Screen Free Saturdays

A few years ago now, I blogged about ways I was creating balance in my digital life:

1. Setting 30 minute daily timers on social media apps that then lock the app,
2. Turning off notifications for most apps other than text, phone & personal email,
3. Keeping screens out of the bedroom, and
4. No screens for the first & last 30 minutes of every morning & evening.

This February my curiosity was piqued about a book suggested in Vickie M Lanthier’s email newsletter; 24/6: The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week by Tiffany Shlain. I got the audiobook version (my preferred format for non-fiction) from the library & by the end of the book I was convinced I needed to add a screen-free day to my weeks. Since I work at school Mondays through Fridays, and at a horse farm all day Sundays … that left Saturdays for my screen-free days. So late March 2023 I had my first Screen-Free Saturday:

Here’s how I do my screen-free day: When I go to bed on Friday evening I put my phone into airplane mode. It stays that way until Sunday morning when I wake up. I make an exception to use my phone’s camera during my screen-free days, but I don’t edit the photos, look through them or post them. Take the photo & then phone away. I make an effort to not keep my phone on me, in my pocket, around the house when screen-free – I can go grab it when I want a photo.

Usually when I cook (or do other household chores) I listen to an audiobook to help the time pass faster. So I bought a little CD player and brought back out my old cases full of CDs from the 90s & 2000s. So on Saturdays I play CDs instead of listening to something from my phone. This past weekend, my partner was away, so I caught up on past editions of our local weekly newspaper, the LowDown, as I ate breakfast.

With the whole day ahead of me I often get some household chores done (that used to get postponed b/c I’d not have enough hours in my Saturday!). Sweep, laundry, change the sheets …

I’ll do tasks I don’t have time for during the week like meal prepping my breakfasts. This past weekend I spent 3 hours hand painting the lettering on the street signs for our private roads. I also finally got around to painting a design on the lamppost my husband made out front of our house this summer; the design has the same colours and outer shape as the barn quilt that hangs on our house.

Of course naps, with or without our cat Sly, feature on the agenda 🙂

During the week I workout to videos by fitness trainers from a video-exercise platform. So on screen-free Saturdays I try to pick a workout outdoors; go for a walk, a jog, or a paddle, etc. If the weather is really bad, I’ll use my spin bike, with the screen off, and read a book as I pedal.

In the evening, if there’s hockey my husband watches that on TV upstairs & I read downstairs. If there’s no hockey we’ll play scrabble or cards.

Until this past weekend, I mostly hadn’t been doing my Screen-Free Saturdays once school started because I was working on my illustrations for the next Thinking Classroom book. And boy did I miss screen-free time! Every screen-free Saturday is like a breath of fresh air in the week. No phone, no computer, no TV. More time for me and my partner, more time spent outside, more time spent caring for our home. We live full-time in our cottage, a move we made just before the pandemic hit. My Screen-Free Saturdays bring me back to when we didn’t yet live here full time; we had no cell service (still don’t) & no internet here. Simpler, more relaxing times. I’m bringing them back.

Are you taking any screen-free or disconnected breaks? Tell me about it in the comments!
I’ve even started to put my phone in airplane mode some evenings while we watch TV or read, just to give me a break from social media & text distractions that might come in.

Would you want to try a screen-free day? Maybe just a morning or afternoon?
What day of the week could you go screen-free?

– Laura Wheeler