist by any definition? None of those things need an app and work perfectly fine without one. It sounds like you are adding things in the digital sphere that you don't need and removing things from the physical sphere that you do need (for example a bed). Also - you have a bed, how is sleeping on the floor next to it 'minimalist'? I've slept on a floor for 6 months - it is terrible for your back. We are not designed to live like that anymore.
galfarragem 10y ago
> I'm obsessed with minimalism. I want all my possessions to fit inside my backpack. I own one pair of socks. I sleep on the floor. Like everything in life the answer is in moderation. I do also tend towards minimalism but as a way to increase my freedom, not the opposite.
- miguelrochefort 10y ago
  > I do also tend towards minimalism but as a way to increase my freedom, not the opposite. These things increases my freedom.
  - Eduard 10y ago
    I find a single pair of socks would make my life more complicated.
    - miguelrochefort 10y ago
      I wear them every day. I wash them weekly. Not complicated.
  - wott 10y ago
    You binge on traditional physical possessions deprivation and then you binge on gadgets. This doesn't sound like freedom to me, but like 2 constraints, and not the kind of constraints which frees (and you wouldn't use this possible freedom, because you are eager to live a modern tech life with a modern tech job and all the constraints that go together with those once more). Just listen to the way you speak of it: I need, I cannot do without, etc.
GuiA 10y ago
Maybe there's a niche there for a very very pared down computer. Like a typewriter with a monochrome screen that lets you minimally browse a subset of the web (e.g. Wikipedia), do email, word processing, play mp3s, open PDFs, and that's it. Maybe you want a color screen for YouTube/photos, but that's it. If this feels more like a microwave or radio than full computer, this is something that someone like my grandparents would be very content with.
- miguelrochefort 10y ago
  I don't want to pare down anything. If anything, I believe that computers are not powerful (in a UI sense) enough. I want to do more with my computer, and I have no problem depending on it. What I have a problem with, is walled gardens and UIs designed by hand. It makes no sense that the UI for hailing a cab, ordering a pizza or reviewing a movie should be different. What we really need, is a better language, a new communication paradigm.
  - icebraining 10y ago
    I agree with you, and it reminds me of Mozilla Ubiquity, and particularly this post: https://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/why-verbs/ https://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/why-verbs/
- rokhayakebe 10y ago
  Chromebook?
jasonkostempski 10y ago
We don't need to do anything, you need to learn self control :) So do I, but I've gotten much better in the past 2 years. Start deleting accounts and apps, all of them, it's an amazing feeling. Note: HN won't let you delete your account, something that wouldn't have bothered me if I hadn't used my real name, but since I did, it drives me nuts. Looks like you might have the same problem.
habitue 10y ago
> I came to the conclusion that we need to create a single app that does 80% of things This is called a web browser
- crististm 10y ago
  Nope... A browser is just a HAL.
wott 10y ago
I fail to understand how this: > I'm obsessed with minimalism. I want all my possessions to fit inside my backpack. I own one pair of socks. I sleep on the floor. is compatible with that: > I have literally created over 500 accounts in my life. I have more than 100 apps on my phone. This so-called software diversity makes my life miserable. I came to the conclusion that we need to create a single app that does 80% of things. I guess the problem lies in "100 applications that do things". What do they actually do? What are the 100 things they do? I don't have any app. I don't have any smartphone. Nobody had a few years ago. What problem do they solve that you cannot solve otherwise?
- icebraining 10y ago
  I can't speak for miguelrochefort, but I'd say the problem is that doing those things without a smartphone is often even worse. For example, I dislike having Uber on my tablet, but it still beats having to call a cab.
  - miguelrochefort 10y ago
    This.

0xCMP 10y ago

I agree, have been trying to attain this as well for the longest time.

Davidp00 10y ago

Being able to fit all my possessions in a backpack is something I think about. Can you go in to more detail on the stuff you own? In what kind of climate do you live in? It seems a lot easier to not have a lot of stuff when you don't have to have cloths for multiple seasons.

miguelrochefort 10y ago
I have not reached that goal yet. I still own more things than I should. If you want inspiration, you can find it there: https://www.reddit.com/r/onebag/ https://www.reddit.com/r/onebag/ Here's a good example: http://tynan.com/gear2017 http://tynan.com/gear2017 I live in Canada, so it's not going to be as easy as if I lived in California.
throw9383412 10y ago
I live in western Canada, a pair of long johns, jeans and a coat are enough to spend an hour in -25 °C. I own a few things that I don't mind getting rid of when I move like a snowboard and a mattress, otherwise my clothes + toiletries + laptop/phone is it.

chickenfries 10y ago

I find having substantially less than 100 apps very easy, but I would find living without most of my possessions (the things I cook with, the clothes I wear to work) incredibly difficult. Do you feel like having a second pair of socks would really weigh you down? How is sleeping on the floor acceptable but having less than 100 apps hard?

miguelrochefort 10y ago
> I find having substantially less than 100 apps very easy, but I would find living without most of my possessions (the things I cook with, the clothes I wear to work) incredibly difficult. You need to embrace the fact that delegating is ultimately more efficient than the alternative. You can focus a lot more on what matters when you let others cook for you, drive you around, repair your stuff, wash your stuff, etc. Once you realize that, owning a washing machine, a oven, a car, a house, power tools, makes very little sense. Unfortunately, these services tend to be expensive, but hopefully this will change once more people migrate to a similar lifestyle. Regarding apps, you can't avoid them anymore. I have apps for door locks, alarms, parking meters, taxi, food, pressure cooker, time sheets, messaging (10), etc. > Do you feel like having a second pair of socks would really weigh you down? I agree that one pair is extreme, but it taught me that I really don't need more, which is the key here. I will mots likely add a second pair for convenience at some point. > How is sleeping on the floor acceptable but having less than 100 apps hard? I sleep on the floor by choice. I happen to sleep next to my bed.
- k-mcgrady 10y ago
  >> "Regarding apps, you can't avoid them anymore. I have apps for door locks, alarms, parking meters, taxi, food, pressure cooker, time sheets, messaging (10), etc." How is this minimalist by any definition? None of those things need an app and work perfectly fine without one. It sounds like you are adding things in the digital sphere that you don't need and removing things from the physical sphere that you do need (for example a bed). Also - you have a bed, how is sleeping on the floor next to it 'minimalist'? I've slept on a floor for 6 months - it is terrible for your back. We are not designed to live like that anymore.

galfarragem 10y ago

> I'm obsessed with minimalism. I want all my possessions to fit inside my backpack. I own one pair of socks. I sleep on the floor. Like everything in life the answer is in moderation. I do also tend towards minimalism but as a way to increase my freedom, not the opposite.

miguelrochefort 10y ago
> I do also tend towards minimalism but as a way to increase my freedom, not the opposite. These things increases my freedom.
- Eduard 10y ago
  I find a single pair of socks would make my life more complicated.
  - miguelrochefort 10y ago
    I wear them every day. I wash them weekly. Not complicated.
- wott 10y ago
  You binge on traditional physical possessions deprivation and then you binge on gadgets. This doesn't sound like freedom to me, but like 2 constraints, and not the kind of constraints which frees (and you wouldn't use this possible freedom, because you are eager to live a modern tech life with a modern tech job and all the constraints that go together with those once more). Just listen to the way you speak of it: I need, I cannot do without, etc.

GuiA 10y ago

Maybe there's a niche there for a very very pared down computer. Like a typewriter with a monochrome screen that lets you minimally browse a subset of the web (e.g. Wikipedia), do email, word processing, play mp3s, open PDFs, and that's it. Maybe you want a color screen for YouTube/photos, but that's it. If this feels more like a microwave or radio than full computer, this is something that someone like my grandparents would be very content with.

miguelrochefort 10y ago
I don't want to pare down anything. If anything, I believe that computers are not powerful (in a UI sense) enough. I want to do more with my computer, and I have no problem depending on it. What I have a problem with, is walled gardens and UIs designed by hand. It makes no sense that the UI for hailing a cab, ordering a pizza or reviewing a movie should be different. What we really need, is a better language, a new communication paradigm.
- icebraining 10y ago
  I agree with you, and it reminds me of Mozilla Ubiquity, and particularly this post: https://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/why-verbs/ https://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/why-verbs/
rokhayakebe 10y ago
Chromebook?

jasonkostempski 10y ago

We don't need to do anything, you need to learn self control :) So do I, but I've gotten much better in the past 2 years. Start deleting accounts and apps, all of them, it's an amazing feeling. Note: HN won't let you delete your account, something that wouldn't have bothered me if I hadn't used my real name, but since I did, it drives me nuts. Looks like you might have the same problem.

habitue 10y ago

> I came to the conclusion that we need to create a single app that does 80% of things This is called a web browser

crististm 10y ago
Nope... A browser is just a HAL.

wott 10y ago

I fail to understand how this: > I'm obsessed with minimalism. I want all my possessions to fit inside my backpack. I own one pair of socks. I sleep on the floor. is compatible with that: > I have literally created over 500 accounts in my life. I have more than 100 apps on my phone. This so-called software diversity makes my life miserable. I came to the conclusion that we need to create a single app that does 80% of things. I guess the problem lies in "100 applications that do things". What do they actually do? What are the 100 things they do? I don't have any app. I don't have any smartphone. Nobody had a few years ago. What problem do they solve that you cannot solve otherwise?

icebraining 10y ago
I can't speak for miguelrochefort, but I'd say the problem is that doing those things without a smartphone is often even worse. For example, I dislike having Uber on my tablet, but it still beats having to call a cab.
- miguelrochefort 10y ago
  This.