Digital Detox (formerly Screenless Day) discussion: October 2026
The goal of the monthly Digital Detox topic is:
to evaluate and potentially address toxic or controlling aspects of tech in ways are meaningful for you
This is a shift away from the previous emphasis on a "Screenless Day" which was aimed at being a specific task/event.
People can certainly still take Screenless Days as part of their Digital Detox, but I wanted to open this up a bit more to allow more opportunities for discussion and change rather than just temporarily cutting screens.
Please make this topic what you want it to be. There's no right or wrong way to post in it.
All people posting in this topic will be automatically added to the Digital Detox notification list. If you do NOT want to be added to the list, please let me know in your comment.
Monthly Discussion Starter: What "digital detox" steps have you tried in the past? Did they work? Why or why not?
Any chance you'd want to link this guide? I looked into it previously and went as far as setting up jellyfin and downloading some torrents but I never had a dedicated device, just my laptop that I needed for other things.
Thanks for the mention of Foqos. Looks like a really interesting way to deal with it by utilizing something physical. I didn't have a NFT tag around, but just using the barcode from a book that is on a bookshelf upstairs is enough extra hassle that it just might work. Setting it up to try and limit my needless compulsion to check work stuff in the weekend.
Digital Detox Notification: This month's topic is now live.
With this topic, we have pivoted away from a specific focus on "Screenless Days", though you can absolutely still take a Screenless Day if you like!
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Please add me!
I've never done a digital detox on purpose, but I often go backpacking or camping in places with no signal.
Maybe the most interesting thing, for me, about going days without internet access (weeks if you add it up over a typical year) is that it's not a big deal. I don't think it's ever felt weird or uncomfortable.
Maybe that means I'm not psychologically dependent on being network connected. Or maybe it's that the profound connectedness of the natural world is a far better kind of connection.
Loosely related: If I'm talking to a human, I put my phone down and leave it there. It may not be a "detox" but I think it's valuable to intentionally not use devices in some amount of everyday situations.
Ive participated in two “screenless” days here on tildes. The second time, last month, went a lot better than the first one a few years prior. The three biggest reasons I think last month was easier was because I knew what to expect, I took steps to set myself up for success, and I’m a different person than I was then.
I think in general though, I engage differently in the digital world. For many years I participated in infinite scrolling and games. At some point I realized I could no longer read books. I no longer had attention span for anything long form. This really bothered me because I remembered my love for books, but couldn’t read more than a chapter two if I tried to read one.
The other thing that changed is that my views towards other humans began changing dramatically. I had less tolerance and less love and more anger and more hopelessness. I guess I was old enough to remember that this wasn’t who I had always thought I was. The first real clue that the way I used the internet might be the culprit was around 2018 when I was commuting through homeless encampments and felt disgust towards the people I passed. I had no compassion. At the time my local subreddit talked about them all the time, and I had this feeling one day that the tone in the subreddit didn’t match what I thought about our city and that my views had changed to match this new tone. I started looking into the names that posted most often and realized that many of them didn’t even live in my city. And then I felt so much shame that I had succumbed to whatever their purpose of engagement was. I didn’t even see it happening to me!
These two things began changing how I interact with the digital world. I no longer participate in infinite scrolling, I rarely play games that are not of the “daily” variety, and I only engage in news a few times a month. That doesn’t mean I don’t find other ways to distract myself with a screen! But I think giving up the big ones (big for me anyway), has given me more opportunity to take advantage of things that are not of the digital variety. I don’t always take advantage of this, but I’d like to do so more than I do.
Last month this event went better than I could imagine. I was able to see that I can be without digital distraction. I look forward to getting more practice this month.
Add me please I'm curious.
Personally I already use screen time tools on mobile and think it's pretty healthy there. Also use Pause on social media apps that has been really effective for me.
This turned out wrong, or rather incoherent, I'll leave it here anyway... Maybe having it in writing in the open will let me sharpen my thoughts?
I've been thinking about the parasocial aspect of the world that I interact with through digital means...
I've spent a lot of life alone with make believe characters: plushies, legos, fantasies, books, board games, computer games, tv-series, films, etc and as of lately (say 10-20 yrs) more of that time with doom scrolling, podcasts and live streaming of games.
Forums, like tildes, somehow fall into this bucket too. There is some part doom scrolling but also parasocial aspect to the interactions[0]. Like I do recognise some people, but it is hard for me to get a consistent image of who you are and there is no real continuity, or sense of obligation, for me (neither from me).
With all that said, what I'm wanting to share is that I've started to watch stream-vods rather than live streams when I absolutely need to pass time. There is something about not even having the chance to interact that cuts back on how much it takes from my actual social battery.
I have also almost completely stopped listening to podcasts since they also drain my social battery. There is some kind if intimacy between the hosts (of the podcasts I listen to) that feels like I get to share, but I don't. I'm just alone, I can't call them when I need them.
Because that is what it boils down to for me: the less I let my attention get exhausted by "the internet" the more time I spend with my friends & community.
I do want to build community here, but I don't think or feel like I succeed at it.
[0] I don't really use private messages here to build "real" relationships with other people here. I have never successfully built an online-online or even had a long distance relationship (of any kind). It is something about time, object permanence, recognising faces and remembering names that together conspire against that for me.
I'm genuinely scared of forgetting my kid now that she is away for a semester! (Fortunately she asks for help so we do stay in touch!).
I've had a lot of success with what I call "sunsetting" my social media. This means that instead of outright quitting, I'll keep my current use as is but turn down any chance to maintain it: Don't follow or subscribe to any new accounts, if my feed gets really bad don't take action to fix it, and above all don't join any new platforms that scratch the same itch. Just let it wither gradually.
A few years back my pc broke for a few weeks and I just... never logged back in to my Twitter account. I already had the app removed from my phone so the chain was broken. Two months ago I had a persistent crashing issue with my game of Arc Raiders, so instead of searching for a fix, I replaced it in my evening chill out time with: sitting on my porch reading a book. It was a huge breakthrough for me that was only possible because most of my brain rot practices had gradually died off one by one since 2020.