📵 Simple Life Practice #15 – Disconnect to Reconnect: Creating a Weekly Digital Sabbath
📵 Simple Life Practice #15 – Disconnect to Reconnect: Creating a Weekly Digital Sabbath
Blog Series: Simple Life Practices #15
🌙 Introduction: The Day You Don’t Swipe
We scroll when we're bored.
We swipe when we're anxious.
We refresh, click, skim, repeat — all day, every day.
But what happens when we stop?
The Digital Sabbath — a 24-hour period without screens — is not a punishment. It's a homecoming.
It's about restoring depth in a shallow world. About remembering the real world again: paper, people, presence, peace.
📊 Why We Need a Digital Sabbath
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📱 The average adult spends 7+ hours/day on screens
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🧠 Social media has been linked to higher rates of anxiety, FOMO, and sleep disruption
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💬 Couples who practice screen-free time together report greater intimacy and communication
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🌳 Nature time — even 20 minutes/day — lowers cortisol and improves cognitive performance
“The world didn’t fall apart when I turned off my phone for a day. I just realized how much I was missing.”
– Brian T., father and creative director
🌿 What Is a Digital Sabbath?
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A dedicated 24-hour period (or less, if you're just starting)
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Free of:
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Smartphones
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Laptops
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Social media
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Streaming
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News cycles
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Focused on:
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Connection
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Creativity
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Real rest
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Real people
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It's a reset — for your eyes, your mind, your nervous system, and your soul.
🧠 Why It Aligns with the Simple Life
1. It Reclaims Your Attention
Every notification is someone else's agenda.
Digital sabbath is how you return to your own rhythm.
2. It Restores Presence
Without screens, you see — really see — your home, your meals, your people, the sky.
3. It Renews Wonder
A sunset. A book. The texture of tree bark.
Wonder lives where algorithms can't reach.
🛠 How to Practice a Digital Sabbath
✅ 1. Choose Your Time Frame
Start with 4–6 hours if a full day feels overwhelming.
Eventually build up to a consistent 24-hour ritual (e.g. Friday sundown to Saturday sundown).
✅ 2. Prepare Your Life
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Let people know you’ll be unavailable
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Set a screen time limit or turn your phone off
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Download anything analog you might need (maps, recipes, journal prompts)
✅ 3. Replace, Don’t Just Remove
Have a few things planned to support your Sabbath:
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A nature walk
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Long bath
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Board games
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Letter-writing
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Gardening
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Cooking from scratch
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Sitting on your porch doing nothing
✨ It’s not about unplugging. It’s about replugging — into what matters.
💬 What You Might Feel
| Emotion | Interpretation |
|---|---|
| Anxiety | Detox — your brain is adjusting to silence |
| Boredom | A doorway to creativity |
| Guilt | A sign you’ve been outsourcing your worth to productivity |
| Peace | Your true baseline, finally revealed |
🔄 Tips for a Successful Sabbath
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Use “Do Not Disturb” mode
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Keep your phone in another room
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Have a real book, pen, and paper nearby
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Invite your family or housemates to join
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Create a ritual: light a candle to begin, blow it out to end
🧘 Final Thoughts: The Pause That Heals
The Simple Life is not just about owning less.
It’s about being more present with what you already have.
The Digital Sabbath is a modern-day sabbath in the truest sense:
a time to rest, remember, and return to yourself.
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes — including you.”
– Anne Lamott
🔖 Coming Next:
Simple Life Practice #16 – The Five-Minute Reset: Mini Practices to Recenter Throughout Your Day
– Learn how short moments of stillness can bring clarity, calm, and grounded energy anytime, anywhere.
🌌 Hashtags
#SimpleLife #DigitalSabbath #UnplugToReconnect #ScreenFreeSunday
#SlowLiving #PresenceOverProductivity #DigitalDetox
#ModernSabbath #MindfulTechUse #AnalogJoy
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