Our favorite tips for logging off

What It Covers

The Vergecast team shares practical strategies for disconnecting from devices during vacation. Seven Verge staff members — including reporters, editors, and producers — contribute specific, low-tech tactics for reducing screen time, from physical phone placement to library deadlines to film cameras.

Key Questions Answered

• •Friction by placement: Designate one physical location in your home as the technology zone — a specific table or couch — where all phones, laptops, and chargers live. Removing devices from pockets means every check-in requires a deliberate walk across the room, dramatically reducing mindless scrolling without requiring total abstinence from technology.
• •Notification elimination: Turn off all app notifications except calls, texts, and payment apps like Venmo. Social media messages, emails, and platform alerts are rarely time-sensitive. Checking apps on your own schedule rather than responding to interruptions reduces reactive phone use without requiring any willpower or discipline in the moment.
• •Social media engagement filter: Stop checking post likes, story views, and profile visit counts entirely — read only direct comments. Verge reporter Hayden Field stopped monitoring engagement metrics years ago, noting it previously caused self-censorship and performance anxiety. Posting without tracking audience perception removes the behavioral feedback loop that drives compulsive platform checking.
• •Infrastructure-level disconnection: Disable household Wi-Fi entirely using router apps like Eero rather than relying on individual device settings or parental controls. This creates equal, simultaneous offline status for every family member without requiring ongoing management. One button press removes TV, phones, and smart home devices simultaneously, making the rule fair and enforceable.
• •Dedicated camera strategy: Bring a film camera, disposable camera, or lower-end point-and-shoot on vacation instead of using a smartphone for photos. This separates the photography impulse from the device that also contains Slack, email, and social apps. Post-trip photo discovery becomes a separate experience rather than an immediate upload-and-engagement cycle.