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Digital Efficiency: the appeal of the minimalist home screen
Minimalism is a fascinating conceptual lifestyle. The idea of living with less, to de-clutter one’s life. To me, this has always been an appealing way to live life. Only possessing what is absolutely essential, not having excess material goods and worldly possessions. This even extends into finances, where many minimalists will only purchase things that they can afford and avoid borrowing at all costs. Minimalism also has its downsides. It is expensive to live such a lifestyle since the option for buying in bulk basically does not exist. The lifestyle is in many ways an extreme opposite of hoarding. Minimalism takes discipline, training yourself to not make that impulse buy or to stock up on something because the supreme goal at all times is to not stress the mind with clutter.
In my own life, I have taken some steps toward minimalism that I have found very helpful. Going to a more limited wardrobe for instance I have found very helpful when getting ready for my day. I have also taken to not owning a lot of cookware as it takes up space. On the financial side, I only have one credit card that makes my personal finances much more manageable. All of this changes when I unlock my OnePlus 7T. There is not much about my phone that is minimalist. There are icons all over the place, with a few widgets thrown around as well. It is not functional, but rather the way that I have grown accustomed to using my phone over the years.
Like many Android enthusiasts, I have routinely installed different launchers to make my phone feel new. In recent weeks, I have gone looking again. And what I came across were countless launchers touting a minimalist experience. A way to de-clutter your phone, filtering out the notifications and apps that are constantly lobbying for your attention. There is no widget support at all, no wallpaper support. In many ways they contradict all that people seem to love about Android. I have tried a few of these apps, and perhaps a minimal launcher should be the way we use our phones.
