Watch it here

Listen to the radio broadcast here

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s wife Sarah Brown @SarahBrownUK: Follow this is a lovely idea – take the pledge and #unplug http://www.causes.com/unplugpledge

Fashion designer Rachel Roy @Rachel_Roy #Unplug challenge starts tn-See my team & comment/like on who u think will b the 1st to break! http://on.fb.me/GCZDAk Any1 else #unplugging? (113,475 followers)

@FashionweekNYC (113,495 followers): Digital Detox: Today is National Day of Unplugging from sundown tonight to sundown tomorrow! See you in 24 Hours!

Hollywood writer/producer Damon Lindelof (171,422 followers) @DamonLindelof A tip for the fellows: Women don’t like it when we check our phones every 9 seconds. Wanna get lucky Friday night? http://www.causes.com/unplugpledge

@DamonLindelof Our ancestors wrote their tweets on rocks and threw them at each other’s heads. Can we not do the same? LET’S UNPLUG! http://www.causes.com/unplugpledge

Actor Nathan Fillion @NathanFillion (1,205,313 followers) retweeted Damon Lindelof’s tweet: Our ancestors wrote their tweets on rocks and threw them at each other’s heads. Can we not do the same? LET’S UNPLUG! http://www.causes.com/unplugpledge

Filmmaker David Wain @davidwain (129,012 followers): I’m unplugging tonight! Are you? CAN you? National Day of Unplugging, March 23-24.http://www.causes.com/unplugpledge

Writer Joel Stein @thejoelstein (985,909 followers): Pledge to unplug March 24. Unless there’s something good on that night. I haven’t checked: http://t.co/Sbf479gr

On Friday, March 23, the sun set at 7:25 p.m., and as the giant yellow ball in the sky went down somewhere behind the clouds of San Francisco, so did the power on my electronic devices. The screens of my smartphone, laptop, and TV were as dark as the nighttime sky.

Keeping to my word, I was going 24 hours without tech for the National Day of Unplugging. Created by the nonprofit organization Reboot and now in its third year, the National Day of Unplugging encourages people to take a break from information and technology overload and use the time to reconnect with friends and family, go outside, focus on their health, give back, meditate, or take part in other non-tech-centric activities.

Reboot doesn’t define what “unplugging” means; instead, it’s up to the individual to decide. For me, it meant turning off the electronics I use most, which are my smartphone, laptop, and TV. Working with and covering tech five days a week, I thought it would be nice respite, but as I hit the power button on my devices Friday night, I was surprised at how anxious I felt about being without my gadgets — more specifically, my phone — for 24 hours.

What if my friends changed our dinner plans for Saturday night? What if something came up (like the most horrendous haircut of all time?) and I had to bail? Worst of all, what if there was some kind of emergency?

It’s amazing where your imagination can take you if you let it, but I tried to put those fears aside. Plus, my competitive side was determined not to let a puny iPhone or 37-inch TV take me down, and thus, I embarked on my tech detox.

Read how Bonnie Cha unplugged here

In this recent blog post from Alex Bogusky’s FearlessRevolution, these questions and more are explored in a refreshingly impartial light.

See the full article and video here

To showcase how difficult it will be for Americans to turn off, we’ve included an infographic called Instant America which has statistics that showcase how quickly Americans expect to receive information in this digital era. After reading these stats, it’s no wonder that movements such as the National Day of Unplugging are taking place.

The infographic below highlights that, “Google found that slowing search results by just 4/10ths of a second would reduce the number of searches by 8,000,000 a day.”

See the full article here

Roy said, “I have urged them to stop the e-mailing, texting, tweeting and Facebooking for one day to notice the world around them. This will allow them to bring some balance to their increasingly fast-paced way of life and make time to connect with family, friends, the community and themselves!”

Her staff is so intent on holding out that a few wagers have been placed, according to Roy, who has asked Facebook fans to predict which employee will be the first to buckle.

See the full post here

At our recent panel at SXSW Interactive on women’s online “performance anxiety,” we talked about the pressure women feel to present their ideal selves online, but the conversation ultimately turned to the enormous amount of time the Internet occupies. While author Susan Orlean said she feels like she can be herself on Twitter, she admitted that social media “occupies mental space. It’s on your ongoing mental to-do-list.” The other panelists echoed this sentiment.

Read the full article here

Friday at sundown marks the third consecutive National Day of Unplugging. For an entire day you are invited (better yet — challenged) to liberate yourself from the vices that keep you all too connected with the virtual world and less available in the real one.

The National Day Of Unplugging allows us to connect with one another in a different way — off-screen: those who participate can feel part of a larger, connected sphere in knowing their peers are engaging themselves and their worlds in ways they often neglect.

Read the full article here

Yes, as part of this challenge, we’re asking you to also keep a diary of everything you have the urge to use the Internet for. Senior editor Lori Fradkin tried to do this last year, and she wrote down 11 things she would have looked up. But, she gained something greater from being offline — peace, quiet, focus…

Read the full article here