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A Weekend Without Screens

Last month my friend Lena sent me a message with a surprising idea: a “no-screens weekend”. That meant no phone, no laptop, no TV and, worst of all, no music apps. At first I thought she was joking, because we usually plan our weekends by sharing links and videos. But she said she felt tired all the time and wanted to see if switching off would help. I agreed, mostly because I was curious, and also because she promised we could do something outdoors. On Saturday morning we met at the bus station with a paper map, two bottles of water and a bag of sandwiches. Lena had written down the bus times in a notebook, as if we were travelling in the past. We took a bus to a small village near the hills. Normally, during the journey, I would scroll through social media without thinking. Instead, we looked out of the window and noticed places we had never seen before, even though they were only twenty minutes from our town. When we started walking, I kept reaching for my pocket to check messages that weren’t there. Lena laughed and told me to count how many times I did it. After half an hour I stopped. The path was quiet, except for birds and the sound of our footsteps. We got lost once because we missed a turning, but it wasn’t a disaster. We asked a farmer for directions, and he pointed us back to the right track. I realised I was paying more attention to people around me than usual. In the afternoon we sat near a stream and ate our sandwiches. Without screens, the time felt slower, but not boring. We talked about school, our families and plans for the summer. Later, back in town, we went to a small café and played cards with some other customers who joined in. On Sunday evening, when I finally turned my phone on, I had several notifications. Surprisingly, I didn’t rush to answer them. I felt calmer, and I also understood Lena’s point: technology is useful, but it shouldn’t decide how we spend every free moment.

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