William Powers disconnects the internet modem in his house Friday night and reconnects Monday morning. This is from his book Hamlet’s Blackberry. He calls it the Walden Zone. I don’t know Powers still practices this disconnection. Cal Newport talks about doing something similar. He relates it to the Jewish practice of Sabbath.

I love binging internet-TV shows. When I don’t bing TV, I binge Youtube. I love the variety and color from video but I have come to love books more. To give books a chance, I decided to try Internet Sabbath for myself.

I’ve given myself more rope than the Powers’ family did. I don’t switch off the internet modem because my wife has not asked for this. I also limit Internet Sabbath to just Saturdays.

• I set the phone to go into focus model all day Saturday; the screen goes dark and notifications silence
• I don’t watch Internet TV which is the only form of TV we have; I allow myself to watch DVDs but haven’t done it yet
• I don’t use the web browser on any device

Rigid rules rarely last. Powers talks about making exceptions in his book from time to time. Here are mine:

• Any app that works offline is allowed — my note-taking app, for example, lives on the cloud
• Budgeting is allowed on the web browser — I use Google Drive and OneDrive
• I will stream podcasts on my phone’s podcast app or music on the music app
• Maps are fair game