The screen holiday

I took a daylong screen holiday last week.

For more than 24 hours, my screen time was zero. I didn’t take my phone out of my pocket to check for messages, because I left my phone at home.

I broke my Wordle streak.*

I never checked the weather or the news. I meditated without a timer. I had no idea how many people were trying to reach me and why.

I got the idea for a tech break because I was on a semi-vacation with my family in a semi-remote place. Think nature, water, small towns. Still, I was starting and ending every day with a screen. Relying on GPS for directions when I could easily feel my way around and discover new things. I would check for messages during slow moments, and scroll through news feeds without even thinking about it. Being on a screen meant I was somewhere else, while I wanted to be where I was.

Taking a screen holiday on an actual national holiday made a lot of sense. It was a workday during which few clients or colleagues would be working. So I didn’t set an out-of-office.

So, how was it?

It was wonderful, and I look forward to doing it again soon.

I was calmer and more present all day, and more ready to go to bed at bedtime. Surprisingly, I didn’t wonder at all what was behind the home button or waiting for me in my various inboxes. I didn’t let myself satisfy every curiosity by looking something up, choosing instead to let the thought pass or return to it later.

And what did I do?

I finished a jigsaw puzzle and read a lot of a library book about American history. My family and I went to a small-town parade and stuck our feet in Lake Michigan afterwards. We went to the pool. Took a nap. Did laundry. Walked the dog. And made dinner without a recipe. It was a full and joyful day.

I’d like to do this again at some point before Labor Day. Possibly even once a month or once a week as a reset. But I’m also wondering if a screen holiday can be a half-day. Or a lunch hour even.

What would you do — or not do — with a screen holiday of your own?

*My kid made a Wordle game for me on a piece of paper, with which I managed to guess the day’s word in only two tries!

Author’s note: My wife rightly pointed out that she had to do a bit more tech that day, so I could do no tech at all. From texting a relative on my behalf to helping to navigate an unfamiliar part of town, her brain and her phone got extra use. I suspect a little more advance planning on my part would have save us both from this. I’ll keep an eye on this in the future, especially if we both opt to take a tech holiday on the same day!

Joe Anderson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons