Gizmodo contributor Leslie Horn writes about her recent tech-free vacation in "The Right Way to Disconnect from Technology on Your Next Vacation:"

a vacation isn't a vacation unless you really really get away from the minutiae of your everyday existence. Question is, how do you do that without also stripping out the conveniences of technology?

I spent the first 10 days of August off the internet in the Rocky Mountains with my family and at a music festival with some friends. It was lovely and wonderful to spend time with people who are normally dispersed in different cities across the country, but the destination really could have been anywhere. For me, the key was relaxing by making the trip a perfect tech-free oasis.

See, there are those of us who have let the internet seep inside of their very souls, and take control of every pore of their existence. You know who you are—and this guide is for you.

So does the "right way" involve a very specific set of things, or steps? Not so much. Horn talks about what worked for her– leaving the laptop at home, disabling work email on her phone, turning off social media notifications, for example– but she adds

Whatever you decide is a-okay, make it a firm plan from the beginning, and don't flake on it….

There are varying levels of what this means for different people. I, for one, have little to no self-control… [and t]hat's exactly why I opted for a near total internet deportation.

Not everyone needs that kind of hard line, and tech isn't necessarily bad. It's more about deciding what you can and can't handle—and what you need to do to make yourself spend a few days chilling out. Digital decompression is good for everyone occasionally.

This is very consistent with what I heard when interviewing people who take regular digital Sabbaths: figuring out what you need to get away from (and what parts of your mind you want to restore), making a plan, and sticking to it, are keys to getting the most out of the experience.