Digital Minimalism Meets Maximal Awareness

Last month I deleted 47 apps from my phone. Not because I have amazing willpower (I definitely don't), but because I was tired of feeling like my phone owned me instead of the other way around.

The weird thing? I barely noticed most of them were gone.

The Vritti Problem

In the Yoga Sutras, there's this concept of "vrittis" mental modifications or fluctuations. The whole point of yoga (not the stretchy stuff, the actual philosophy) is to still these fluctuations so you can see reality clearly.

Every app on your phone is a little vritti generator. Each one adds notifications, cognitive load, decisions to make, things to check. Even apps you never open take up mental real estate just by existing there, creating that nagging feeling of "I should probably open that."

What I Kept (and Why)

After the purge, I had about 20 apps left. The ones that survived all share something in common: they serve me without demanding my attention.

• Tools Maps, camera, calculator. They wait quietly until I need them.
• Communication Phone, messages. But with notifications heavily filtered.
• Utilities Banking, transit apps. Boring but necessary.
• One meditation app No streaks, no gamification, just a timer.

Notice what's missing: no social media, no news apps, no games, no "productivity" tools with notification badges. Those are the vritti factories.

The Paradox of Building Apps

Here's the awkward part: I build apps for a living. Isn't it hypocritical to preach digital minimalism while asking people to install yet another thing?

I think about this a lot. My answer is that the world doesn't need fewer apps it needs fewer bad apps. Apps designed to steal attention instead of serving genuine needs.

The apps we build at Aeternus are meant to be the kind you barely notice having. They should work quietly in service of your real goals, not create new anxieties of their own. Ideally, using them should feel like having a brief conversation with a wise friend helpful, clarifying, and then finished so you can get on with your actual life.