Tildes Screenless Day Discussion Thread - May 2021
What is a "Screenless Day"?
Tildes "Screenless Day" is a simple event aimed at encouraging people to take a temporary step away from toxic or consuming aspects of technology and spend their time and energies elsewhere.
When is it?
It takes place over the weekend starting on the first Friday of each month. Participants will choose that Friday, Saturday, or Sunday to take as their screenless day -- whichever works best for their schedule.
Some people might not be able to participate in that window, and that's fine too. They can choose to shift their day earlier or later as needed. It is also completely fine (and encouraged!) to take personal screenless days separate from the event if you like. This thread will be posted the first weekend of each month, but it is open for comments the entire month.
Does it have to be truly "screenless"?
"Screenless" is an ideal, not a mandate. The spirit of the day is to deliberately step away from toxic or consuming aspects of technology, and what that means is different for each person. Thus, it is up to each participant to determine what "screenless" means to them. Some might only choose to not use social media for a day; some might choose to eliminate all "screens" but still use their ereader; some may maintain some screen use but only for necessity (e.g. work; classes; GPS; etc.). Some might get rid of screens entirely, or go fully "unplugged" for the day.
How do I participate?
You do not have to do anything formal at all to participate -- simply take your screenless day in whatever way is best for you! That said, I think it's more enjoyable and valuable to make this a shared experience, so the structured way to participate, for anyone interested, is as follows:
STEP ONE: Before you take your day, post a top-level comment in this thread detailing your plan for your screenless day.
Consider the following questions:
- Why do you want to take a screenless day?
- How are you personally defining "screenless"?
- What do you plan to do with your time?
- What do you hope to get out of it?
To have your plan stand out from normal conversation, please use the # markdown to title your post "[yourusername's] Screenless Day Plan"
STEP TWO: Take your screenless day.
- In the spirit of the event, you should probably not be reading or posting to this topic at all that day. To each their own, however. :)
STEP THREE: After it is over, return to the thread to reflect on your screenless day.
Post a response to your original comment in which you tell us all about your day.
- What did you do?
- How did it feel?
- Was it difficult? Easy?
- Did anything surprise you?
- Were there any unexpected challenges/breakthroughs?
- If you plan to do it again, what would you change? What would you keep the same?
To have your follow-up stand out from normal conversation, please use the # markdown to title your post "[yourusername's] Screenless Day Reflection"
Can I chat in this thread if I'm not participating?
Yes! The more, the merrier! Discussion from anyone, participant or non-participant alike, is welcome. Though, do understand that it might take a bit longer than normal for some people to respond. :)
I am not sure if I can participate in this one - while Easter was workable, this weekend is my birthday, my MIL's birthday, Mother's day, my grandmother's birthday, and my brother's birthday! It's always an absolute mess every year trying to figure out where to go and who to spend time with, so I'm not going to also put this on my plate.
However, I will do one next weekend! I want to do one on Saturday, the 15th.
I hope that if anyone reading this is thinking about trying it, they give it a shot! It was a really good experience for me last month.
kfwyre's Screenless Day Plan
Tomorrow is Mother's Day, and my husband and I are, for the first time in over a year, hosting people in our home. It's just a small gathering -- six people total, all fully vaccinated.
I have tears in my eyes typing that though. It feels so, so good to be able to get together again without fear.
I'm taking my screenless day tomorrow. I want to be fully present with them in person. That's the whole plan.
kfwyre's Screenless Day Reflection
Our get together was delightful: six people, five dogs, delicious food, and the refreshing delight of enjoying a "normal" that hasn't been seen around in far too long.
Last screenless day I took a very purist approach, but with this one I was much more lax. I still used my phone for messaging and notes and whatnot, I just didn't go on Tildes, check the news, or waste time on a couple of the fluff image subreddits I check in on from time to time. Given that I wasn't on a hard lockout from my phone, I was surprised to see how many times I instinctively unlocked it and tapped my Tildes icon. It's essentially a "boredom reflex" that I have ingrained in me, and I really want to get away from that.
It was also a little uncomfortable, as I had made a few comments on threads the day prior and it was honestly difficult to not check to see what the responses were (if any). Even though people on Tildes are unfailingly polite, I couldn't shake the sense that someone or someones were busy blowing up/arguing with my comments and I wasn’t there to address them. That hasn’t been my experience on this site at all (everybody’s so nice!), but I think it speaks to how deeply ingrained conflict is in social media that in its absence I felt the threat of it. I want to get away from that feeling too. I kept telling myself “even if someone is arguing with you they can wait a day for a response — it’s actually better for everyone if you wait!” It was the right answer intellectually but did nothing to override the feeling of a need to know, right now, what was being said.
I did do a massive house cleanup. My husband and I did the usual before and after hosting cleanups, but my home office has been a messy nightmare for months now. I’ve been saying I’m going to clean it up for weeks and simply haven’t, so I channeled the time and energy that would usually be frittered away checking in on r/dogswithjobs and r/me_irlgbt taking care of piles of junk mail and old bills, as well as a variety of “I’m not sure where to put this at the moment” items that are intended for temporary storage on my desk but then become near-permanent fixtures as I never muster up the extremely minimal effort it would take to find them a true home.
I took a stack of mail off of one of the books I started last screenless day, a month ago. I haven’t touched it since. I intended to read more of it yesterday and didn’t. I need to figure out why I don’t read anymore. I don’t have a reason for it — I just don’t, and it irks me. I think the screenless days are valuable for giving me a glimpse of what my life would be like with a different set of priorities. I need to figure out how to treat those not like a monthly novelty and more like a habit. There’s no reason that books should go untouched and my office should remain so messy for so long.