Our First No-Tech Sunday

I promised in my January retrospective: one no-tech day per month with the family. Today was the first one.

Phones off. Laptops closed. Tablets hidden. The whole family.

The First Hour

Uncomfortable. I reached for my phone four times before remembering.

My hand literally moved on its own. Phantom phone syndrome. That’s how deep the habit goes.

The kids lasted about three minutes before asking for their tablets. We redirected them. Board games. They complained.

We played Monopoly. Andriel is ruthless at Monopoly. He bankrupted his sister and felt zero remorse.

Then we went for a walk. No destination. Just walking. Pointing at things. Talking about nothing important.

The kids found a creek. Spent an hour throwing rocks into it. An hour. Just rocks and water.

I would have scrolled through 200 tweets in that time. They found more joy in rocks.

My brain kept generating “I should check” thoughts:

None of these were urgent. All of them felt urgent. That’s the trick our devices play on us.

My kids are funny. Like, genuinely hilarious. I miss their jokes when I’m on my phone.

Silence is okay. We sat on the porch doing nothing. It wasn’t boring. It was peaceful.

Time slowed down. The day felt longer. In a good way. We did less and experienced more.

Boredom sparks creativity. Without screens, the kids invented a game involving sticks, rocks, and elaborate rules I still don’t understand.

We cooked dinner together. Messy. Inefficient. Fun.

My wife said it was the best Sunday in months. The kids asked if we could do it again next week.

Next week might be too ambitious. But monthly? Absolutely.

I work in tech. I love tech. I build AI systems for a living.

And the best day I’ve had in months involved zero technology.

That’s not irony. That’s balance.

We’re doing this again.