National Day of Unplugging promotes rest, conservation
March 19th, 2010
Photo via Flickr: Gonzalo Baeza Hernández
Thanks to a technical issue that the geniuses over at Sprint can’t seem to figure out, I haven’t been able to receive emails on my BlackBerry for the past two days. For some, this would inspire a state of panic, but for me it’s been sheer bliss. You may be surprised to hear this, considering I author this blog and am fairly active on Twitter, but I’m actually a bit of a Luddite. I long for the days when we weren’t accessible at every moment, when face-to-face conversations weren’t constantly being interrupted by an incoming text, when we could just focus on the task at hand and the trees around us and not have to feel so darn preoccupied all the time.
Evidently, I’m not the only one who needs a technology break once in a while: Today marks the first National Day of Unplugging. The day is the creation of Reboot, a nonprofit comprised of influential Jewish thought-leaders. While the “unplugging” — which will begin at sundown tonight and end sundown Saturday — also underscores the Jewish Sabbath, the concept (called the “Sabbath Manifesto“) is pretty all-inclusive.
From USA Today :
“The last few years, I’ve had a growing feeling that my connection to technology was getting to be more like an addiction,” says Dan Rollman, 36, of Brooklyn, N.Y., who came up with the Manifesto idea. He says he’s never been a particularly religious person, but the idea of the Sabbath always appealed to him.
So why write about a day of technology rest on an environmental blog? Well, it turns out that the principles of the Manifesto are pretty close to the prescript for a green life. Among them: nurture your health, connect with loved ones, get outside, avoid commerce, and give back. And let’s not forget the actual environmental impact that a day of technology rest could have on the planet, since information and communication technology contributes to two percent of global CO2 emissions — that’s as much as the aviation industry.
Read more about the National Day of Unplugging, via USA Today and The New York Times.
–Jennifer Grayson
Do this now: What else? Unplug!
Related post:
Take a technology break
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March 19th, 2010 at 8:28 am
My mother refuses to get a cell phone on the principle that she doesn’t want to be available to anyone, anytime. I think she’s hit on something. Privacy and the separation between work and home definitely suffered when mobiles became ubiquitous. I go the passive-aggressive way and accidentally-on-purpose let my phone quietly die or stay switched off on my days off.
I think a national day of unplugging is a great idea. Heck, let’s do a whole week!
March 19th, 2010 at 9:35 am
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