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• ridiculouslyefficient.com

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  The National Day of Unplugging is a cause after my own heart that asks participants to take a “digital detox” between sunset on March 23 and sunset on March 24. The Reboot organization based the concept on the day of rest in the Jewish tradition, adapting it for modern sensibilities.

  The scope of the National Day of Unplugging is wide, which reflects the grasp technology has on our lives. For 24 hours, participants will have to avoid cellphones, tablets, computers and anything else that needs a plug for power. The especially initiated can go a step further and avoid anything that uses electricity, like elevators or some stoves. Reboot encourages you to participate in a way that lets you “rest and reflect without destroying the fabric of your life.”

  I’m a huge fan of downtime; on days where I’m really on my game, my gadgets are off or out of sight by 9 p.m. This serves two purposes. On a physiological level, powering down gadgets helps my brain recognize that it’s time to wind down. On a psychological level, putting devices away minimizes visual distractions, which in turn enables my mind to wander freely and, ultimately, lead me to some of my best creative ideas.

  Do you think you’ll participate in the National Day of Unplugging tomorrow?

  See the post here

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• Marin Independent Journal

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  23andMe CEO Anne Wojcicki is right. And so are the other promoters and participants backing the third National Day of Unplugging, which begins at sundown Friday.

  We’re overdoing it with our go-to gizmos, the unpluggers argue. We’ve become distracted, unavailable, oblivious, twitchy, obsessive, needy and, in some ways, insufferable. We need, they say, to give it a rest.

  And they’re right. But I can’t do it. I can’t unplug for 24 hours. And no, not just because the NCAA’s Sweet 16 will play out this weekend — prime time for tweeting, score-checking and the occasional Facebook smack-talk. OK, maybe that’s part of it. But I just don’t feel the need. I mean, I’ve got this. I can handle it. Denial? Maybe.

  I’ve written about this before, about others who have urged unplugging in one way or another. There’s lecturer and author Lawrence Lessig, who once a year moves off the grid for a month. And globe-trotting CEO Yaacov Cohen, who weekly observes the Jewish sabbath, including abstaining from technology. And the guys at Stanford, whose study indicates that middle-school girls develop better social relationships when they actually talk to, and don’t just text, the people in their lives. And there is Sherry Turkle, the MIT professor who literally wrote the book on digital dependency.

  I know they’re right. And you know they’re right. But I’m just not ready to pull the plug.

  That said, I find inspiration in Wojcicki taking the pledge.Read the full article here

  
  
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• WJBC

  March 22nd, 2012 by admin

  How would you feel about unplugging from social media and mobile technology for 24 hours? Could you commit to giving it a try … even if you only last an hour?

  This weekend, a nonprofit organization called Reboot is inviting everyone to take part in a tech detox to encourage us to take a break from all things digital and spend more time with friends and family.  You can even get your digital fix while pledging to unplug.Causes.com/unplug is offering an online pledge and you can use the Causes app to encourage your Facebook friends to unplug, too.

  Read the full article here

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• CNET

  March 22nd, 2012 by admin

  Not to sound like an old lady, but back in my day, when I wanted to hang out with friends, I’d call them up on a landline phone. Dinners out never involved a group of four or five people looking down at their phones or checking into a social network, and if I had a paper to write for school, I’d go to the library and do the research using — gasp — books!

  Of course, today, that’s all changed with the rise of the Internet and devices like smartphones and tablets. There’s no doubt technology has enriched our lives in so many ways, but it’s also created a culture in which we’re often more consumed with our gadgets and the digital world than we are with real people and the outside world. So what would you do if you didn’t have access to any of your gadgets? Care to find out?

  Reboot, a nonprofit group whose mission is to “reboot” cultures, traditions, and rituals in the Jewish tradition of Sabbath (a day of rest), is asking people to take a break from tech for 24 hours by participating in a National Day of Unplugging.

  Read the full article here

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• MSNBC

  March 22nd, 2012 by admin

  Look, it’s not that we wouldn’t like to do this, but realistically, how can we agree to a “digital detox” and completely unplug for 24 hours? Here’s what those behind the “National Day of Unplugging,” from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, hope you will do:

  Shut down your computer. Turn off your cellphone. Stop the constant emailing, texting, Tweeting and Facebooking to take time to notice the world around you. Connect with loved ones. Nurture your health. Get outside. Find silence. Avoid commerce. Give back. Eat Together.

  That’s a tall order to fill, especially the “turn off your cellphone,” which for many of us, is glued to our palms almost constantly.

  As of Thursday morning, more than 1,200 people had taken the “pledge” to unplug during the time period which coincides with the weekly Jewish Sabbath, a time of rest and reflection for religious Jews. The group behind the effort is called Sabbath Manifesto, and this is the third year of the “National Day of Unplugging.”

  Read the full article here

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• Mashable

  March 22nd, 2012 by admin

  Could you survive 24 hours without checking your phone, email or social networks? A movement has been making the rounds online that encourages people to take a digital detox for 24 hours starting at sunset on Friday, March 23.

  The National Day of Unplugging — which is in its third year — runs from sundown Friday, March 23 to sundown, Saturday, March 24. With 66% of people claiming they are addicted to the Internet, the day was designed to get people back to re-connect with family, friends and oneself, away from technology.

  “Shut down your computer,” the pledge states. “Turn off your cell phone. Stop the constant emailing, texting, tweeting and Facebooking to take time to notice the world around you. Connect with loved ones. Nurture your health. Get outside. Find silence. Avoid commerce. Give back. Eat Together. ”

  Read the full article here

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• The Times of Israel

  March 22nd, 2012 by admin

  In an era when the average person is wired to the hilt, on-line and in-touch 24/7, some of the finer points of living get lost in the shuffle, according to Yoav Schlesinger, CEO of Reboot, a Jewish educational organization in the U.S.

  “The never-ending stream of information that we’re exposed to on a daily basis and the ever-present glow of a screen can be overwhelming,” Schlesinger told The Times of Israel. “Technology overuse takes an immeasurable toll on our ability to give time to the things that are most important in our lives – friends, family, good food, our communities and ourselves.”

  What the world needs now, says Schlesinger, is a “tech detox” program – specifically, a “National Day of Unplugging” (NDU), in which people commit to “turn off” their electronic personas for 24 hours. This year’s third annual NDU is set for this Shabbat, beginning on sunset Friday and running through sunset Saturday.

  Although Reboot is a Jewish educational organization, the NDU is open to all, said Schlesinger. “Over the past two years, NDU has reached tens of millions of people internationally and resonated with people of all backgrounds, from Catholic to Hindi, Buddhist and Muslim.” And while all three NDUs have taken place on the Jewish Sabbath, it’s the concept that is important, not necessarily the timing. “Because we come from a Jewish place, we recommend unplugging for Shabbat, but those from other traditions are certainly free to unplug any time they feel appropriate.”

  Read the full article here

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• SkirBlog

  March 22nd, 2012 by admin

  I live a very plugged-in life. Some moments are more wireless than others but generally my waking hours are structured around technology in various forms. For example, I keep track of the time for our evening dog walk using the alarm clock on my iPhone. I turn to Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything iPad app before deciding what’s for dinner. When we have dinner guests, my husband and I open wine bottles using this rechargeable, motorized corkscrew. Then there’s my choice to drive an all-electric car, which is plugged in whenever it’s not in motion. [I do draw the line at those air-fresheners designed for use in a wall plug, but that could be because they take up precious outlet space! But I digress…]

  Skirball friend/The Family Savvy/blog maven/entrepreneur Sarah Bowman puts it this way: “Being unplugged will become more and more of a luxury as our screen-addicted kids grow up.” She’s right. I can’t get through breakfast with my extended family without one of my nieces playing a game or taking a photo with one of the three or four adult phones on the table. For so many of us, smart phones are enmeshed in our daily family lives.

  Read the full blog post here

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• MomsRising.org

  March 22nd, 2012 by admin

  Take a Tech Detox for the Kids

  I am taking the Causes.com pledge to unplug for the National Day of Unplugging for my 3-year-old. I already see how much my use of technology has impacted him. He walks around the house saying, “Where’s my iPhone? I have a call in a minute.” And he has two (fake) phones he carries around in his pockets in case an “important call” comes in. I know all too well whom he is modeling.

  While I have a full-time job that very much involves technology and I cannot take the six-month digital detox that I envy Professor Jennifer Rauch for, I certainly can unplug for 24 hours on the National Day of Unplugging (NDU) on March 23-24, 2012, and work to make it a weekly ritual.

  I’ve already been practicing. Yes, sometimes it’s a pain not to have my phone on me (it took me a little longer during a recent unplugged weekend to find the Lego store with my son without Siri giving me directions), but it has yet to become an emergency situation. Remember the days when the hostess at a restaurant would come to tell you at your table that you had a phone call from home? Perhaps not as convenient as an immediate connection but how many times have you really had the babysitter call you while you were out on a date with a true emergency. It’s never happened to me in my nine years as a parent. My last text from our babysitter was that my son was asking if he could watch a show. The answer was “no” before I left home and it was still “no” then. I doubt she would have called the restaurant to ask about that.
  Read the full blog post here

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• The Universe

  March 21st, 2012 by admin

  This weekend, I invite you to celebrate a lesser-known holiday, the National Day of Unplugging. From sundown to sundown, March 23-24, people around the country will take the challenge of logging out of Facebook, ignoring their Twitter feeds, avoiding TV and yes, even putting their phones away for an entire day.

  Why do we need a day like this?

  A quick look around on campus is enough to see that we depend heavily on communications technology. The technology itself isn’t a bad thing. The problem lies in how attached, or even addicted, we might be to our phones, tablets and computers. As we’ve been hearing about this quite a bit in recent general conference talks, devotionals, Ensign articles and even right here in The Daily Universe, this is clearly a cause for concern.

  Read the full article here

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