My First Intentional Digital Sabbath

Durango, Colorado

After reading numerous articles and books advocating for a "digital sabbath" and running the numbers on how much of our lives get consumed by smartphones and TV, I finally decided to try it for myself.

In case you're unfamiliar, the word "sabbath" derives from the mystical tradition of Judaism, in which the Jews thought that god had commanded them to take an entire day of the week off from doing absolutely anything. The Jews created all sorts of rules around this practice, to the point where they could only walk a certain number of steps per day (unless they were carrying a jar with soil from their home, in which case they could walk farther). While the Jewish cult known as Christianity abolished many of the restrictions around the sabbath, the word and practice continue even to this day.

For my own digital sabbath, my girlfriend and I decided to disconnect completely from cell phones, computers, television, and all other external communication from one evening, to the second morning later. (For example, from a Friday night to a Sunday morning.) This allowed us to have an entire waking day (almost) completely free from technology.

In our case, we were on vacation in a somewhat unfamiliar town, and made an exception for maps and navigation. We did do our best to navigate from memory as much as possible, and I looked up hike plans the night before to avoid using maps the day of. Unfortunately, my hike plans were derailed due to a seasonal wildlife closure, forcing me to revert to digital maps (albeit ones downloaded for offline use). I contrast, if you test out a digital sabbath in your hometown, you should easily be able to still head out in the woods and navigate from memory.

Despite this small hiccup in our experiment, we were able to remain disconnected from all outside communication and all other digital devices.

I don't remember the last time I spent an entire day so completely disconnected from technology. Perhaps it was my last backpacking or bikepacking trip... but the last true backcountry trip I took was several years ago. Even then, I was likely using technology to navigate and update loved ones to tell them I had made it down off the mountain alive. And on backpacking trips, I'm constantly whipping out my phone to take photos and document the experience (which I didn't do during my digital sabbath). The more I thought about it, the more I realized that it might have been decades since I was this disconnected from technology.

Unexpected Anxiety

During my morning journaling practice, I realized that I was already experiencing some serious anxiety about not being able to check my phone. What if I finally got the email that I've been waiting for for over a month? What if my stimulus check finally shows up in my checking account? What if the stock market crashes? What if, what if...

As I reflected on these anxieties, I realized that in almost all circumstances, the things I was anxious about were completely outside my locus of control, and thus weren't worth worrying about after all. I worked to release those anxieties and focus on being fully present on my technology-free day.

After a delightfully slow morning filled with journaling, reading, and mediocre AirBNB coffee, our first stop was a trailhead for a 6-mile hike. As the miles rolled on and I focused on the sounds of nature around me, those anxieties quickly faded away, as I realized that I had committed to not checking on ANYTHING today. It was going to have to wait for the next day. If the world fell apart, I'd find out about it the next morning.

Guess what I found when I logged on the next morning? Not only were all those things outside of my control, but NONE OF THEM even happened on the day I was disconnected. The email didn't arrive. The stimulus check didn't hit my account. And the stock market didn't crash either.

Literally none of the things I was worrying about came to pass.

I had spent entirely too damn much time being anxious about those things. My anxiety amounted to nothing, my worries didn't materialize, and even if they had, my worrying about them wouldn't have had an impact either way.

What Replaced the Anxiety

As I let the anxiety fade into the background, the reduction in technology had several huge, immediate impacts. I was able to better absorb the mountains and the landscape around me, soak in the sound of the wind in the trees, the vistas of the clouds blowing around the mountain peaks, the feeling of cold snow on my face.

But as the day wore on, I found myself to be eminently unhurried. I didn't have anywhere to be on any time schedule, and my girlfriend and I were simply able to enjoy life, enjoy the world, and embrace our experience of it. We hiked, laughed, talked, ate, drank, and generally lived our lives... and it was glorious.

The first thing I thought after it was done? "I wonder when I can do this again," followed by, "I wonder if next time, we can do it for longer."

If you haven't yet, give a digital sabbath a try. You might be pleasantly surprised.