Life, Unplugged: On The Virtues Of Disconnecting

What do the writer Ariel Meadow Stallings, Shutdown Day 2008 and the term "Internet Sabbath" have in common? They all want you to turn off your computer...for one day.

Great, right? You turn off your computer and, as many a mommyblogger who lose their Internet connection for a day can attest, you get out and live life. Do laundry! Make dinner! Go on a picnic! Reconnect with your family, friends and neighbors! Then, when that day is done, we go back online, where we Twitter and blog about it and post pictures on Flickr of all the fun things we did.

That is, we do that until the next "unplugged" night, Shutdown Day or Sabbath happens, then we do it all over again.

How dysfunctional are we?

I originally started to think about Internet overuse when I realized hours of my day would get sucked into blogs, email, news, gossip and reading sites such as "Awful Plastic Surgery." If my two small children would whine, I'd show them videos of a dog riding a skateboard on YouTube or pictures of kittens on Flickr.

As I began to research the concept of drastically cutting back Internet usage as a lifestyle choice, I found an odd theme repeating: We're willing to cut back, but only for a day (or night).

"We believe that just spreading awareness is a good way to get things going," said Ashutosh Rajekar, cofounder of Shutdown Day 2008, via email. "Many people out there have never heard of Frisbees or tree plantation or such - indulging in such activities for only one day will prove to people that they won't die if Facebook or Myspace is out of reach for one day! And it also instills a sense of personal discipline."

If we've gotten to the point where we're going to "die" if Facebook is out of reach for a day, it might be time for an intervention. I know the feeling of immediacy. You're so used to updating every hour or day that it becomes habit. What will happen if you don't reply to that email, update that blog or add a friend on MySpace?

Well, most likely, nothing. It is just that when we're so used to updating, checking and reading all the time, it feels like we're missing out. It becomes habit for us to pull out the iPhone or check email in the morning.

Ariel Meadow Stallings, author of Offbeat Bride, realized in January her tendency to not live in the present while at a workshop about balancing technology and soul. She then made the decision to disconnect from anything with a screen for one night a week for a year. She called the experiment "Unplugged," and it has generated a lot of media attention.

"I still struggle," she wrote about "Unplugged Night #14. "...I got twitchy about halfway through the night, desperate for two things I really wanted and didn't have: Internet and sugar."

I look at this concept as I would look at losing weight: I could diet for a week or two, or I could make permanent lifestyle changes. Basically, do I want to do Slim Fast or do I want to eat healthy and walk more?

Where is the person to guide us Internet addicts on staying offline more than just one day or one hour? Where is the person telling us to eat more vegetables and lay off the weight-loss shakes?

Writer, blogger and father Steve Almond is doing just that. Almond recently quit a blogging position at the parenting site Babble, citing several reasons, including the need to get off the Internet and out into the real world.

"I am suggesting that certain modern conveniences - the fast-paced, super-abundant ones - should come to an end," Almond, the author of Not That You Asked, said in his final post for the blog Baby Daddy. "And that we're going to need to slow down and connect more, not through screens, but in real life."

"People are lonely and they want to feel connected," Almond said in an email about this subject. "[Connected] to other people, to the world at large, and to their own internal narratives of grievance and desire."

Maybe our need for feeling connected through the Internet is actually disconnecting us more in real life.

For many of us, myself included, going offline permanently isn't possible. I need email to do my work, to send pictures of the kids to grandma and, yes, have a little fun. But I don't need it to the point where it takes over my life and becomes a priority.

I've often joked that if I can't find a movement for staying offline, then I'd start my own quasi Luddite one. I'll just have to resist the temptation to register a domain name or start a Flickr group.

Comments

[Obamican7]

There was a whole episode of The Risque Agency based on this idea. The girls from the office had a contest to see who could go the longest without using the net. Maybe if this idea got out into the mainstream more, more people would have their eyes opened.

[fleaba]

WE never had cable, but I'm addicted to the internet, which I use for work. Like now, I'm supposed to be working, but got sucked in. I think the economy's sinking into the abyss will be a defining factor here.

[TOOO]

I tried so-called Real Life, only to discover that so-called Reality is full of morons. When I get on the Internet, however, I can reach intelligent people from all over the planet and even have intelligent discussions!

Giving up radio and television and even the print media was easy. Most of the "information" there is heavily biased towards the ignorant.

You can keep Reality.

[Jacksonian]

Is there a 12-step program for Internet addiction? Maybe I should Google it and see.

[Jonahson]

Only one day? It will only make computer junkies hungrier they will return with a 24hours splurge . A week now tha's more like it.

[Levittown]

I lived without A/C. Radio was all we had and we listened sometimes. When TV was available we were curious but that too was limited. So the way the media feeds us ' stuff' ' today we can take it or leave it.
We have priorities and the computer and the internet are part of life today but not the most important. I hope the media and the advertisers wake up and start giving us real news and facts and not blurbs with
fancy dressing.

[H.L. Mencken]

One of our intrinsic values as Americans was/is partaking of the accumulated experiences of our most senescent citizens as well as their wisdom that was universally respected! Unfortunately your generation has disbanded this valuable american meme! It most certainly is not found on the internet!

[egal]

Unfortunately, wisdom is in short shift, and the older people who youths would normally look to as examples of culture and society are so out of touch with both that our habitually youth-glorifying culture has been forced to ignore them, due to how ignorant they are about the way the world works now as opposed to a decade ago.

Seriously, even the once-respectable newscasters and politicians have become so much ratings whores that shows like Surivor or American Idol provide more edification than the trash they put out. We'd be willing to credit old ways and irl interaction if the people advocating it weren't generally so clueless and insular.

[fleaba]

Dude, if you think the economy tanking isn't going to blast everyone backwards, you are in for a rude awakening. History does repeat itself and is doing so in the most uncanny way, right now. The world works the same now as it always has. Just because you don't have the years of experience to know this is not your fault, you'll get it later on. Everything new is a twist on the old. While technology is a great tool. I believe that tool is the operative word. That's all it is. Your world is not going to work when people cannot afford computer upgrades...not to mention cable, internet conx and all that, because food comes first.

[dadw5boys]

I have 5 windmills going up and soon will dosconnect from the grid with only solar and wind for power.
I will not be purchasing the T.V. Converter box and cagle was turned off years ago.

So my family will be reading, working and exploring life without T.V., The internet will stay within very strict guidelines for school work mostly.

Free thinkers are waht I hope my children willl grow up to be. Not these people who are lulled to sleep daily by t..v. and politicians.

[jesdakota]

I found my incentive, I'm going to reduce my famiy's carbon footprint, just like the guys on Sundance Channel's, "It's Not Easy Being Green". My kids are taking the first step however, and cutting TV out drastically, except for shows we watch as a family. The rest of the time we'll be dedicated to becoming even more sustainable. The recycling prophet (on the show) has reduced his garbage output to one-half a garbage bag per year...amazing!

[Guitarsandmore]

One of the added and unexpected benefits of turning off the computer, TV, and radio, for a week is that life as we know it really slows down to a crawl as I have recently discovered. So if you want to slow down and enjoy what time you have left, do turn off all things electronic and talk and listen to your family and friends. Play cards, go fishing, take walks, tour an old museum, and just sit and watch the sky and the water.

[jackiekahane]

I am an internet addict. I admit that freely.

[chinohillster]

I'm constantly on my computer, as if I'm at home - I have to connect to work through a VPN (Virtual Private Network), and if at work, to the network. As a database administrator (Oracle/SQL Server/DB2), I'm on call 365, 24x7; and in the last year, it has gotten worse.

IBeing in nformation Technology means long hours, nights and weekends, and globalization means that you get calls from Hong Kong, Ireland, the Netherlands, etc. Your company doesn't want to hire additional people - why should they, when they can force the staff they have to work all kinds of extra hours (aka "salaried exempt") And Lord help you if you don't answer your cellphone or pager right away - it will be escalated to your boss - you're holding back a production system, because you aren't constantly available to provide support.

Or so it seems....

[singermuse]

Excellent post! It's something I've already found liberating in my life and now I go online 4 days a week instead of 7. Weekends are a time to rest, and I need a midweek break, so it works out nicely to abstain from the Net (aren't nets used to trap fishes?) A lot more things get done....like getting enough sleep.

[nicho]

I never go online any more.

[rini]

Yeah, me neither.

[ENK727]

I always find it so liberating and calming when I'm on vacation and can turn off the cell phone and don't go near a computer for a good week or so. It's the best feeling to just detach from the high-tech world. for a few days.