The Great Digital Pause
One day to remember we're human...
This idea started with the following question running through my mind:
What would happen if no one, anywhere got online for one day? Philosophically, kind of like if a tree falls in the woods and no one was around to hear it? Would it make a sound?
Imagine the day without beeps, dings, pings, or notifications-just the sound of your own thoughts...
Screens stay dark while our eyes soak up the sights around us,
Listening to what the world sounds like without technology's hum...
Just for one day.
Algorithms will be ok and here to greet us when we reconnect.
pours you a cup of coffee☕
Spend a minute with me this SundayX and consider this idea...✨✨✨
Please let me know your thoughts on it.
✨🙏🏼✨
What if we paused the scroll for just one day?
Synchronized.
Together.
Not to abandon the world, but to return to it more fully.
Not to protest technology, but to remember that we are more than machines.
One day.
Offline.
A day to walk, write, stretch, speak, rest, notice, be.
Not a protest.
Not a test.
Just a return to presence.
Could we try?
Together?
What if we had an official Internet holiday?
A worldwide day of Digital Rest?
Digital pause?
Digital Sabbath?
Sabbath for the mind?
Screen Sabbath?
What do we call this new holiday?
What if we had a day once a year where we did not get online or engage with the Internet in any way?
For one day none of the following:
social media
streaming
online banking
online shopping.
online activity.
Even schedule the day off work because after all, it's a holiday!!!
The intention for the day of digital pause is to reconnect with what makes us human preferably by spending time outside in nature.
Grounding.
Recentering.
Reconnecting, deepening and enjoying our connection with friends and family.
What I'm getting at is to just do the things we usually do online in person instead.
Go shop in a local brick and mortar if you need to shop, spend time at your local favorite coffee shop reading a book, or go to the bank in person if you need to do business.
Visit with friends in person or write them some snail mail.
Read a book and lean into your own writing with a pen and notebook.
Engage with your hobbies or find a new one.
Volunteer.
Go for a hike.
Meditate.
TOUCH GRASS.
Think about it. 🤔
I'm talking about a tech free day-just a pause from tech for one day.
Tech free does not equal anti tech.
I want to be clear on this to leave no room for my words to be misconstrued.
I'm a tech lover and enthusiast myself but don't we let these things consume us sometimes?
This is the reason for a collective digital pause.
Sure, we all disconnect on our own from time to time for digital detox but maybe we can foster unity & strengthen our online connections around a digital sabbath.
I'm open to suggestions, comments and ideas to build upon this concept.
All ears here. ✨✨✨
When we pause the screens, the world speaks in colors and sounds we’ve been missing.
So far, I favor a date in the fall of each year.
Specifically, I lean toward the Autumn Equinox — a day of balance between light and dark, a natural pause, and a gentle reminder to slow down before the year’s rush.✨
Dear Readers,
Thank you for staying with me during my brief absence on Hive.
Life threw me a bit of a curve ball.
I'm adjusting my sails and carrying on.
I write a long post on X every Sunday for SundayX where I share a virtual cup of coffee with my followers and talk about different topics on my mind at the moment.
This one felt worthy of sharing on more platforms. The idea came to me while I was on my brief digital pause recently.
Thank you for reading and sticking with me.
Much love & gratitude.
Here’s a comprehensive table showing when the Autumn Equinox 2025 begins across all global time zones, based on the precise moment of 18:19 UTC on September 22 .
Time Zone / Region UTC Offset Local Date & Time
UTC +0 22 Sep 2025, 18:19
Western Europe (e.g., London, Lisbon) +1 22 Sep 2025, 19:19
Central Europe (e.g., Paris, Berlin) +2 22 Sep 2025, 20:19
Eastern Europe (e.g., Athens, Helsinki) +3 22 Sep 2025, 21:19
India Standard Time (IST) +5:30 23 Sep 2025, 23:49
China/Australia Western Time (e.g., Beijing) +8 23 Sep 2025, 02:19
Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) +10 23 Sep 2025, 04:19
Japan / Korea Standard Time (JST/KST) +9 23 Sep 2025, 03:19
Eastern Daylight Time (EDT, U.S./Canada) –4 22 Sep 2025, 14:19
Central Daylight Time (CDT, U.S./Canada) –5 22 Sep 2025, 13:19
Mountain Daylight Time (MDT, U.S./Canada) –6 22 Sep 2025, 12:19
Pacific Daylight Time (PDT, U.S./Canada) –7 22 Sep 2025, 11:19
Alaska Daylight Time (AKDT) –8 22 Sep 2025, 10:19
Hawaii–Aleutian Daylight Time (HST) –10 22 Sep 2025, 08:19
New Zealand Standard Time (NZST) +12 23 Sep 2025, 06:19
Notes:
All local times are derived based on the equinox occurring at 18:19 UTC on September 22, 2025 .
Daylight Saving Time (DST) and regional offsets were taken into account where applicable.
Acknowledgements:
First image created in collaboration with Grok for today's SundayX post
The second, third, and fourth images created in collaboration with ChatGPT along with the time zone table for Autumn Equinox 2025.
Hope you will continue to grace us with your presence! Catch those curve balls and throw them right back.
Anyway, onto your post, and its central themes. I want to do this. I want to throw my devices in the bin for a brief today. But, I realise, I wouldn't be able to talk to my friends. I would need to organise the day of digital abandonment using digital means.
We rely too much on it. Even if I escape it in the bedroom, in the kitchen, in the lounge, when I start the car to go somewhere, there's a screen. There are screens that line the streets, and screens to pay for the parking.
Screens to pay for a lunch. Screens to order from the menu.
I think one of the reasons I enjoy photography so much is it because it is just me, light, and the person I'm photographing. There's screens involved (Looking through a screen to compose a shot) - but trying to control nature and distill a moment is therapeutic.
That, and stopping to see the things you don't see everyday, the foliage, the bark, the leaves.
Thank you for the kind words, I'll definitely stick around Hive! I'm grateful to find a welcoming community here.
I get this. I really do...
I'm not asking people to ditch the net forever with the pause.
In evaluation of what it would look like for me, I realize I couldn't pause 100% myself.
I have a handful of apps and gadgets I use every day and there's not a day I can realistically go without using them.
I could pause maybe 95%. But not 100%.
My intention behind the proposed pause was only meant as a nourishment for ourselves instead of a deprivation. I wouldn't want it to cause stress or be a rigid observation.
It's true, we are surrounded by screens, not just at home but in our communities for the sake of doing business.
I love tech and nature. I can only speak for myself when I say sometimes I don't get out in nature enough for grounding as I should.
I couldn't leave my fellow creatives & all the wonderful people I've met online.
Alas, life is a balancing act.
I'm working on getting out more and snapping photos of things I love. I have a lot of clouds in my camera roll. 😂 Ironically it's often been said I have my head in them. 😂
(One of my recent photos, beautiful sky over Amish Grocery.)
There are some people who should be barred from the Internet on a permanent basis, though, for sure :D
My mother only has her mobile phone. She doesn't use the Internet on it. She just texts and calls. And listens to FM radio on it. She doesn't even have a bank card. Heck, she doesn't even have a TV. She reads books and asks me a lot of questions for entertainment.
Her frustration at the lack of options to not use digital tech will only grow as time goes on. I've tried to teach her, but she is simply not able to learn. The most technology she probably used was a type-writer and a telephone.
Sure we had a VCR, Tapes, and Vinyls growing up, but it was always my father and I who would operate those things.
For people like her, a world without digital stuff is an everyday reality, and life works just fine. So, technically, it could work for us, if we were willing to sacrifice some of those comforts.
Valid point, a few types come to my mind.
Your Mom sounds like my Mom. Mom wanted me to Google for her. She tried to get the hang of using a smart phone but never was able to. My Dad on the other hand is actually my tech support. 😂
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STOPA pause is always necessary...
Thank you for taking us there!
!MMB
!STRIDE
!HUG
!INDEED
!WEIRD
My pleasure! We can nourish ourselves with the pause and the community. !HUG
@baccusbee, you're rewarding 3 replies from this discussion thread.