Inside: Small ways to bring the physical world back into your home and go less digital on purpose.
There’s something about the digital world that feels full of promise. The apps, the timers, the organized folders. Photos in chronological order, sorted by face and location. The automation, the efficiency, the apps that control your apps. The trackers, the chatbots, the everything-at-your-fingertips of it all.
But here’s the danger (or really, just the reality… the digital world has become the world we live in. Not a tool for our real lives. The life itself.
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This year…what if you stepped back from it? Not because it doesn’t work. Not because the screen time is giving us headaches. But because we want something real.
You probably already know where to begin.
- Print the recipe. If you find something online you want to make, print it. Stick it in a binder or a drawer. Use it with flour on your hands instead of tapping a screen to keep it awake.
- Stop worshiping efficiency. Let go of the apps that connect to other apps. Sure, you can get them to work, but you are a human being at heart, not a robot. You don’t need to be so automated.
- Cancel the music subscription. Listen to the radio. Yes, that free thing you forgot about. Stop worrying about your playlists. Enjoy the songs as they come.
- Go to the bank instead of fumbling with their app. There was once a time where 2 factor authentication wasn’t a thing and you might like it better.
- Bring a book when you’re waiting. At the orthodontist, at practice, in the carpool line, wherever. Let your kids see you turning pages instead of staring at a screen. If they’re waiting with you, remind them to grab one too.
- Set a monthly photo date. Make the habit of going through all photos on your phone and doing something with them. This could mean: getting simple prints and hanging them up, making a photo book, whatever. Anything other than letting them languish on your phone is a good choice.
- Buy the paperback. Set it on a shelf. One day your kid will pick it up and fall in love with something you forgot you left there. Wait and you’ll see.
- Pick up encyclopedias at a yard sale. How else will your kids stumble across something they didn’t know existed? You can’t search for what you don’t know to look for. And I PROMISE YOU they can be found on the ultra-cheap.
- Shop for a gift in person. Ask the salesperson what they’d recommend. Tell them about the person you’re buying for, take their recommendation, and thank them like you mean it.
- Use a paper calendar. As a bonus, everyone will stop asking you constantly where they’re supposed to be.
- Keep a notebook. Keep it for ideas, lists, meal plans, whatever.
- Send something handwritten. A thank-you note, a birthday card, or a “thinking of you” with a stamp on it. It takes two minutes and it means a ton more than you’ll ever know.
- Make the call. When the text thread is getting long or it’s a complicated topic and you’re just thinking “ah, why are we going back and forth like this?!”. Speech still exists.
- Wear a watch. Even if it’s a smart one. Anything that tells you the time without pulling you into your phone is a better choice.
- Use a kitchen timer. You know, the tick-tick-tick kind! Because every time you set a timer on your phone, you end up checking something else and forgetting why you picked it up.
- Get an alarm clock. It’s one less reason to sleep next to your phone and some of them are very cute.
- Try cash envelopes. For groceries, for fun money, or for whatever category you always overspend. This one is definitely not for everyone, but almost everything is worth a try.
- Keep a family address book. So when your kid needs Grandma’s address, they can go look it up themselves. You don’t have to be the keeper of every piece of information.
- Buy a dictionary. When someone asks what a word means, point them to the shelf. Let them flip through and find it. They’ll see ten other words on the way, and maybe learn how to spell!
- Buy your kids CDs. You can find them for almost nothing on Facebook Marketplace. They get music they can own, and you don’t have to worry about what the algorithm plays next.
- Same with DVDs. No suggested videos or autoplay rabbit holes. Just the movie they picked, start to finish. I know.
- Write your grocery list by hand. Organize it by aisle. You’ll move through the store faster and you won’t be staring at your phone in the produce section.
- Memorize a phone number. Try learning your best friend’s phone number by heart again, even if just to prove you can.
- Turn on the TV for news and weather. I know this sounds ridiculous, but there’s something cozier about TV than scrolling on your phone.
- Go inside the store. It’s okay if it’s just Walmart. Park the car, get some sun, brush your hair. Say hello to someone. See if it cheers you up more than clicking “add to cart” ever did.
Don’t calculate the time saved or the money spent. Just try one thing and see how it feels. A little calmer, maybe, a little slower. Not everything at your fingertips…but something real in your hands.
I loved the ideas expressed here, at least the ones I could read around all the popup afs that could not be closed. It’s how I’ve lived my life for 67 years. BUT, it is disappointing to have to fight so many ads on your site to get to read your content. Perhaps you might consider rethinking the principles you are trying to share here in your post.
hello dr kim, I should actually not have any popup ads, let alone ones that can’t be closed. I will reach out to my ad network about that. but ads in general are the “price” of free content. however, of course there is a balance and I will look into what is happening here.
I love all of these and have been thinking these same things/trying to do them myself! My husband and I are currently streaming through a 2010’s tv series, and I told him we should get the DVDs from the library as the ads on our PAID streaming platform have gotten longer and more frequent! He looked thoughtful and replied, “Oh yeah…” It’s like we forgot how simple life used to be!
I don’t know if I could talk him out of his music subscription or into an alarm clock (the wake up sound is more pleasant on a phone… if anyone knows of an alarm clock that is both vintage/cute AND has a good wake-up sound, please comment!), but I can say I’m doing the rest of these and love it!
Thank you for this timely article!
yes the husbands can be a struggle haha. we cancelled our music because we didn’t like what our oldest was listening to, and then after awhile we didn’t even miss it.
It’s funny that I found this list because I have been trying to get back to my old “Gen-X” life when I was a late teen/early 20s. I miss those simple, disconnected, but more at peace days. Thank you for these tips!
hi Christy I miss it too!
This is my life! It is slower and richer, filled with color and life. It preserves my peace. Thank you for this. Beautifully written! ❤
thank you Kelly! I am so glad you are enjoying a slow and real life time on our planet. 🙂
I love this so much. I’m already doing a lot of these thongs, but this post encourages me to keep fighting for it – especially for my kids! They are teens, and so enamored by “the glow” – encouraged inadvertently my husband who loves the efficiency of technology. Your outline and categories help me organize my thoughts and will help me make a plan – and provide reasons to my family who already think I’m crazy. Going to buy an analog alarm clock now. 😘
that’s amazing Beth! enjoy your our alarm clark and keep up the good fight 🙂
Gosh, the crazy thing is – this is pretty much my life in Zimbabwe 🇿🇼 😄 and not by choice. We just don’t have the convenience of so much online life. 🥰🥰
it is a blessing in its own way. you have real life 🙂
Lots of good suggestions in this post.
I definitely find I spend too much time on my phone and aim to change that.
Me too, Laura. Try one of the paid screen time apps. They surprisingly do work, at least as a reminder to put it down.
I also do a lot of these, I greatly like the idea of the photo day. All day just sorting and looking at photos. Was just at a memorial and realized how important these photos maybe after I am gone. I’ll keep my you tube music because music on the radio is iffy at most where we live. And my suggestion is to put your recipes in a sheet protector, then store them.
yes sheet protector is the way!!!!
Hi there. I’m a big fan of your blog, and read pretty much everything you post. I especially keep going back to your grandmacore articles!
I’d like to say that I absolutely love the idea of going analog, but to add another side of the coin, I couldn’t imagine having to buy physical copies of cd’s, dvd’s and books, etc. We (in South Africa on a single income with 4 children), just couldn’t afford it. The only subsription we have is Spotify, no TV or show/movie subscriptions. Also, keeping such a large inventory of stuff would be anxiety inducing for me.
For me, I guess, it’s finding balance. Clocks and an analog watch, yes! Journals, a pretty calender, a ticking timer, yes! But I’d definitely like the balance and simplicity of having old movies on my hard drive and not having to worry about my collection of cd’s being unpacked and scratched up by toddlers while I’m nursing the baby 😅
Thanks for another great one!
hey eliyah! I would say you are ahead of most people there! I was thinking having a physical dvd set instead of multiple streaming services. since you already don’t have those, you’re doing great 🙂 thanks for the comment.
Yes!!!!!!! I do about half this list already. Yes!!!! Love it. So tired of trying to buy solutions and efficiency being tied to technology.
love it Cortney! very wise 🙂
Your timing is wonderful! I love the convenience of having my calendar, to do list, shopping list, the weather, etc. all in my pocket, but I’ve been trying to do more with paper and pen because I want to set a better example for my kids. They don’t know if I’m on my phone to look at a recipe for dinner, or for entertainment. Thanks for all the ideas on how to cut back on even productive screen time!
Melina yes that was a huge consideration for me too, always being seen on my phone. And I think freeing yourself from productive vs non productive is a big mental relief! 🙂
Thank-you!
This is the brave stuff. This is the real stuff. This is needed stuff.
From this stuff we have hope of experiencing meaning with the days we have left in the world into which we have been born.
Bringing back real living requires conscious, daily, deliberate choices. Bringing back real into lives is worth it all!
BLESSINGS to all who hunger for what is real and what is true.
thank you so much Candace ❤️
These are great ideas. In addition to less screen time, I like the point about not needing to be the keeper of all the information. When I find a recipe online I like, I write it out on a recipe card. I have this handy little thing that stands on my kitchen counter that is a blackboard on one side and has a clip on the other. Each week I write out our meals on the blackboard and put the relevant recipe cards in the clip. My son uses it to know how to set the table for his chore, and occasionally if I’ve gotten held up with something, my husband has been able to start on dinner by using the recipe card. They are also great for cooking with my son so he can easily follow along. I always have my son write thank you cards and we’ve often done paper party invitations, but for some reason I had not thought about an address book! I am going to get one to at least put in the people we are likely to thank and/or invite to a party so that he can do that part of it, too.
I love reading your emails every morning with my coffee! Absolutely LOVE this! After retiring last year, I have gone back to pen and paper❤️
thank you Cindy!yes!
I’ve recently bought an old ticking clock to put in the bedroom, and we LOVE it. Thank you for the article, Katie. You sometimes mention printed photos in your posts; would really appreciate if you shared your thoughts and experience in organizing family archives — albums, photo books, etc. Your to-the-point and sensible approach is always helpful.
hi Anastasia, I’m so glad you enjoyed the article. I think a whole article about family photos is something I will work on next. Thanks for the idea.