Powerful ideas from top nonfiction
Try Blinkist to get the key ideas from 5,500+ bestselling nonfiction titles and podcasts. Listen or read in just 15 minutes.
Start your free trial
Blink 3 of 8 - The 5 AM Club
by Robin Sharma
Listen to the Intro
24/6 summary
Tiffany Shlain
The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week
15 mins
Table of Contents
24/6
summarized in 5 key ideas
Audio & text in the Blinkist app
Key idea 1 of 5
Rest days have been present in our cultures for thousands of years.
Rest days are an age-old tradition. Thousands of years ago, Hebrew people began observing a day of rest that they called Shabbat, or the Sabbath. The day was quite literally carved in stone as one of the Ten Commandments, establishing a single, nonnegotiable day without work each week.
Later, the practice was adopted by other cultures, too. Christians, for example, chose Sundays as their day of rest, while Muslims took Fridays. And it wasn’t only religious groups that recognized the need for a day of abstaining from work. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, secular organizations such as unions also stressed the need for days off.
But it wasn’t until around the turn of the twentieth century that the weekend was established. Having two days of rest freed up time for education, worship, reflection, creativity, and building family bonds.
Unfortunately, times are changing. Many people no longer have weekends off. In the US, for example, a staggering 63 percent of people report that their employers expect them to work most weekends.
And it’s not only our weekends that are being eroded. Relatively quickly, digital technologies changed the way we perceive and control our time. As a result, the structure of our days has changed. Take something as simple as access to news. Catching up on the news was something we’d do perhaps once or twice per day – morning and evening – by reading a newspaper. Nowadays, however, we’re constantly bombarded by news updates on TV and on apps on our smartphones. And whereas we might once have read a novel in bed, now we often find ourselves answering emails and messages instead.
Wasn’t the promise of all this technology that it would shorten the amount of time we all needed to work? Yet now we seem to be connected 24/7 and working more than ever. And this isn’t good for our health or our work. It certainly doesn’t benefit the companies we work for. Research shows that employees working 60 hours a week are actually less productive than if they worked 40 – and what’s more, that overworked employee also faces an increased risk of heart disease and death.
Clearly, it’s time to start taking back control of your time. In the blinks that follow, you’ll find out why you need rest and sleep, and what you need to do to establish your own Tech-Shabbat traditions.
Want to see all full key ideas from 24/6?
Key ideas in 24/6
More knowledge in less time
Read or listen
Get the key ideas from nonfiction bestsellers in minutes, not hours.
Find your next read
Get book lists curated by experts and personalized recommendations.
Shortcasts New
We’ve teamed up with podcast creators to bring you key insights from podcasts.
What is 24/6 about?
24/6 (2019) implores us to redefine our relationship with technology by taking a break from screens for a full 24 hours each week. It provides a brief history of rest, and explains both why you need it and how taking a break can improve your effectiveness, creativity, and relationships.
Who should read 24/6?
- Screen addicts looking to kick their habit
- Sleep-deprived Netflix junkies
- Anyone concerned about 24/7-connected living
Categories with 24/6
Books like 24/6
People ❤️ Blinkist
Sven O.
It's highly addictive to get core insights on personally relevant topics without repetition or triviality. Added to that the apps ability to suggest kindred interests opens up a foundation of knowledge.
Thi Viet Quynh N.
Great app. Good selection of book summaries you can read or listen to while commuting. Instead of scrolling through your social media news feed, this is a much better way to spend your spare time in my opinion.
Jonathan A.
Life changing. The concept of being able to grasp a book's main point in such a short time truly opens multiple opportunities to grow every area of your life at a faster rate.
Renee D.
Great app. Addicting. Perfect for wait times, morning coffee, evening before bed. Extremely well written, thorough, easy to use.
People also liked
Start growing with Blinkist now
26 Million
Downloads on all platforms
4.7 Stars
Average ratings on iOS and Google Play
91%
Of Blinkist members create a better reading habit*
*Based on survey data from Blinkist customers