Living in the heart of Silicon Valley, my family and I bravely weaned ourselves from our technology addictions in an effort to reclaim quality family time. We decided to not only turn off our television, but also take it up a notch and unplug our iPods, iPhones, laptops and digital cameras and disconnect from e-mail, cell phones and Internet, for personal use. Not an easy task for most Americans; especially difficult for a family immersed in technology.
You can read about our experience in my newly released book, A Year Unplugged: A Family's Life Without Technology.
You can read about our experience in my newly released book, A Year Unplugged: A Family's Life Without Technology.
We hope to inspire others to unplug and explore whether technology helps or hinders personal relationships, finances, time and the environment.
In A Year Unplugged, I chronicled the trials and tribulations of living without modern technology: the ups and downs, inconveniences, added benefits, embarrassing moments, self discovery, relationship strains and gains, and living with greater awareness.
This inspirational account of what it takes to unplug plows the path for others to follow. This is a true-life tale that explores how dependent we are on technology and the impact it has on interpersonal relationships and society as a whole.
saw your post at NYT unplugged post. Very nice blog here. My take on all this, from my cave in Taiwan, do not own a computer never have never will, details below:
ReplyDeleteemail me at danbloom at GMAIL com
UNPLUGGED!
I use the Internet for email, blogging and general reserach for my
work as a freelance
writer in Taiwan. I should say at the outset that I do not own a
computer, never have and never will.
This is the truth. I do not own a computer. I hate those machines. So
how do I do my emails and how do I plug
in?
I rent. You see, I go to a nearby Internet cafe every day for
about an hour or two, and put in a few coins into the
email machine, and then i can email around the world, read my emails
and blog. After my alloted time is up,
I go out into the fresh air and sunshine, and my connected day is
over. I am disconnected most of the time. I have
a cellphone which rings about once a week, usually a wrong number,
really, nobody ever calls me, and I use the phone to call
out a few times every week. I basically dislike cellphones and
computers. Bah, humbug! I am a modern day Luddite I guess.
What I did for my UNPLUGGED experiment was not a big sacrifice for me,
since I am unplugged 23 hours per day anyways
and I don't mind being unplugged at all. What I did was to NOT GO to
the internet cafe near my home for two days, Saturday and Sunday. And
I left my cellphone at home both days and did not take it with me when
i went out to relax around town, riding my
bicycle to friends' homes to visit and chat. I do not own a car, i
have not driven a car in 20 years. I prefer bicycles. and walking.
What did i hope to gain from my experienmnt of going unplugged? More
ammunition to tell the world that we do not need to be
slaves to our machines and especuially to email and cellphones. It's
easy to go unplugged. Just walk out the door. Just wake up and say no.
I didn't expect any real chaleneges for my experiuement because i am
unplugged and disconnected 23 hours per day anyways. This was just a
re-affirmation of my core beliefs: we need to be masters of the
Internet, not slaves to it.
How did it go? Easy as pie. I didn't miss a thing., Was it more or
less difficult than
you expected? again, a piece of cake. What did I learn? I learned
that it is easy to unplug and be disconnected.. Do I expect any
lasting changes in
my technology use as a result of this experience? No,. More of the
same. I plan to read Hamlet's BlackBerry by Bill Powers this summer
when the book comes out, and i plan to read it on paper. I hate
reading on screens. Goodbye!