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• The Atlantic: Unplug for the NDU

  March 4th, 2011 by admin

  By Adam Werbach, The Atlantic

  If you’re anything like me, you’re constantly battling to maintain your focus on the people and ideas you love against the onslaught of electronic information from your phone, email, Twitter account and Facebook stream. As a species we’ve evolved quickly to become proficient in all things electronic, but we’ve been slow to develop the cultural tools to manage those skills and tools. Tonight, March 4, is the beginning of the National Day of Unplugging, a 24-hour period during which people are voluntarily shutting off their gadgets and committing to a day of reflection and rejuvenation.

  The national day of unplugging is the outgrowth of the Sabbath Manifesto, a list of 10 principles for what you might do during a day without your iPhone, Android or Blackberry.

  Read the entire article here.

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• Channel 7: NDU Challenge of Digital Detox

  March 4th, 2011 by admin

  By Lisa Amin Gulezian, ABC News

  Here’s a challenge — could you give up your cell phones, computers, and social networking sites for just one day? That’s a challenge that starts on Friday. It is an annual effort to try something new this year and to get people to unplug.

  Annamarie Dunn said she’s tied to technology “all day long, every day. I’ve got a BlackBerry, computer.”

  Lawrence McNeil from Menlo Park said he is tied to his iPad and laptop.

  So ABC7 asked a few people how much time they spent in the technical world.”I think my phone and laptop are 95 percent of my life,” said Nima Moridi from San Jose.

  Have you ever thought about reconnecting with the world around you by shutting off everything and going through a digital detox? That means no facebooking, tweeting or texting — nothing. That is what the National Day of Unplugging is about.

  “We felt there needed to be a balance brought back into life and that people could use a pause from technology,” said Tanya Schevitz from Reboot.

  Watch the segment here.

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• SF Chronicle: Google Head Unplugs for NDU

  March 4th, 2011 by admin

  By James Temple, SF Chronicle

  Google Inc. suffered a critical communications disruption that lasted around 24 hours late last month: On the evening of Feb. 25, co-founder Sergey Brin switched off his cell phone.

  Unlike the recent Gmail snafu, this particular downtime was planned. Brin’s wife, 23andme Inc. co-founder Anne Wojcicki, was hosting a dinner at Hidden Villa in Los Altos, in advance of the National Day of Unplugging, during which the hyper-connected are encouraged to take a day off from technology.

  Wojcicki is a board member of a Jewish nonprofit that developed the annual occasion, which begins at sundown tonight and ends sundown Saturday. She held the gathering in advance to encourage people to talk about the role of technology in their lives and take a practice run at unplugging.

  “People here are so connected and they’re really living their lives online,” she said. “I thought it’d be a good idea to see if you can disconnect for the full 24 hours.”

  Read the entire article here.

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• PC World: Even Geeks Need to Unplug

  March 3rd, 2011 by admin

  By Nick Mediati

  Hey, you! Put that smartphone down! Back away from that iPad! Switch off your laptop, and stop Tweeting! It’s almost time for the Second Annual National Day of Unplugging. After all, even geeks need to disconnect now and then.

  Based on the concept of the Jewish Sabbath (i.e. a day of rest), the National Day of Unplugging is put on by a group called Sabbath Manifesto. It runs from sundown on March 4 to sundown on March 5, and is exactly what the name implies–it’s a day of rest from all gadgets and electroinics.

  Sabbath Manifesto has a list of its Ten Principles to follow during the National Day of Unplugging. The basic gist: It’s a chance for you to avoid technology, get some fresh air, and get back in touch with friends and family.

  Read the entire posting here.

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• SF Weekly: App Unplugs You

  March 3rd, 2011 by admin

  The SF Weekly says it’s a sad commentary when we need an app to remind us to “unplug” from technology.

  In a bicoastal effort, two nonprofits are asking San Franciscans to dump their cell phones, computers, and iPads for one day this weekend and get back to the good old days of live conversation. Ironically, they are using a new app to spread the word.

  In its second annual National Day of Unplugging, Reboot, a New York-based nonprofit, is working with VolunteerMatch in San Francisco, to encourage this “digital detox,” starting Friday. It’s a slow growing movement to return to the day of reconnecting with friends and family — in person.

  While apps like FourSquare allow us to “check-in,” alerting people where we are and what we are doing, this new Reboot app will do just the opposite –inform your online network that you will not be available online for the day.

  “Believe me, we get the irony of using a high-tech app to announce a low-tech day,” said Tanya Schevitz, with Reboot. “But there’s not a better way to tell your followers that you won’t be on Twitter of Facebook.”
  
  Reboot, a nonprofit organization that aims to reinvent Jewish rituals and traditions, developed the National Day of Unplugging last year as a way to get young, hyper-connected, and frequently frantic people to just stop and have a real conversation.

  That’s something to “like” on Facebook.Read the entire article here.

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• Wired: An App for Break from Net

  March 2nd, 2011 by admin

  Taking a Break from the Net: There’s an App for That

  A group promoting a worldwide day without the net on March 4 and 5 created an app for smartphones that tells your Twitter followers and Facebook friends that you are throwing them over for 25 hours, opting for some real-world, nitty-gritty reality.

  The free app called Sabbath Manifesto seems based on the assumption that we’ve become a world of zombielike mobile-phone typers who are collectively unaware that mobile phones and computers can be muted or turned off and that humans can be spoken to in person.

  But the app doesn’t actually mute your phone. Instead, it tells your friends and followers on Facebook that you will be off the grid to “reconnect with friends, family, the community and [yourself].”

  The group behind the app hopes millions will “check out” for what the group calls the second annual National Day of Unplugging, which runs from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

  Read the entire article here.

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• One Happy Camper: Unplug Camp-Style

  March 1st, 2011 by admin

  The Foundation for Jewish Camp’s One Happy Camper program, a sponsor of Reboot’s 2011 National Day of Unplugging on March 4-5, has written up a list of creative ways to unplug at home with your happy camper. Here is a sampling. See the entire list here.

  — Can’t be outside? Organize a board game “color war”: Divide friends and family in teams for a tournament series of several board game face-offs over the course of the Sabbath.

  — Make s’mores in your fireplace or in an outside fire pit. Nothing keeps you warmer in winter than graham crackers, roasted marshmallows, and melted gooey chocolate.

  — Scavenger Hunt: Plan a neighborhood or household scavenger hunt for the signs of summer: bathing suits, bug juice, flip-flops, sunscreen, and more.

  — Write letters to far-away friends and family members. Everyone is excited to receive mail from someone they love.

  — Break out some supplies and do arts & crafts projects! Try making some lanyard keychains and clay Shabbat candleholders.

  — Bake challah. Enjoy it as a family, deliver loaves to friends and bring some to your local soup kitchen.

  — For the second National Day of Unplugging, REBOOT forged a national partnership with VolunteerMatch and is encouraging communities to“Unplug and Give Back”. Visit Reboot’s “Give Back” page to identify volunteer opportunities in your own community.

  — Keep track of how many times you or your camper “slip up” and use technology throughout the NDU and tally them Saturday night. Collect $1 for each instance and donate the money to your favorite charity.

  Want to learn more about what others are doing to observe Shabbat on the National Day of Unplugging? Check out Reboot’s 10 Principles.

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• NYT: Smartphone App Reminds You to Unplug

  February 28th, 2011 by admin

  New York Times Reporter Matt Richtel writes in the Bits blog that the new Sabbath Manifesto app is the “last smartphone app you will ever need. Well, more like the last app you will use for at least 25 hours.”

  It’s called the Sabbath Manifesto app, and it is meant to be a way to make a pledge to disconnect from technology.

  The brainchild of a Jewish organization called Reboot, the Sabbath Manifesto app encourages people (of all faiths or none at all) to participate in a one-day movement away from technology. This National Day of Unplugging is scheduled for March 4 to 5, as a way for people “to return to the values inherent in a modern day of rest: reconnecting with family, friends and the world around them,” according to Reboot.

  …This is the second annual unplugging day organized by the group. Last year, the group claimed that it inspired digital downtime among millions of people of various faiths. Who knows? It’s hard to measure downtime the same way you measure site traffic.

  It’s also a bit hard to get your head around the idea that, this year, the group wants people to declare their devotion to downtime using an app.

  “Believe me, we fully get the irony of using a high-tech app to announce a low-tech day. But really, what better way to tell your followers that you won’t be tweeting on the weekend,” wrote a Reboot spokeswoman, Tanya Schevitz, in, of course, an e-mail. She adds that, while the group isn’t anti-technology, it hopes people will consider logging off more often: “A pause from technology once a year is not enough.”

  Read the entire blog here.

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• Boston Globe: Unplug and Reboot

  February 28th, 2011 by admin

  Boston Globe Reporter Dara Olmsted writes in her Green Blog that you are not alone if you have trouble prying yourself away from your technology. She says to try the National Day of Unplugging.

  On the weekends, I try my hardest to stay offline, off my phone, and away from the tv, but for some reason, I find it really hard. I’m not the only one. The folks from Reboot and the Sabbath Manifesto have heard this complaint time and again and are here to help. For their second annual National Day of Unplugging (from sundown March 4th to sundown March 5th), they have created an app that helps people of all faiths disconnect from technology (and yes, they understand the irony of using technology to disconnect from technology). The app is the opposite of Foursquare. Instead of checking in, the app allows you to check out of the online world, sending a message to your friends and family that you will not be checking Facebook or replying to texts for the day.

  Read the entire article here.

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• SJ Mercury: Religion on Your iPhone

  February 28th, 2011 by admin

  San Jose Mercury News Reporter Lisa Fernandez writes of the growth of religious iPhone apps and the release of the Sabbath Manifesto app.

  Religion on your iPhone? Faith apps grow in availability, popularity

  Just before sundown Friday, a group of plugged-in Jews released a custom-made app to alert their Facebook friends and Twitter followers that they were checking out, logging off and generally not answering their e-mails for the next 25 hours.

  Then, with iPhones tucked away in a cutesy sleeping bag, these frenetic, high-tech Jews met — in real time — at an organic ranch in Los Altos Hills to drink wine, break bread and honor the Jewish mandate of not using technology on Shabbat.

  This just-off-the-shelf smartphone application, the Sabbath Manifesto, was designed by members of a Jewish nonprofit called Reboot. And it’s just one of a plethora of religious apps bombarding the online landscape as each faith tries to stake its claim.

  Many see these electronic forms of religion as an extension of age-old concepts of study, prayer and evangelism. Others see the apps as potentially controversial, or confusing at best, when a Buddhist meditation timer or the teachings of Jesus are juxtaposed next to “Angry Birds” and a Netflix account.

  What’s clear, however, is that the number of religious apps is growing at a pace impossible to count.

  Read the entire article here.

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