You put "digital detox" in your New Year's resolutions. It is now January 10th and you have definitely been on your phone less (If doomscrolling in bed until 2am counts as "less.")

Every YouTube motivational video keeps telling you to drop your phone and touch grass. But what they are not telling you is how hard it actually is to drop your phone when it is literally your best friend that follows you everywhere, even to the toilet. A not-so-serious addiction, right? Wrong.

But the thing is those extreme digital detox challenges where you are told to delete all social media, buy a flip phone, go off the grid, sounds great in theory. But in practice? Your phone is your alarm, your camera, your way to know if plans changed, your entire social life. Going totally off is not realistic, and honestly, it is not necessary.

What ifdigital detox was less about dramatic gestures and more about small experiments you could actually complete in one weekend?

How to Start Your Digital Detox Weekend

Pick one challenge based on your comfort level. Commit to it for just this weekend, Friday night through Sunday. Notice how it feels. No judgment, no perfection required.

You can still use your phone for emergencies, navigation, or practical stuff. This is not about punishment or becoming that person who brags about not owning a smartphone.

5 Digital Detox Challenges for Your Weekend

Easy Digital Detox Ideas for Beginners

Phone-Free Meals

Your phone stays in another room during every meal this weekend.

This is the easiest win and builds awareness of how automatically you reach for your phone. You'll notice the urge to check it between bites, which is interesting.

Now, without your phone, you can actually taste your food or talk to whoever you are eating with. Or just sit there and let your mind wander. Revolutionary, I know.

The Notification Sabbath

Your notifications should have a sabbath day(s). Turn off all non-essential notifications from Friday evening to Sunday night. Keep texts and calls if you need to, but everything else goes silent.

This helps you keep full access to your phone, while removing the constant pull of pings and buzzes. You check apps when you decide to, not when they demand your attention.

You will be surprised how little you actually miss. That app notification about someone liking your three-week-old post/comment? Yeah, it can wait.

Intermediate Social Media Detox Challenges

One App Weekend

This is where you choose your most essential social media app and only use that one platform this weekend. Everything else gets logged out or freezed temporarily.

This reveals what is genuine connection versusmindless habit. If you pick Instagram but find yourself reaching for TikTok every five minutes, that tells you something.

Pick the app that would genuinely upset you to lose access to. Not which one you use most out of boredom, but which one actually matters to you. That is your app.

Airplane Mode Mornings

On this day, ~phone stays on airplane mode until noon, both Saturday and Sunday.

This will help you reclaim your mornings before the chaos floods in. No one needs to see their mentions, emails, or the group chat roasting someone before they have had breakfast.

This time, make custard without scrolling. Go for a walk or a quick run.

Read something longer than a caption. Eat breakfast that is not rushed because you got sucked into a 30-minute scroll session.

Advanced Phone Detox: The Full Day Challenge

The Saturday Shutdown

How about you try this: your entire Saturday, phone off and physically put away in a drawer or bag.

This is the full reset experience without committing to an entire weekend. One day. You can do one day.

This one is hard. Your brain will try to convince you that you need to check something. You don't. But the discomfort? That is actually the point. It shows you how dependent you have become.

To prep ahead, tell your friends on Friday night that you will be offline Saturday. Make plans that don't require your phone. Charge your phone fully so Sunday you are not scrambling with 2% battery.

How to Make Your Digital Detox Last Beyond the Weekend

After your challenge ends, sit with these questions for a minute: What did I actually miss? What felt better?

You don't have to keep doing the exact challenge forever, but maybe you keep one element. Maybe phone-free breakfasts become your thing.

Maybe you realize you don't actually need notifications on for anything except texts. Maybe you discover that Sundays feel better when you don't start them with your phone.

The goal is not to become anti-technology or preach about how you "don't even use social media anymore." It is to use your phone more intentionally, so it serves you instead of the other way around.

Try a different challenge next weekend if you want or repeat the same one and see if it gets easier. The point is that you are experimenting, not committing to some impossible standard you will abandon by February.

Start Your Digital Detox Challenge This Weekend

Your weekend belongs to you, not your screen time stats or notification count. Pick one challenge from this list. Just one. Try it out this weekend and see what happens.

Worst case? You learn something about your habits and go back to normal on Monday. Best case? Sunday evening hits differently in a way you didn't expect, and you realize you have been missing out on actually resting during your time off.

Either way, you will have tried something and that is more than most people scrolling past this article will do.