I recently finished reading Tiffany Schlain’s book “24/6”, which encourages taking a weekly “technology shabbat” where you abstain from your usual screens – such as your phone, computer, TV, and devices, for a period of 24 hours once a week. Persuaded that a little time away from the computer was valuable, I decided to give it a shot. Having done it – with varying consistency – for a few months now, I thought I’d report on some of my observations.
I spent longer on my hobbies before giving up – despite frustration.
With internet access, my first answer to frustration is almost always ‘take a quick break.’ The internet proffers quick and easy distractions, and some they even feel productive – educational videos, playing with a notion system, etc. But they are still distractions. Going analogue creates a higher cost to shifting gears, it’s no longer as effortless as opening a new tab. As I was working on a leatherworking project, I had several pain points where I messed up the stitching and wanted to put it away, but I was faced with a decision – what was I gonna go do instead? Normally that answer would be to throw on Youtube or browse the internet, but with that off limits I decided to persist.
Chores feel like less of a chore
There is definitely some boredom that accompanies not having access to your usual distractions. The things I’d normally procrastinate on, such as doing the dishes and tidying up workspace, became more enticing and actually pretty satisfying. The tech-shabbat day proves to be a good way to start getting to some of the backlog you might have for chores and mundane tasks, and it’s a great way to get your space in order ready for the coming week.
Not having a phone on the toilet feels weird now
Most of us do this, right? Whenever I take a bathroom break, I’m using reading something on my phone. Not having it introduces a moment of peace, a sort of natural break in the day.
It pays to be prepared
Cooking a nice meal was one of the things I wanted to set aside for my day off, and I’d spontaneously picked up some hot peppers on sale at the grocery store. With this batch of peppers I had the idea of making a homemade hot sauce, and realized I had no idea how. Lacking the option of a google search can sometimes be a bit of a nuisance when you need a quick answer, so thinking about what you want to do the day before and printing or writing down any instructions you might need becomes invaluable. I’m also probably going to pick up a cook-book or two!
I spent more time outside and socializing
The first day of my tech-break turned out, luckily, to be a lovely sunny fall day. The leaves were turning, there was a cool breeze, but the sun was still warm enough that I could comfortably be out and about in a sweater. Getting out of the house was really nice, and without a phone to stick my nose in I was much more aware of what a nice day it really was. I also found a much more natural draw to actually touching base with friends and talking to others – I allowed myself the phone to call and invite someone out for coffee.
I was less fixated on what time it was
Our phones and computers always have a clock staring back at us. As someone who is prone to tracking their time I’m often very sensitive of what time it is, and how much of it I’m “wasting”. I felt a lot less of that stress without the constant feedback. Certainly knowing the time is often useful, especially if you have commitments, but especially on a day off where you don’t have somewhere you need to be punctually, sometimes that hyper-awareness of what time it is does more harm than good.
I felt more relaxed
There’s a certain anxiety that accompanies boredom, but I find computers and devices often only band-aid that problem, rather than cure it. The malaise is still there, it’s just easier to ignore by filling up on content, playing games, or doomscrolling. Sitting with boredom sometimes is the best way to come to terms with it, and find something engaging to do. Another thing I found is that when I’m plugged in, I always feel like there’s something I ‘should’ be doing, and there’s a limitless number of options to choose from. Introducing a considerable constraint definitely reduced the noise of all options, and quelled a sort of ‘edge’ I often feel. If any of you have ever had that experience of opening up a half a dozen apps on their phone or websites on their browser in rapid succession mindlessly, or constantly refreshing a social media feed, this definitely helps quiet that sensation.
I actually look forward to it
I’ll admit, there are weeks where I don’t feel like taking the day off tech, where I feel like I’ve got a date with Netflix or have a game I’m really enjoying. That said, quite often nowadays the prospective of that day off on the horizon is actually surprisingly soothing and exciting to me. It feels genuinely restful, and is a very useful mental reboot.
The Soft-Sabbath
For some people, disconnecting for an entire day is beyond the pale. I’ve heard various reasons for this, of varying validity – Schlain in her book suggests that many of these limitations are more self-imposed than anything, and that insisting on this time for yourself is in your best interest. Still, some people genuinely do have things that needs to be done daily,which requires technology. Perhaps you’re on-call, and need your phone available. I encourage you, even if you have these requirements, to try a softer version of this. Try installing a blocker like Cold Turkey on your desktop or Lock Me Out on your phone, and prohibit certain usage on that day – decide in advance a ‘white-list’ of allowed activities, devices, or web-sites. This can help prevent things like social media and video streaming weaseling its way into your day because you needed to allow work emails. There are plenty of desktop and mobile apps that allow you to lock yourself out of undesirable applications.
One example of a softer restriction I’m implementing throughout my week: In order to curtail my far-too-frequent use of Youtube while still allowing its use for pragmatic reasons, I chose to block my subscription feed and my home page, while also making use of a browser extension called “Unhook”, which blocks the recommendations sidebar and comments. This means that whenever I’m using Youtube, it’s because I’m deliberately looking for something, not brainlessly scrolling for enticing content. I still can and do waste time on Youtube, but I’ve added friction to the enterprise, and I’ve also reduced the number of opportunities for Youtube’s algorithm to ‘bait’ me into consumption I don’t consider in my best interest.
There are countless ways you can do this to amend your relationship to technology so that it works in your best interest. Uninstalling social media apps on your phone and only accessing them from desktop, or blocking them except for a specific period of your day. Disentangling yourself from suggestion algorithms designed to keep you hooked. Making the things you want to do less often just that little bit less convenient. Even if you lose your will here and there, and find yourself caving in and switching off the blocker or returning to a device, switch it back on (or off!) when you’re finished and keep that little bit of friction working to your advantage.
