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• israelnationalnews.com

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  Do you need a break from texting, emailing and cell phones? Then you too can participate in the third annual National Day of Unplugging. The initiative is being promoted by the ”Sabbath Manifesto”, which advocates using one day out of the week as a day of rest.

  The National Day of Unplugging for 2012 will be held Friday night at sundown March 23rd to Saturday night at sundown March 24th.

  The Sabbath Manifesto was founded by a group of young Jewish Americans who are members of Reboot, a non-profit group designed to “reboot” the cultures, traditions and rituals of Jewish life.

  A seminar called Tech Detox: Can You Survive a Day Without Technology? was held at the annual SXSW [South By Southwest] Festival in Austin, Texas on March 11th. SXSW is arguably the biggest music festival in the United States, with concerts and seminars by famous and up-and-coming bands, music industry executives and others.

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• Hudson Horizons

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  Tonight at sundown marks the beginning of National Day of Unplugging. From March 23rd at sundown until Saturday March 24th at sundown, people are encouraged to refrain from using any technology. In its 3rd year, this day is supposed to help people reconnect with loved ones with personal contact rather than always being entrapped in modern technology.

  The pledge from the non-profit, Reboot, reads as follows: “Shut down your computer, 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.”

  Let’s think about this. Is it really possible for people in 2012 to go 24 hours without a cell phone,social media use, and email? Sounds like quite the task to me. Email and social media are one thing, especially being a weekend, but no text messages or phone calls?! If one were to embark on this courageous journey be it advised that a heads up to all close friends and family is in order to ensure they refrain from calling the police putting out a missing person’s report. Let them all know you plan to be alive and well for a full 24 hours and will let them know when you venture back to the 2012 way of life.

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• mobiledia.com

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  Millions of people will remember what it’s like to be disconnected, thanks to the National Day of Unplugging, a 24-hour technology detox that promotes real-life experiences.

  “Stop the constant emailing, texting, Tweeting and Facebooking to take time to notice the world around you,” reads the National Day of Unplugging mission statement. “Connect with loved ones. Nurture your health. Get outside. Find silence. Avoid commerce. Give back. Eat together.”

  Constant connection can induce stress and anxiety, and waste a lot of time — even 30 minutes a day on Facebook and 30 minutes on Twitter means seven hours a week devoted to social media. The National Day of Unplugging, which begins today at sundown and lasts through midnight Saturday, urges people to find other ways to occupy their time, with the hopes of bringing awareness to over-reliance on technology.

  National Day of Unplugging, sponsored by Reboot, now in its third year, has drawn millions of users in the past. Reboot, a nonprofit that examines how Jewish culture fits in with the modern world, held a SXSW Unplugging Party in Austin where around 200 plugged-in people turned off their devices.

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• tecca.com

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  Think back: When was the last time you spent a full day of your life without coming into contact with high-tech devices or the internet? They’ve become such a huge part of our lives that many of us can’t even imagine not checking our phones for new messages every few minutes. But if you think you can benefit from a day away from all your fancy devices, then post a temporary farewell on your Facebookwall — the third annual National Unplugging Day begins tomorrow.

  The event, created by Jewish non-profit organization Reboot, starts at sundown on March 23 and ends 24 hours later. The organization is asking you to completely shut down and lock up your computers and devices: “Stop the constant emailing, texting, tweeting and Facebooking to take time to notice the world around you,” the event’s manifesto reads.

  If ever you decide to challenge the limits of your self-control, head over to Causes and officially take the pledge to unplug for the first half of the weekend. Once you’re done with your voluntary tech exile, don’t forget to visit Tecca to catch up on what you might have missed!

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• HuffPost Living

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  Stop posting Facebook pictures. Halt your Twitter updates. Ignore that potential picture of puppies for Tumblr. It’s time to unplug.

  The National Day of Unplugging is a movement taking place from sundown on March 23 to sundown on March 24, and it’s calling for you to step away from the computer, the tablet, the smartphone — anything that connects you to the electronic world, and not the people around you.

  The idea stemmed from organization Reboot’s Sabbath Manifesto, based on the Jewish tradition of resting from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown without using any electricity. Going on its third year in 2012, Reboot recently hosting a talk at “the most plugged-in place on the planet,” Austin’s South by Southwest festival, on “Can You Survive A Day Without Technology?”

  Even The Huffington Post’s own editor-in-chief, Arianna Huffington, has made it her personal mission to ensure people get more sleep and reconnect with those around them.

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• itproportal.com

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  Yup, it’s that time of year again

  Can you survive without technology for 24 hours?  No?  Then this challenge probably isn’t for you. But for those who feel they can live without the urge of poking or retweeting, then get ready to unplug for a day.  Yes, it’s that time of year already – the digital detox of National Unplug Day.

  Celebrating its third year of tearing people away kicking and screaming from their laptops and forcing them to engage in real-life interaction, the event begins at sunset on Friday 23rd March 2012 and ends at sundown on Saturday 24th March 2012.

  With 66 per cent of techies admitting to be gadget obsessed, the event was created as part of an effort to encourage people to get back in touch with reality – and reconnect with family and friends away from the temptations of the Internet.

  “Shut down your computer,” states the pledge. “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. ”

  The campaign was first thought up after Jewish organisation, Reboot, borrowed the idea from the Sabbath tradition – whereby technology is turned off for 24 hours every Saturday.  Approximately 1,200 people have signed up to the initiative through Causes.com.

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• allmediany.com

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  How much can you disconnect without going completely crazy?

  Imagine a day without a laptop, microwave or television — it shouldn’t be too difficult, the Amish do it every day.

  However, on the off chance that you are one of the 66 percent of people that say they are addicted to these and other devices in order to survive daily life, taking a 24-hour break from them might be a bit more difficult.

  The third annual National Day of Unplugging will begin at sundown on Friday, March 23 and end at sundown on Saturday, March 24. Needing these devices for work is not an excuse (for most of us), because it’s the weekend.

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

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• techzone360.com

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  Many moons ago in one of my media classes, we were asked to go on a week-long media fast in which we didn’t listen to the radio or watch television or read a book – well, except for homework purposes. Of course, this was during a time where the Internet was still fairly new, so it wasn’t uncommon that we didn’t include that in our projects. It wasn’t a part of our everyday lives. But a week without music or television or reading was quite a feat then.

  Nowadays, with smartphones and tablets and wireless connections galore, we are so connected to everyone in the ether, and yet we are seeing a disconnect to those who are physically around us every day. This sort of always-on attitude, while great for work productivity, has put a damper on traditional activities, like going outside or eating a meal with our friends or families.

  That’s the reason why Reboot, a Jewish organization, instituted a National Day of Unplugging. Based on the Sabbath tradition in which everything is unplugged on a Saturday for 24 hours, this day aims to bring us back to what’s most important – life, without the cord.

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• off-grid.net

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  The third National Day of Unplugging, begins at sundown today (Friday).

  We’re overdoing it with our go-to gizmos, 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.

  The National Day of Unplugging was started by a New York-based nonprofit called Reboot, which is working to reinvent Jewish traditions and culture in ways that resonate for a new generation of Jews and others. The unplugging idea appears to be gaining traction, says Tanya Schevitz, Reboot’s San Francisco-based national communications manager. She cites the increase in Web traffic to sites promoting it. (Web traffic before and after the national day of digital detox, not during).

  And she’s right. But can you do it?  Can you 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 occasiona lFacebook smack-talk. OK, maybe that’s part of it.

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• blog.fossil.com

  March 23rd, 2012 by admin

  It’s hard to imagine the last time we actually went longer than a couple of our hours (let alone 24!) without using our smartphones, laptops, tablets, etc.  After all, we rely on our smartphones for everything from waking us up in the morning to getting the latest Twitter update. But, starting this evening, we’re going to (try) to take a break from all of that. In its 3rd Annual National Day of Unplugging, Reboot has teamed up with Causes.com to ask users to pledge to discontinue their use of technology (this means no TV, no internet, no smartphone…you get the idea) for one full day. The National Day of Unplugging begins at sundown today and ends at sundown on Saturday. What exactly will we do now since we won’t be checking our Facebook statuses or playing Angry Birds? Check out this list for some ideas. So, what do you think? Are you up for the challenge?

  See the blog post here

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