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Back in January Ariel Meadow Stallings of Electrolicious announced her intention to unplug everything with a screen in her life once a week for an entire year, hence, 52 nights unplugged.
I read a lot. I like a silent house. I'm not one of those people who turns something on "for the noise." But when I thought about this, even I found the idea daunting. Screens are ubiquitous—they're everywhere. Your work, your communication, your music, your entertainment, your news. Everything comes attached to a screen. You can't even set up a screenless dinner or coffee with a friend without looking at the screen on your cell phone or email. Daunting.
Want to blog about your experience going screen free? Gotta use a screen. Want to join a social network of others who are attempting to go screen free? Gotta use a screen.
The idea of 52 nights unplugged is bold and full of ironic contraditions. Maybe that's why it's captured the imagination of so many people.
Here's Ariel's original post announcing her idea for 53 Nights Unplugged.
The workshop was definitely more about discussion/exploration than take-away items, but we spent the last hour discussing ways to deal with the frustrations we have with the web, and then making decisions about sustainable ways we could make change.
So, here’s mine: one night a week, I am going to completely unplug from anything with a screen. This means no internet, no sidekick, no watching dvds. I plan to focus instead on the other things I like doing like writing letters, crafting, organizing, dancing, going for walks, cooking and making tea, writing in my paper journal. I might also try picking up some new things to like such as watercolors, scrapbooking, mail art, dance classes, attending lit readings, etc. Regardless, one night a week I’m going to unplug.
Me being me, though … I have to document it. I figure it’s a good way to keep myself on task. Plus, maybe some of my fellow geek/addicts would like to join in? I think I’m going to pick Wednesday night to take off, and then Thursday I’ll share what I did.
Her blog entries about the experience can be found in her Unplugged category. The current post is dated May 12, so she's kept at it for 5 months now. I'm impressed. The feat of keeping it up has earned her additonal media attention. In a post on May 12, she described being interviewed about the project for a segment on ABC news in What It's Really Like to be on TV.
All told, between “deadline voice” phone calls and emails and the two days when camera crews showed up at my house, I spent about 4 hours of my time on the segment. In exchange I got approximately 30 seconds of face time on national television, which maybe seems cool or something, but cool don’t pay the bills, folks.
See, I wasn’t talking about my book. I wasn’t talking about my job — which actually would have been deeply relevant if I’d known the actual focus of the segment (ie, businesses dealing with time management). I suppose you could argue I got some sort of intangible media credibility from doing the segment, but I wasn’t acting as an authority on anything — I’m just the woman in Seattle doing this thing.
I don’t have any regrets about doing the segment, but I’m going to have to figure out how to make media appearances a bit more worth my time … those are four hours I could have put toward something either way more productive or way more fun.
Ariel's Ning social networking site for the project is at 52 Nights Unpluged (Ning). When I checked, it had 344 members and an active forum sharing information about unplugging and about media reporting on people who are unplugging.
At a Grrl's Wrrld, in the one where she joins an online support group to kick her internet addiction…, a unplugged supporter says,
During my 52 unplugged nights I’d like to learn how to play chess, take lots of yoga classes, take photos - with film (they still make film, right?), and be completely open to new opportunities. There will be no television, no computer, no cell phone - no screens of any kind (not even evening news, George Strombolopous & Daily Show before sleep). Actually, I think I might build on last weekend’s earth hour idea and try to unplug altogether for the evening (we’ll see about that one, though.)
Jill Sarjeant,
