How to Log Off This Summer (Without Making It a Thing)
Because your brain deserves a holiday too and no, switching from Instagram to TikTok doesn’t count.
There’s a certain fantasy I have at the start of every summer. It involves me, a floaty linen dress (that doesn’t crease the second I sit down), a field somewhere with no signal, and a complete disinterest in what anyone is doing on the internet.
In this dream, I read a book in one sitting. I go entire afternoons without checking WhatsApp. I don’t even think to take a photo of the spritz in my hand because I’m too busy enjoying the taste. I log off, disappear, become a myth, a whisper in the wind.
But in reality, I post an Instagram story of the train pulling away from the station with the caption “Out of office x,” then immediately spend the entire journey scrolling TikTok, sending screenshots to the group chat, and checking who’s liked my story.
So, how do you log off this summer without doing it in that performative way; the digital detox announcements, the “just focusing on IRL vibes” captions, the farewell reels set to Bon Iver?
Here’s what I’ve been trying instead:
✨ 1. Swap ‘digital detox’ for ‘gentle boundaries’
Logging off doesn’t need to be all-or-nothing. You don’t have to delete every app or go off-grid. Try smaller, more doable shifts: no phone in bed, screen free Sunday mornings, or keeping your phone in your bag during dinner. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about giving yourself space to be more present in your actual life.
🌿 2. Reclaim your attention span with tiny rituals
Pick one offline thing you loved as a kid, making a mixtape (aka Spotify playlist, but still), journaling, painting your nails properly while watching a rom-com; and turn it into a weekly ritual. The aim isn’t productivity. It’s pleasure. A sense of return. Something that reminds you you’re more than your inbox or your Instagram feed.
📚 3. Go analogue where you can
Buy a second-hand summer book. Write your to-do list in a notebook. Take a disposable camera on a weekend trip. Read a recipe from a book rather than Google. Using your hands, in a way that doesn’t involve typing; can be strangely calming.
🌞 4. Plan your screen-free moments like plans, not punishments
Block off an afternoon like it’s a date with yourself: picnic in the park, gallery wander, library visit, cooking something slow. Leaving your phone at home isn’t deprivation, it’s permission. To notice things. To get bored. To feel how sunny it is without needing to post about it.
🧠 5. Choose a theme, not a ban
Instead of cutting everything out, try choosing a theme for the summer: connection, curiosity, softness, simplicity. Let that guide your digital habits. If it doesn’t feel nourishing, don’t engage. If it pulls you out of your own body, give yourself permission to put it down. Be more curious about your own life than other people’s highlight reels.
💌 6. Tell your people you’re logging off, then go to them
If you’re worried about missing out, text your inner circle and tell them to call you if anything big happens. Or better yet, make real plans with them. Summer isn’t for perfectly curated content. It’s for messy, beautiful, real moments: laughs over melted ice cream, long talks at sunset, slightly sunburnt shoulders on the bus home.
🌊 7. Make it feel good, not like a chore
Logging off shouldn’t feel like punishment. It should feel like relief. Give yourself things to look forward to in place of your usual scroll: a podcast on a long walk, a solo coffee date with a paperback, an early night with clean sheets. Make it romantic. Make it gentle. Make it yours.
I don’t think we need a huge transformation this summer. I think we just need a break. From the comparison, the commentary, the constant hum of the online world. A bit of golden light, a cold drink, a book we actually finish. A moment or two where we forget to check the time.
And maybe, if we’re lucky, we’ll remember what it’s like to just be, without the need to prove we’re doing it right.
P.S. I’m not posting this from a sun-drenched villa with no Wi-Fi. I’m in my kitchen, eating a Solero, and I just turned my phone off for the evening. Start there.
About Twenty Five Reset
Hi, I’m Niamh, and everyone was right, 25 really is a turning point. I finally know who I am, what I want, and my purpose… but it’s nothing like I expected.
I work in TV, but it doesn’t define me. This space is my reset embracing the mess, reflecting, and creating again. You can expect:
Pop Culture and a lot of chats about 2000 - 2020 TV Shows
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Love this gentle reminder that feeling present can come with the smallest changes. 9 times out of 10, we are already living the summer of dreams but forget to actually be present and embrace the moment.