Chad Silverstein takes a weekly Sabbath, going offline for 24 hours every Friday night to Saturday night. He found that unplugging improved his wellbeing and strengthened time with family and community. He warns that constant connectivity is a trap and urges deliberate rules like keeping phones out of sight around loved ones.
Chapters
I like to think that I have a very strong mind, disciplined way of being that things don't get in my life and control me. I don't like to be controlled. I'm definitely a control freak. And I don't like feeling like I'm addicted to my phone and feeling like I need to be connected. One of the best decisions I ever made personally in my life was when I went down this path in my spiritual life. I observe the Sabbath and I go dark for 24 hours every week on Friday night till Saturday night. And it's the highlight of my week. The funny thing is, it was really hard when I first started doing it, that the disconnect and to feel like I'm disconnected and that I'm missing out was hard. And I remember one day thinking, as I got into the process of longer and longer hours until I can get to the full 24 hours of not having my phone on and not having any electronics, you know how it did get easier and I was building a habit and discipline. And then I started to fill in that time with things that I loved, which were family and community and prayer and the things that really calmed me down and kind of let my week kind of settle. And I remember thinking, one day, if I don't have this stuff, if I don't do it, that means that I'll be connected for the rest of my life without any break. If I didn't observe the Sabbath, I would literally be connected 247 without any break. And I think that's a. That's a subscription plan that you don't necessarily want to sign up for. And many of the people who are watching this right now, you probably fall into that camp and you got to do things and find ways to break out of it at some point, even if it's for a short amount of time. You don't want to let your brain be connected 24 7. And you don't want to feel like you're being controlled by feeling like you're missing out. You're not missing out anything. You know, I think the first time I took a vacation and disconnected from my job for a week because I didn't have a wifi connection or I didn't have cell phone connection, and it was like Mexico. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I realized when I got back everything was fine. The world will go on without you, and work will still be there, emails will still be there. It can be stressful for sure, but if you don't do it, your life will pass by and you'll look back and realize that you never had downtime. You were never disconnected, and that's just not a way to live. So figure out where that shows up in your life, whether it's your phone or any type of tech. And as things kind of build more momentum around us with new technology and AI and all the things that are being created and all the tools that are designed to make our lives easier, you know, take stock and be honest with yourself. Be realistic with yourself, and know that you should feel good being able to control yourself and be able to turn it off at certain times. Make some disciplines and figure out when you're with certain people that you just don't want to be on it. Don't send those micro messages to your spouse, to your kids, to your employees. By having your phone on the counter. You know, I don't care if you look at it and then put it down, you are sending a message, period, that this is more important than you. And that's one of the things I love watching. Chat, man. It comes to practice, you don't see his phone. You just don't see it. And you know, it's hard to get in touch with. I hear people joking about it, but that's. That's the way it needs to be if you want to protect your time and your relationships and make sure that you're not going to be a slave to your. To your tech. You got to ask yourself if you are.
