Digital Sabbath Sundays

Background#

I can’t pin down what exactly made me re-examine my relationship with the Internet and technology in general. Like many people, I’ve been fully immersed in our info-obsessed culture, following its ebbs and flows through new and old topography alike. A typical night involves checking news feeds, emails, Slack, and text messages, while simultaneously browsing Reddit with some TV show that I’ve seen dozens of times glows in the background.

Maybe it was when I turned on iOS Screen Time and was served up a notification detailing a not insubstantial amount of my time being spent staring a content that I never really chose for myself. Or maybe I was just exhausted by the constant feed. I just knew I needed to step away and look at something that wasn’t presented in DPI.

While I didn’t grow up in a particularly religious household, the Sundays of my childhood were designated for family, leisure, and just slowing down. Shopping on Sundays wasn’t even a thing in my area until 2006. I wanted some of that feeling back. I decided to impose a weekly digital Sabbath.

Implementation#

I piloted a few different options—no screens at all, computers but no phone—but in the end, kept it simple. No social media and no phone except for phone calls on Sundays.

The research around how social media and the Internet affect our brains is more mainstream than ever. I can attest that my own grey matter seemed almost overwhelmed at the absence of it. I felt an uneasy sense of absence, like walking through a deserted shopping mall. It made me realize how ingrained the tendency towards distraction has been imprinted onto my consciousness. It’s hard for me to actually watch a movie or even read for longer than 20 minutes without checking my phone.

This ever-present awareness we have in front of a screen is driven by the constant sense of something new or better just a little further down the feed. There’s a constant sense that something wonderful is just about to happen if you stay on just a little bit longer. But, when you spend a day away from Reddit or Twitter, you don’t miss anything. I have never thought after settling into bed on a Sunday night—I wish I had spent the last 24 hours on Reddit—even though I have really enjoyed it at times. What the digital Sabbath does is make me realize that my enjoyment of Reddit and other social media is fueled by a need to not feel left out by the social zeitgeist.

Result#

I’ve been doing a digital Sabbath for a few months, and I’m getting used to not doing anything. Last Sunday was a simple one. We had a lazy Sunday morning full of coffee, reading, and drawing. A nap was had around noon before heading out for a walk in the park to capture some of the cool winter air. We took our time and didn’t feel the need to tap into whatever was trending on whatever platform. Nobody checked email, Slack, or their newsfeeds. It’s not something I could have done a year ago.

It makes you realize how powerful these platforms and devices really are. Their techno gospel contained within a few inches of metal, plastic, glass and expressed in millions of lines of code. But, every now and then, you need a break from the powerful and focus on the simple.