Writer Stephen Marche has an interesting essay in Toronto Life about taking a digital Sabbath. For him, it’s an escape from anything with a screen. “Once-basic distinctions—between work and play, between healthy and unhealthy, between activity and distraction—vanish under the glare of the screens. Which is why the digital Sabbath is so necessary; it reestablishes the distinctions. It draws a line.”

The whole piece is worth reading, but here’s a taste:

The first thing I discovered is how surprisingly difficult it is to live without screens, and not just because of the obvious inconveniences…. [M]y own brain is overwhelmed by the absence of screens on Friday night. I’m jittery, like my mind is a crumpled piece of paper uncrumpling. The digital Sabbath makes me realize how deeply the tendency toward distraction has been ingrained in my consciousness. It’s hard for me just to play Lego with my son. It’s hard just to read a newspaper….

The digital Sabbath makes you realize just how wonderful the devices we live through are, how powerful, how transformative, how magical. But even magic needs a rest.