Virtual Pause

A very good piece in the NY Times today by Mark Bittman.

I TOOK a real day off this weekend: computers shut down, cellphone left in my work bag, land-line ringer off. I was fully disconnected for 24 hours.

THIS movement to unplug appears to be gaining traction everywhere, from the blogosphere, where wired types like Ariel Meadow Stallings (http://electrolicious.com/unplugged) brag about turning off the screen one day a week (and how many books they’ve read so far this year), to the corporate world.

For example, Nathan Zeldes, a principal engineer at Intel (employees there read or send three million e-mail messages daily), is running a couple of experiments, one in which people spend a morning a week at work but offline, another in which people consciously reduce their e-mail output. Though he’s not reporting results, he’s encouraged and he says people are participating.

As a blogger, I am seriously considering this.

Spending Time Unplugged

Ventura County Star reports about unplugging.

"I think they need to use their imaginations," Tamar said of Milai and his siblings, Deacon, 7, and Erskine, 4. "I think my older son is losing sight of his creativity the more he watches TV or sits in front of the computer. He also gets grumpier."

So, every Sunday after church, the screens in the house go dark and it's time for free play. The kids can ocean surf, ride bikes, build Lego empires with the neighbor kids or dream up new games, as long as it's real, unprocessed, unplugged playtime."

The National Institute for Play has more.