This article is ostensibly about the national day of unplugging, which actually starts midnight tonight, so it’s not too late to participate. Basically, it’s an update on the Jewish day of rest, this time with no use of modern technology (and also of course, open to non-Jews). Is it a good idea? Will it catch on? Would you be able to live without gadgets for 24 hours?
Friday, March 4, 2011
Blackout Sabbath
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I have never thought that the national day of unplugging is based on a religious custom. It is because religion means something old for me and the technology that is being unplugged means something new. Therefore, I have always thought that religion and technology have nothing in common. Yet, the national day of unplugging is based on religion. I am not saying that it is bad, I am just surprised.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think it will catch on. Think about other customs that are based on something religious. There are plenty of them and they really did catch on. For example Christmas or Easter. These customs are here for a very long time. Therefore, I hope that the national day of unplugging would be taken seriously and that people would participate in it.
Unfortunately, I failed to participate in this Day. Even though, I have always wanted to unplug myself for some time. Last year I also wanted to try it but I forgot to do so. This year I had to do lots of homework so I just could not afford to be unplugged for 24 hours. Maybe next year I will succeed. I will turn all the lights off for a day at last. Well, not only the lights, but also the computer. I hope I will not forget it again.
Tomáš Langer
Too many interesting things in the article, I have to note. Same as Tomas, the fact that The National Day of Unplugging is based upon religious customs has surprised me. The Ten Principles, which should have guided participants, were, in my opinion, appropriate and I greatly agree with their content and therefore I was disappointed when I learned that according to the group’s website, the main focus for the day is avoidance of technology.
ReplyDeleteAs was pointed out in the article, in some cases it is not possible. People who live far away from others would actually do the opposite to the Ten Principles when depriving themselves of technology for that day, since they would have no possibility to reconnect with people around them. I believe that this day hasn’t been set up to make people stop using technology, but to make them socialize with others, find love, happiness and peace with those with whom they interact in their everyday’s life. To support my claim, even in the article we can find a reference to Jewish Sabbaths, where there is no clear restriction to technology and people use electricity to heat up their food or put tapes over the light in refrigerator, but the purpose of the Sabbath still remains fulfilled.
From my point of view, that is the key thing. The purpose is to engage people to connect with others, whether with the loved ones or whoever. Making new friendships on a real basis (social-networking sites in this case are useless) is also a form of connecting with people. And it might be an enriching experience in one’s life, if not even a start of something new. However, what I want to stress upon is that these international days of “unplugging” are pointless, if we don’t understand the fact that it should encourage us to do this every day and not only during these occasions.
Tomas:
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that finding out that the roots of this day of unplugging lie in religion is surprising. However, I find it pretty sad that religion has to be the one that proposes a partial, one-day, solution to an issue of dependency of people on social networks. The international day of unplugging is therefore a very interesting idea that everyone should consider. After all, it is just a one day and what harm could be possibly done if somebody would reconnect with a friend face-to-face instead of talking to him on a Facebook, for example?
But do you really think that this day will catch on? In my opinion the chance is so low that it cannot be even took in consideration. You supported your argument by providing an example which said that religious customs, Easter or Christmas, are very popular nowadays. Frankly, I fell like these religious holidays are becoming less and less popular and, moreover, already lost their religious meaning a long time ago. Just think of how commercial these customs are and how many non-religious people pretend to celebrate them. As an evidence, I encounter with more and more people who are about to abolish these holidays in their families constantly. Yet at least 5 of them are travelling on holiday during Easter without even realizing that that work-free days have some religious background.
Taking in consideration this fact above as well as the social network addictions of many people I do not think that this day would ever become popular or at least meaningful for a majority of us. Thus there is nothing else left to do but “to honour the exceptions” as Slovaks would say.