The Distraction-Free Monolith

August 29, 2026

The Moment

On 29 August, I finished simplifying my personal digital environment.

I did not just want to change a few settings.

I wanted my phone and my Mac to feel simpler.

The question I kept asking myself was very basic: do I actually need this?

If the answer was no, I removed it.

Where there was a good free and open-source alternative, I preferred it. When proprietary software was genuinely necessary, I kept it.

Not because I wanted to have the fewest apps possible.

I just don’t want to spend my day managing things I never use.

The Resonance

I did the same thing on my phone.

I removed Life360 and the apps I did not really need.

Google Maps was replaced with Organic Maps, and I use K-9 Mail for email instead of Gmail.

On GrapheneOS, I kept Google Play services where I actually need them, especially for apps such as WhatsApp and banking applications.

I was not trying to remove Google at all costs.

I was trying to use only what I need.

For free and open-source apps I use F-Droid. When I need a proprietary app without a good alternative, I use Aurora Store.

The phone itself is much simpler now too.

Fewer notifications, fewer colours and fewer things constantly asking for my attention.

The Friction

I did the same cleanup on my Mac.

I reduced the number of apps, notifications and things sitting around the interface.

CotEditor is still where I write, and VSCodium is one of my main tools for development.

Everything else needs a reason to be there.

The network follows the same idea: fewer unnecessary services and filtering that helps keep things I do not want outside.

The Finance profile is the obvious exception, because I need the banking and financial apps that actually handle my money.

And that’s fine.

I don’t want technology that looks perfect on paper.

I want technology that works well in real life.

The Quiet

In the end, the result is quite simple.

When I look at my phone, I do not see an endless catalogue of apps.

When I open my Mac, I do not have to get through a hundred things before starting what I actually wanted to do.

There are fewer notifications.

Unnecessary apps are gone.

The things I need stay.

For me, that is what the Distraction-Free Monolith means.

It is not about getting rid of technology.

It is about getting rid of the part of technology that I do not need and that keeps asking for my attention.

The phone becomes a phone again.

The Mac becomes a computer again.

And I can get back to whatever I actually wanted to do.