90s Summer : The Rules, The Rhythms, The Downloads

Your One Stop Shop for Turning the Screen Off and Your Life Back On

The time has come :

The quiet rebellion against screens, scrolling, and forgetting how to be alive.

And here’s our plan :

For 30 days, we disconnect — and re-wild.

Trade in :
convenience, distraction, and notifications

for :
ritual, for connection, for wonder.

When ?

We’re starting June 1st and going at least 30 days.

The Rules :

1. Built in Rhythms

   1. Monthly : You have to read a book

   2. Weekly : Fridays are movie nights ( community ) Sundays are tech free

   3. Daily : Morning and evening prayers; daily gospel reading

2. Choose as many other daily, weekly, monthly goals as you want ( I’ve got some ideas available for download )

3. No digital media — that means TV shows or movies should be physical, same with books. Get a DVD player and some DVDs if you need to; make it like Blockbuster - enjoy the inconvenience.

4. Try at least 4 challenges

5. Everything is aimed at embodiment, community, and wonder.

6. Be as analogue as you can

7. Don’t try to be perfect; aim for presence.

Suggestions :

I have some suggestions for this whole thing — and you can take them or leave them — but I think they’ll help.

Read Room For Good Things to Run Wild

Yeah, it’s my book, I know.

But, it’s literally about becoming a Saint — and says the main path to get there is through wonder and embodiment.

It’s 40 chapters, perfect for a transformative journey.

And it is definitely perfect for a summer read.

If you want something else to read I’ll drop some ideas in the comment section below.

Try a New Hobby

My guess is, once you shave those hours of phone / screen time off your day, you’re going to have plenty of time for other things.

Those things are the point of this challenge — they lead to growth in relationships, presence with those you care about, and, if you want, a kind of joy in mastery.

Start writing something, learn to woodwork, take up archery, learn how to survive in the wild, sew or knit, go fishing, paint a self-portrait.

Do the thing you’ve always wanted to do but made excuses for.

What better time then a 90s Summer.

Pray and Put Effort into Your Goals

Listen, it’s not going to be easy — lots of this is going to be inconvenient and hard — but it’ll be Good.

It’s going to be hard to consume no digital media.

So put effort into it — go buy an old DVD player now.

It’s probably going to be tricky to get a group of people together every Friday night for a Blockbuster movie night, so get buy in now.

It’ll be hard to go techless on Sundays — so make your plans now.

And pray about it.

Let these be invitations into deeper realities — find the reason why you need to disconnect and then reconnect.

Why I Want to do This :

At first I thought it was misplaced nostalgia; and then I realized I wanted more than the good ol’ days.

I think we have lost something over the last 15 years that had real meaning, and in losing it, we’ve ended up in some burned-out, in-between space.

Half awake, like we’re missing something.

I think we’ve lost the art of being human - of being connected, of playing, of praying, of hosting, of proper rest.

And I think a digital detox is just the kind of rebellion we need.

Ready ?

The downloads are below :

And also — would you guys be interested in weekly “meet-ups” ?

Think early internet, digital third spaces — MSN meets Skype meets Every Day Saints.

See y’all soon