Screenless Sunday
A practice for presence, patience, and plenty ways to spend time offline.
In November 2019, I experienced a traumatic fainting episode, seizure, and concussion in the middle of the night, which landed me an overnight visit at an NYC Emergency Room, or, as I often referred to it, NYC’s most expensive comedy show. Afterwards, I decided I needed to slow my pace in life down...a lot. Prior to this, I didn’t consider myself addicted to my phone. I turned off my notifications years prior, my phone wasn’t joining me in bed, and it was easy for me to spend time doing things that didn’t involve any technology.
Despite all of this, I’d always be a bit shocked at my Weekly Report of screen time. My phone usage seemed to be made up of a lot of micro moments, small chunks of time on my phone spread out over the course of the day.
After my fainting episode and concussion, I started to spend less time in front of screens. I needed to abstain in order to recover. As awful as the accident and subsequent symptoms were, I did enjoy this restful, quiet time, and way of existing that brought healing beyond the physical symptoms. Inspired by this experience, I opted to bring a weekly screenless sabbath to my life, in what became my Screenless Sundays.
In January of 2020, I eliminated use of my laptop and texting on Sundays. Instead, I spent my time doing old-fashioned things, like reading physical books, writing with pen and paper, and going for silent walks (No podcasts or music - scandalous, I know!)
At first, I felt a bit unsure about going screenless.
Would this harm my friendships?
Would I feel more lonely and less connected to people?
Would I be less productive?
Early on, I encountered some changes I needed to make. For instance, when I’d make plans to see friends on Sunday, I had to let them know ahead of time that I wouldn’t be checking my texts or emails, and ask them to let me know Saturday if they needed to cancel. When I’d head to a yoga class, either walking or by subway, I did so without scrolling my phone or listening to an audiobook.
I had to make some new, weird choices.
Rather than observing what was on my screens, I sat and observed myself and the world and people around me.
If I was planning to go anywhere on Sunday, I’d make sure to look up directions on Saturday, or else on Sunday, I’d do the unheard of...ask someone for directions. Without my digital friends, Google and Siri, I struck up conversations with people nearby, at the park, subway, cafes, yoga studio.
I felt more connected to these people than I did people I just followed on social media. I noticed things I wouldn’t have otherwise had my nose been buried in my phone. Things like colorful birds, cute dogs walking on the street, the sky, the emotional expressions of strangers on the street, signs advertising events or looking for lost pets, and street performers, or artists sharing their craft. And, one of the obvious yet perhaps overlooked benefits of not walking whilst looking at a phone...you don’t run into people or trip over inanimate objects.
It wasn’t always easy to go screenless.
The hardest Sundays were the ones when I didn’t leave my apartment or block. Isolated in my one-bedroom apartment without use of my phone or TV to connect me to anyone or anything else. Those days became the days where I was really forced to be friends with myself. I asked myself questions. I looked to myself for entertainment. I did art projects, wrote handwritten letters, cooked food, read books, cleaned my apartment, practiced yoga, and sometimes, I just sat looking out my window or walked alone at the park across the street. This time alone helped me realize my resiliency, creativity, and inspired confidence and satisfaction knowing that I could feel joy, rest, excitement, from just being with myself.
Screenless Sunday was the start to so many great benefits.
The world didn’t end when I fully unplugged. It actually felt more like a beginning. In addition to the obvious benefits from this practice, like giving my eyes a break from screens, there are so many benefits and implications in my life that I didn’t even anticipate. I noticed that on Screenless Sundays I feel connected, calm, joyful, grounded, rested, and energized. Those are all things I want to feel and I can get them without a screen.
I feel more connected to myself and others. My relationship with myself has improved. Journaling about my life, my feelings, my fears, my dreams, has all fueled self-awareness that improved my relationships and my work. Over time, I noticed I was making more intentional decisions about my work and life, rather than reactive decisions based on whatever the world on the screen is influencing. Practicing Screenless Sunday also had me feeling healthier, too.
On Screenless Sundays, I sleep better. On a Screenless Sunday I often fall asleep at least an hour earlier than I would had I been absorbing blue light all day. I wake up rested and ready to get out of bed, versus wishing I still had another hour (or four) to sleep.
Screenless Sundays made me more focused. I completed several offline projects that I’ve been wanting to complete. When the work week starts and I’m back on screens, I am able to shut off the screen distractions. If I can go an entire day without using email, I can definitely go three hours without it, so that I can focus on a project, a conversation, or a meeting.
Screenless Sundays inspired even more creativity. I’m already very creative, and creativity weaves its way through all of my days. The uniqueness of a screenless day has its own way of inspiring creativity - whether it’s painting, drawing, writing, or trying to figure out how to do something without instantly turning to an online search.
Sure, there are a ton of other factors that influenced these improvements. Correlation doesn’t equal causation. Still, going screenless one day a week certainly played a role, as it gave me time and space to fill with beneficial activities.
Revisiting Screenless Sunday
I’ll admit - I practiced Screenless Sundays for years, until life crept its way back in and so did my Sunday screen use. It started with morphing into Screenless-ish Sunday, where I’d not use social media or email or text on Sundays, but would accept a phone call or use Google Maps to get somewhere.
Recently though, I’ve been missing it, and last Sunday I brought it back. Ish. The only thing I used my phone for was to send my self-care Finch on an adventure.
I don’t need to go “Thoreau” and disappear into the woods for years. Instead, I can incorporate a media fast into my week, regularly, and reap benefits consistently. I don’t need to abandon my life, my family, my friends, or my work. I can give myself a break, some offline time, to reconnect with myself and whatever is around me, and in taking that day I improved my relationships with my family, my friends, my work, and myself. I get to decide when I am going to use the screen and when I am not.
Sayonara Sunday Scaries
I love Screenless Sundays (and Screenless-ish Sundays). They’ve become one a favorite day of the week. And though Screenless Sundays are my favorite day, I don’t wish for every day to be Screenless Sunday, because every day doesn’t need to be screenless. That’s part of the magic about this practice. Taking one day fully off is enough, if done regularly. It’s restorative, reenergizing, and helps me regroup.
When Monday rolls around after a Screenless Sunday I’m excited and energized for another week. I appreciate myself and everything else so much more. When I do use screens, it’s so much more intentional. I don’t spend as much time on them during the week, because I realized I don’t need to. I used to outsource my happiness, joy, entertainment to my phone. It sucked at that job, so I’ve taking it back in-house. I don’t need to use screens in order to feel connected, energized, engaged, informed, involved, or creative.
There will always be an excuse to use a screen.
When I’d tell my friends that I go completely screenless on Sundays, they responded with admiration, intrigue, and, often, several reasons why they couldn’t do something similar.
They’d say things like, “I could never do that,” “I run a business,” or “People may want to talk with me; there may be something I need to respond to.”
I got it, and I still get it. There are always reasons to be on a screen. People wanted to talk with me, too. At the time, I was running a business, was on a team, was advising several companies, and hosting a late-night comedy show, and had friends and family I love speaking with. I simply asked people that may want to talk with me on Sunday to please contact me on any other day. There are six other possible days, and I just took one out of the realm of possibility. Everyone who respects me respects my time and respected this day for me. I lost nothing and gained improvements to my business, team collaboration, relationships, and health.
And just like there are always reasons to be on a screen, there are always reasons not to be on a screen.
So you decide which reasons you’ll choose.
If you’d like some community around practicing a Screenless Sunday, you’re invited to subscribe!
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✨ Notes & Announcements ✨
In 2020 I wrote a piece for Fast Company about this topic, I stopped using screens on Sunday. This is how it changed my life.
On May 28, I’m offering a free “Lightning Lesson” in collaboration with Maven. The lesson: How to Pitch with Clarity and Confidence, during which I’ll share...
how to make your message clearer, more concise, and easier for your audience to follow
how to identify the habits that weaken your pitch
how to use one practical technique to strengthen your pitch
To learn more and register, visit this lesson page on Maven. When you register you’ll get an email and calendar invitation.
Please excuse and even celebrate typos, wonky grammar, as this post was written by a human and all of her foibles and abilities to miss these things when proofreading.