Maybe this makes me a huge nerd, but there’s little I love more than the thrill of optimizing my phone.

It gives me such a rush. Configuring my phone so it provides the maximum amount of usefulness while simultaneously taking up the absolute minimum amount of space in my life makes me feel as good as eating chocolate.

It’s not because I love phone settings screens. It’s because I love what happens when the configuring is done.

After the configuring is done, my life gets better.

My productivity levels rise. I get more done. I save more money. I spend more time with loved ones. My mental health improves. My physical health improves. My life becomes more enjoyable.

These are the benefits people enjoy when they are digital minimalists.

Before I was a digital minimalist, you might say I was a digital maximalist.

I always owned the most expensive 13” or 15” MacBook Pro money could buy. I always owned the nicest available iPhone. And the nicest available iPad. And Apple Pencil. And a pair of noise-cancelling headphones that cost hundreds of dollars. And some wireless earbuds, too, because headphones get bulky at the gym. And all that doesn’t even include my gaming PC, 4K monitor, mechanical keyboard, other peripherals, Nikon camera, Apple TV 4K, Kindle Oasis, or the occasional indulgence like Google Glass.

Imagine, for a moment, how much that costs.

What you just imagined was only the cost of acquisition. There was also a care and maintenance cost, in the form of AppleCare and protective cases and screen covers and pricy padded backpacks.

Suffice to say, a lot of my income (and my father’s income, really) went to furnishing me with the nicest tech money could buy.

There were psychological costs, too. The cost of being afraid of being robbed whenever I took my devices somewhere. The cost of having to hide things in the trunk of my car anxiously. The cost of constantly stressing about protecting these devices so I wouldn’t have to pay to repair them.

Most of all, there was the sweet psychological cost of waiting for the next cool thing. Next March, I was always thinking. Next October. That’s when it’s going to be really cool.

As a digital minimalist, my life is a lot more affordable.

Since I’m intentional about my device use, I don’t need the phone with a great big screen and an all-day battery. I don’t need a computer with a processor that competes with Deep Blue.

And since I’m not using my devices as much, I no longer care what’s cool. In fact, I don’t even know what’s cool. Sometimes Apple releases new devices now and I don’t even notice.

Also, expensive peripherals are beginning to feel unnecessary too. My current over-hear headphones were $30, not $350, and they’re just as good as the $350 ones. Indeed, I don’t even own wireless earbuds anymore, as I am able to take my over-ear headphones to the gym without a problem. I also traded in my Apple TV for a Chromecast, which is a fraction of the cost but has all the functionality I need.

All this contributes to less frequent, cheaper tech purchases. Lots of money gets to stay in my wallet.

As a productivity writer, one of the first pieces of productivity advice I offer to people is to quit social media.

My reason for suggesting this isn’t because it makes you depressed (although that’s true) or that it makes your political beliefs polarized (although that’s true too). My reason for suggesting this is that social media takes up a lot of time.

All that time you’re laying on the couch or in bed scrolling? That’s time you could be doing something else. You could be getting ready for the day or listening to music or reading a book or doing literally anything else with that time. But thanks to social media, you’re not.

A little over a year and a half ago, I decided to take the digital minimalist plunge and delete my social media. Ever since then, I have had so much time.

The year before I deleted social media, I read maybe 5 books. The first year after I deleted it, I read 77 books. This year, I’m on track to read 80.

Digital minimalists also gain a lot of time back because we’re strategic about checking our email and browsing the web. We only get online if we have an explicit reason. We don’t get online just to watch time go by. No doubt that’s contributed to my book count, too.

Every minute a digital maximalist is on a computer, a digital minimalist is living a better life.

A funny thing happens when you stop staring at screens so much.

You start looking at people in the eye.

You text them to arrange a get together. You stop by their house instead of messaging them on Facebook. You spend time together over a meal and talk about stuff instead of sending awkward Snapchats.

Digital maximalists do a lot of their social interactions via digital devices. But, by virtue of using their devices less, digital minimalists start interacting in the real world more often. And the more you interact in the real world, the deeper your relationships get.

This effect is most profound when you get rid of social media.

You would think deleting your social media would cause you to have fewer friends and hang out with them less often. In fact, the opposite happens. When you delete social media, you start seeing friends and loved ones more often.

It works like this: When you don’t have social media to scroll when you’re bored, you sit around feeling very bored. You think to yourself, I can text a friend to relieve my boredom. So you do. (Already, deleting your social media has encouraged you to directly interact with a friend).

Then, after ten minutes of texting, you realize you’re both free. You go hang out somewhere. If you had social media, you’d still be scrolling, but now, you’re out at the bar with someone.

Or, the opposite happens. Because someone can’t creep on your Facebook to see how you’re doing, they reach out to you. You receive an invitation to hang out precisely because you have no social media.

In my own life, since deleting my social media, I often find myself swamped with social invitations. I could hang out with someone every day of the week and still not have enough time to see everyone.

This is boggling to me. I’m a lifelong recluse who has never prioritized socializing. But deleting social media forces me to reach out to people, and forces them to reach out to me, and that’s how social events happen.