We waste on average two hours a day on social media: Mr Cal Newport on how to bring yourself back from the brink of <i>Black Mirror</I>.

If you feel like your smartphone is sucking you into an episode of Black Mirror – specifically “Nosedive”, where the socioeconomic status of Ms Bryce Dallas Howard’s protagonist is determined by her star rating – you’re not far wrong. According to Mr Cal Newport, author of new book Digital Minimalism, we spend on average two hours a day on social media, which is engineered to be addictive by exploiting psychological bugs such as our craving for approval. In the words of comedian and talk show host Mr Bill Maher, cited by Mr Newport, social media tycoons are “tobacco farmers in T-shirts”.

While he doesn’t have a Facebook account (how does he survive?), Mr Newport is a professor of computer science at Georgetown, so he’s hardly a Luddite. Nor is he advocating that we give up all our devices – just, well, minimise their use. “We cannot passively allow the wild entanglement of tools, entertainments and distractions provided by the digital age to dictate how we spend our time or how we feel,” he writes. “Humans are not wired to be constantly wired.” The consequences – including depression, anxiety and, ironically, loneliness – are, like smoking, demonstratively deleterious to our health.

Named by fellow self-improvement scribe Mr Ryan Holiday as one of 2019’s must-reads (he credits it with curing his Facebook addiction), Digital Minimalism is as magically life-changing as a Ms Marie Kondo declutter. Get your virtual house in order with this advice from Mr Newport.

Facebook has its uses: organising events, keeping in touch with old “friends” you never see, canvassing carefully considered political opinions on Brexit or President Trump. At the same time, you probably don’t need one-touch access or constant, disruptive notifications. Mr Newport’s recommendation therefore is to delete your social media apps. The friction of opening a browser to log on, while small, will greatly reduce your mindless usage, and prevent you being interrupted because your second cousin twice removed liked your post.

Being a digital minimalist doesn’t necessarily mean rejecting online services, but it does mean making them serve you rather than our Silicon Valley overlords. Mr Newport gives the example of reformed Twitter addict “Charles”, who now stays abreast of current affairs by checking a curated collection of online magazines once a day in the afternoon. Creative director “Dave” culled all social media except for Instagram, because it supports his love of art; Netflix binger “Gabriella” resolved to only watch with other people.

For a more far-reaching intervention, Mr Newport prescribes a “digital declutter” that brings to mind cult reality series Consumed, in which households on the Hoarders borderline have all their non-essential possessions taken away. For 30 days, abstain from “optional technologies” – so maybe not email or WhatsApp, removal of which would “harm or significantly disrupt the daily operation of your personal or professional life”, but probably social media, computer games and Netflix. Sayonara, Kondo-sensei.

Unsure whether a technology is optional (or just can’t bear to be without it)? Mr Newport’s suggestion is to implement “operating procedures” for your usage. That could be setting your smartphone so that only you’re only alerted to calls or messages from, say, your partner or boss, or it could be limiting your web browsing to a certain number of websites. One of the 1,600 participants in a mass decluttering experiment conducted by Mr Newport deleted his personal email from his phone to dial down compulsive checking.

As crucial as minimising your digital distractions is replacing them with something more edifying. Otherwise, you’re apt to fall back on your electronic crutches at the end of the declutter, if not before, warns Mr Newport: “For many people, compulsive phone use papers over a void created by a lack of well-developed leisure time.” Read books. Write a diary. Join a gym. Take an evening class. Face-time family and friends IRL. When the time comes to reintroduce optional technologies – if you even want to – you might not have bandwidth.

Digital Minimalism (Portfolio Penguin) by Mr Cal Newport is out now