Join us for the National Day of Unplugging 2012 from sundown Friday, March 23 to sundown, Saturday March 24. Take the unplug challenge: put down your cell phone, sign out of email and take a break from Facebook and Twitter updates.
Reboot is also taking the unplugging movement to the most plugged-in place on the planet—the South by Southwest festival in Austin, TX!
Come to an off the record, technology-free panel, “Tech Detox: Can You Survive a Day Without Technology?” at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, March 11 in the Brazos Room of the Courtyard Marriott in Austin.
You’ll hear from industry leaders, entrepreneurs and tech titans as they share their secrets of unplugging, and how they’re given more power in their day-to-day lives by creating sacred “no connection” time every week. More details here.
Continue the conversation that evening at SXSWi’s First-Ever Unplugged Party, 5-6:30 p.m. at The Lodge, 411 East 6th Street Austin. Price of admission is checking your cell phone.
The Sabbath Manifesto’s principles were created for individual styling, but for one day we’re asking you to take on the challenge of Principle Number 1: AVOID TECHNOLOGY.
- Are you a community organization interested in partnering on the NDU 2012? Click here.
Click here to learn about the Ten Principles. Need more unplugging advice? Check out NDU FAQs.
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Tell your friends you’re checking out for the National Day of Unplugging. Create your own Sabbath Manifesto. Enter your phone number below and we’ll send you a link to the Sabbath Manifesto App.
How do you unplug?
Since a film we’re working on explores what it means to be “connected” in the 21st Century, we made “Yelp,” to suggest how disconnecting can be just as much fun as connecting. We’re ready to power down with y’all Friday night. - Tiffany Shlain (Filmmaker & Founder of The Webby Awards), Ken Goldberg (Professor & Director of the Berkeley Center for New Media), www.connectedthefilm.com
“We live in a world of endless information flow. Bits and bytes are our food and water. They move back and forth at a deafening pace. In this world of boundless stimulation and interaction, how does one disconnect, reflect, take stock? One of the defining elements of this information economy is it’s social, connected nature, where we both put out and consume information as part of our shared human experience. For me, it is the information intake that when left unchecked tends to overtake me. Setting aside a fixed weekly time for contemplation, whenever and for however long it is, allows me to disconnect and refocus internally. Then, what I put out more closely reflects my true ’self’ rather than tending towards a boomerang-like reflection of what I take in. This return to self is my Sabbath, my peace, a chance to reconnect with my inner thoughts and light.”
“I am happy to be connected all day on my Dell Lattitude Z and Blackberry, but I relish turning them off, too. Throughout the year I take long periods where I turn off all technology. I think its critical to do that…. Recently I have tried isolating my time on the Blackberry to when I am work”
“There’s clearly a social problem when we’re interacting more with digital interfaces than our fellow human beings. Rich, engaging conversations are harder to come by than they were a few years ago. As we voyage deeper into the digital world, our attention spans are silently evaporating. Unplugging on a weekly basis won’t provide a magical solution to these issues, but it’s a start. Adding a modern Sabbath will ideally reward with the same riches this ritual has provided for centuries – a chance to catch our breaths, replenish our souls and reconnect with the living, breathing people we love.”