24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection [2020, PDF/EPUB, ENG]

by Tiffany Shlain

(257 ratings)
Book cover
Winner of the Marshall McLuhan Outstanding Book Award
Peoples New Book Worth Reading
Real Simple’s Great Books You Won’t Be Able to Put Down
Entrepreneur’s 12 Productivity and Time-Management Books to Read

“I’m won over to a day with people, not screens….I tried Shlain’s idea. I highly recommend it.” —
The New York Times
“Tiffany Shlain is a modern-day prophet, brilliant and incredibly funny in equal measure...
24/6 is timeless and timely wisdom.” — Angela Duckworth, #1 New York Times bestselling author

This “wise, wonderful work” (
Publishers Weekly starred review) demonstrates how turning off screens one day a week can work wonders on your brain, body, and soul.

Do you wish you had more time to do what you love, think deeply, and focus on the people and things that matter most? By giving up screens one day a week for over a decade, Internet pioneer and renowned filmmaker Tiffany Shlain and her family have gained more time, productivity, connection, and presence.

Shlain takes us on a thought-provoking and entertaining journey through time and technology, introducing a strategy for flourishing in our 24/7 world. Drawn from the ancient ritual of Shabbat, living 24/6 can work for anyone from any background. With humor and wisdom, Shlain shares her story, offering the accessible lessons she has learned and providing a blueprint for how to do it yourself.

“Bolstered with fascinating and germane facts about neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, and the history of the concept of a day of rest” (
Publishers Weekly), 24/6 makes the case for incorporating this weekly reset into our 24/7 lives, issuing a call to rebalance ourselves and our society..
Read more ▾

Book details


  • Author : Tiffany Shlain
  • Publisher : Gallery Books; Reprint edition
  • Published : 10-19-2020
  • Language : English
  • Pages : 256
  • ISBN-10 : 1982116870
  • ISBN-13 : 978-1982116873
  • Reader Reviews : 257 (4.5)

info-popup This book is available for free download in a number of formats - including epub, pdf, azw, mobi and more. You can also read the full text online using our ereader.

  • File Formats : PDF, FB2, DOC, EPUB, TXT
  • Status : available for FREE download
  • Downloads : 3548

About the Author


Tiffany Shlain


Honored by Newsweek as one of the “Women Shaping the 21st Century,” Tiffany Shlain is artist, an Emmy-nominated filmmaker, founder of the Webby Awards, and author of the national best-selling book '24/6: Giving up Screens One Day a Week to Get More Time, Creativity, and Connection' which won the Marshall McLuhan Outstanding Book Award. The Museum of Modern Art in New York premiered her one woman “Spoken Cinema” performance Dear Human. Her current art exhibit 'Human Nature' is presented by the National Women's History Museum and Women Connect4Good. She has received over 80 awards and distinctions for her films and work, including multiple Sundance Film Festival premieres, selection by the Albert Einstein Foundation’s as one of the 100 people who carry on his legacy and the Neil Postman Award for Career Achievement in Public Intellectual Activity. The US State Department has used Tiffany’s films to represent America at embassies around the world. For the past 25 years, Tiffany has been writing newsletters called 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. For information on her book, art, films, lectures, and her newsletter visit tiffanyshlain.com and follow Tiffany on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @tiffanyshlain.

.
Read more ▾

Reader Reviews

J
GenerationGap415
an empowering guide to living better...an antidote to the assault of technology in our lives
Reviewed in the United States on 11-29-2019
24/6 is not just a book, it’s an empowering guide to living better.

Life is so frenetic I often feel like there’s no time to slow down, no chance to escape all the noise coming from our screens that scream nonstop for our attention—the apps, the texts, the posts, the emails, the alerts. It’s overwhelming. And then I read this book (in print form) that tells me it doesn’t have to be like that. Reading it was like taking a long, deep breath, something I don’t do nearly often enough.

The author, Tiffany Shlain, explains not only why it’s important to slow down but also how to do so. She knows what she’s talking about. She and her family have been turning off their screens 1 day a week for the past 10 years, what they call a Technology Shabbat (day of rest), when they spend time with each other or on their own without any screens. Even her high schooler and middle schooler participate—and apparently love it!

Shlain goes through the history, science, philosophy and value of a day of rest and reveals the addictive nature of the screens that dominate so much of our lives. She even addresses how to deal with FOMO (fear of missing out) that a lot of us feel (I know I do) when trying to imagine a day without our phones!

But she’s not preachy. She’s not even anti-technology. She founded the Webby Awards and has made many short films (which are also really good!) demonstrating the wonder of technology and its intersection with humanity. Her writing style (like her films) is convincing and accessible—even when describing what happens to our brains and our bodies when we take a day of rest. And, she’s very funny.

The book includes a step-by-step guide for not only taking but actually enjoying a day without screens. And, she demonstrates the benefits of unplugging, which include strengthening our thinking, creativity and connections with friends and family, nature and ourselves.

24/6 is brilliant in its wisdom and simplicity. It would be a really good holiday gift for anyone you love who you think spend too much time on their phones. This book is like an antidote to the assault of technology in our lives, a way to put us back in control. I’m so glad I slowed down enough to read it.
.
Read more ▾
J
C. Reynolds
Disconnecting to Connect - A great idea in theory and in practice.
Reviewed in Canada on 10-13-2019
Tiffany does a great job of sharing how disconnecting one day a week has benefits all backed up by science. When taking the advice to the task I found I enjoyed many of the benefits she discussed. Even finding out I like my teenager daughters again when we share a space without distractions. The concept is one that everyone can make work for their own situations. Reading about the benefits others got from the practice was insightful and I'll be trying my hands at baking some homemade challah bread. There are helpful tips on how to get support for the practice from those around you, even the partner who doesn't jump on board right away..
Read more ▾
J
Jennifer Steinman
LIfe changing! just what we needed right now!
Reviewed in the United States on 12-04-2019
I loved this book so much for so many reasons! It's insightful, personal, helpful, practical, well written and completely entertaining to read. It's loaded with SOLUTIONS, real ideas and activities that you can actually implement and practice, and super-interesting science-based information about the human brain and behavior. But most of all it addresses head on one of the most current and pressing issues of our modern world -- the decline in human connection as screens have increasingly impacted simple human behaviors like in-person conversations and eye contact. For me reading this was not just theoretical, it was personal - my family has been impacted directly and I didn't even realize how hungry we all were for a BREAK FROM OUR SCREENS until we read this book!! I read my husband a few chapters, and then the following week we went on a trip and he left his phone in our hotel room for 3 days while we were on vacation - it was a complete GAME CHANGER!!! OMG, we talked, we laughed, we didn't google anything in between sentences... we just experienced life together and had an amazing, bonding family trip. Don't get me wrong - we love our technology and would never get rid of it completely. But this book has really helped us see the power in just taking a break from it on a regular basis. We haven't been able to successfully have a tech shabbat every week yet, but we are working our way up to it! :).
Read more ▾