Digital Minimalism Lab
New wiki
Privacy, self-hosting, and adding friction to start spending time on more important things! Starting with this video, by Nathan Laundry:
We're working on attention management in an age of the attention economy, where capital forces vie for us to spend as much time as possible on their platforms. A primary motive is so you can get some of your own time back to hang out with people!
Check out the newsletter archive and possibly sign up:
This leaflet doc may be converted to a wiki in the future, so that we can have revision history and such.
Starting out
Sign up for Cohort 1!
launching October 17th live at 4pm ET
With protocol including weekly check-ins, initial survey, buddy system, +
Steps
Delete distracting apps (On Android, you can disable YouTube or use Canta)
Install algorithm blockers like those listed in the browser extensions list
Lists
Smartphone
Recommended smartphone + OS: A Google Pixel phone with GrapheneOS
Neo Store, Obtainium, and Accrescent to download apps (Android)
Smartphone
Recommended smartphone + OS: A Google Pixel phone with GrapheneOS
Neo Store, Obtainium, and Accrescent to download apps (Android)
Canta allows you to uninstall any apps on your device (Android)
Mindful tracks time on-device and has options for focusing
Auxio to play music (Android)
Metrolist is a YT Music client (Android)
Symfonium has support for servers (Android, paid)
MusicBrainz to fix metadata (Picard on desktop)
HeliBoard (amazing swipe typing) or FUTO keyboard (Android)
Orbot for routing apps internet data through TOR
Thunderbird mobile for emails
Find My Device is a FOSS alternative to the Google solution bearing the same name (Android)
StreetComplete gamifies adding data to OpenStreetMaps
LocalSend enables you to send files between devices through WLAN
Kvaesitso is an amazing home launcher (Android)
Self-hosting
Tailscale lets you interconnect your devices (like a home server) using a mesh network
RustDesk to remote desktop/connect to your displays
Self-hosting
Tailscale lets you interconnect your devices (like a home server) using a mesh network
RustDesk to remote desktop/connect to your displays
Navidrome to stream music
Jellyfin for movies, shows, music, live TV/DVR, books, & photos
Immich for photos
copyparty for accessing & storing files from (almost) anywhere
Glance allows for aggregating your feeds in a single place
Browser extensions
uBlock Origin to block elements, ads and trackers
For Google Chrome users, use uBlock Origin Lite
Browser extensions
uBlock Origin to block elements, ads and trackers
For Google Chrome users, use uBlock Origin Lite
For iOS users, use AdGuard
Leechblock NG blocks access to sites put on a blacklist
Bypass Paywalls Clean (Wikipedia/Repository)
LibRedirect redirects websites to alternative privacy-focused front-ends (and fetches public instances, too!)
Indie Wiki Buddy redirects sites and replaces search results to bad wikis with much better wikis
CanvasBlocker alters several browser APIs to prevent fingerprinting
For Google Chrome users, use Canvas Blocker (not to be confused with the former)
It is also recommended to enable privacy.resistFingerprinting in Firefox's Configuration Editor (about:config)
SocialFocus allows you to hide addictive elements of social media, enabling you to stay connected without endless scrolling and striking the perfect balance for productivity.
Supports: Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit, X, Gmail, HackerNews, Twitch, Pinterest, Netflix, TikTok, Bluesky
For specific websites
Unhook hides distractions on YouTube
Dearrow crowdsources better thumbnails and titles
SponsorBlock can skip sponsored segments
Reddit Enhancement Suite makes old-reddit usable
Desktop
Apps
Betterbird for reading emails
LibreOffice suite
Krita for digital painting/art
Kdenlive for video editing
GIMP for general image editing
Best beginner operating systems
Called Linux distributions (or distros for short)
More (mostly non-beginner) distros
Best Wayland Compositors
(& Desktop Environments)
KDE Plasma (familiar, but customizable)
niri (very simple, but modern + scrolling!)
Websites
cobalt.tools for downloading media from popular sites
Anisota is a Bluesky and AT Protocol-based social media client
Websites
cobalt.tools for downloading media from popular sites
Anisota is a Bluesky and AT Protocol-based social media client
Other resources
There are tons of other sites that host expansive listings of relevant tools you can use in your own digital lives.
Privacy
Other resources
There are tons of other sites that host expansive listings of relevant tools you can use in your own digital lives.
Privacy
Self-hosting
More