It’s hard to believe that there was a time in my life where I never took a break from my phone. That glowing little screen put me to bed at night, and burned my retinas first thing every morning. I’d open my eyes, unlock my phone, and immediately open Instagram, only to be quickly flattened by something no person should start their day with. It was a pattern I repeated for years, and it was only after it whittled me down to nothing, that I finally decided I’d had enough.
It was the main reason I started this newsletter two years ago. I wrote this last December before I started my time offline between Christmas and the New Year:
When I say going offline makes space for so much more, what I mean is that it’s a reminder of the reasons why life is worth living. If you’re chronically online the way I was for a decade, maybe you’re worried about all the things you’ll miss out on if you log off for a while. But I’d encourage you to consider what might you lose out on if you don’t?
So how long exactly, do you need?
The science says, two weeks, and in my experience, this does seem to be the sweet spot. Researchers studied what happened when people agreed to block social media, apps, and the internet from their smartphones for two weeks, they found “91% had better mental health, better subjective well-being and better sustained attention.” So what happened when people stopped scrolling?
…as it turns out, breaking the habit of scrolling on their phones led to significant changes in how they spent their time…each day the break went on, the benefits increased, almost like a positive feedback loop.
People reported that they spent more time in nature, more time socializing, more time doing hobbies. They also got more sleep and felt more socially connected to other people.
Even more surprising (or not), “the decrease in depressive symptoms was on par — or even greater than — reductions documented in studies of people taking antidepressant medications.” I’m certainly not suggesting you should ditch your meds, but it is astonishing what some scroll-free time can do for your mind, body, and soul. I know because I’ve done it.
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So what do we do instead?
I’m so glad you asked. The art of a scroll-free holiday is actually quite simple, and while it may seem daunting, the end result is deeply liberating.
To get started. Decide what day and for how long you’ll do a scroll-free break. I recommend two weeks, but to each their own! No apps, no emails, no scrolling. I put my phone on do not disturb (with some exceptions for family/friends).
This might sound extreme, but I want to share something I wrote at the beginning of the year:
I think most of us wish we had more time, and yet so much of it is spent in ways we might not want. Seven hours a day (average screen time) is almost 50 hours in a week. In a month, that comes out to 8 days. That’s longer than most people take for vacation. It’s time we don’t get back.
That right there, it’s time we don’t get back. So this holiday season, give yourself the gift of time well-spent. Not mind-numbingly scrolling on an app created to be as addictive as possible, on a device built to hijack and exploit our attention. Reconnect with yourself, your humanity, with nature, with the real world, with people, and be reminded of all the beautiful and meaningful ways there is to live in real time. To log off is a luxury.
What to Do During a Scroll-Free Holiday
This is really up to you, but if you need some thought-starters, here are some of my favorite things to do during my offline time.
✨ Nothing
Capitalism thrives on endless growth and consumption, so we live in a world that tells us our worth is measured by our productivity. In a culture where the message is that we must always be doing something, it is a radical act to do nothing. Doing nothing doesn’t necessarily mean you’re not doing anything, it just means you’re resisting the pressure to optimize, improve, or organize every second of your day.
📚 Read
My TBR list is a mile long and I am so excited it. My new rule is if I’m not into a book after about 20-30 minutes I move on. Is that harsh? Maybe. But I really do not have time for books I’m just not that into. There’s some great reading suggestions in the comments on this newsletter, but a few recent books I loved:
Culpability: timely and relevant, fiction but felt like reading non-fiction
What Kind of Paradise: another fiction that felt like non-fiction, you’ll like it if you enjoyed Educated by Tara Westover
The Road to Tender Hearts: dark humor, heartwarming, unexpected, sweet, loved this book beginning to end
🃏 Play Games
This is one of my favorite parts of offline time. We grew up playing so many games (the beauty of the 80s and early 90s pre-smartphones). Craig and I have found a ton of amazing games at our local thrift store recently, remember Taboo?! A few that we really love (and are fun to play with an almost 6-year-old):
Mexican Train: Marin loves this game and it it says for ages 12+ but she was able to learn pretty quickly so I think ages 5-6 is a good starting point
Taboo: Totally forgot about this game but it’s fun and hilarious, a little harder for Marin to understand but she had fun playing it with a group
Charades: Fun and hilarious for everyone
Matching Games: Like these
Uzzle: Level 1 is doable for younger kids
Jenga
👯♀️ Get Together with Friends
Whoever your people are, make plans with them. Doesn’t need to be anything extravagant, the holidays can be busy and hectic, but try and schedule a coffee date, or go to a yoga class with friends, get something on the calendar with the people who fill your cup.
🧩 Puzzles
The magic of a puzzle during the holidays/winter season! The 500-piece puzzles seem to be our sweet spot but if you have older kids in your home you could go for something more challenging. Find a place you can put it and leave it out for people to work on it as the days go by.
📔 Journal
Get out that old fashioned pen and paper and write. Don’t worry about it being something prophetic or meaningful, just let it be whatever it needs to be. If you need some help getting started, try answering one prompt a day, for example, “What’s one funny/weird/beautiful/different thing I noticed today?” I have two journals, one for jotting down random things and following prompts from this wonderful book, and one for writing down things specifically related to my daughter, something she said or did, something I want to remember, etc.
🌲 Nature Walks
If you can’t leave your phone at home, put it on DND. Any kind of walk is great, but if you can go for a walk in the woods or the beach or a nature trail, that’s where the magic happens. If you’re alone, try doing it without listening to music or a podcast and see where your mind takes you.
❄️ Get Outside
Beyond walks, get outside as much as you can. We love to ski, go ice skating, play outside in the snow, walk the dogs, relish in the fresh air.
🗓️ Fill in Your Important Dates
Oh how I love a planner. That feeling of a fresh new 2026 calendar with all those blank pages and promise. Before the New Year, I like to fill in all the birthdays and other important or special dates I want to remember throughout the year.
🎨 Crafts
Marin is obsessed with crafting and it has completely reinvigorated my love of it too. The options are seemingly endless and you can experiment until you find something you enjoy. We do a lot of painting and we all especially love watercolors. These books are really fun and make a great gift. Marin got into needlepoint in pre-k last year and loves doing that. You can knit, color, draw, play with clay, or make up your own craft with things around the house.
🍪 Try a New Recipe
Keep it low stakes and low stress. We like to make cookies, we’ve baked bread, made bagels. Even better, go to the library and borrow some cookbooks.
I hope this gives you some inspiration and excitement for what some time offline can look and feel like. Sometimes taking scroll-free breaks can feel hard, weird, or even sad initially, but I encourage you to push through and see what it really feels like to give your mind, body, and soul some time to refresh. Everything online will still be there, as it was, when you come back.